Recognize common integration problems, use cases, and technical solutions17% of the exam
ESB, iPaaS and API management technology classes
What each class of integration technology is for: the ESB as a bus architecture with routing, transformation and protocol services, iPaaS as cloud-native integration, full lifecycle API management for governing APIs, and message queuing for asynchronous exchange.
Describe the purpose and function of the different classes of integration technologies.
~6 min read · 4 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Describe the ESB's core concept (a bus between applications) and its principles: adapters, canonical format, statelessness.
- Name the core ESB services, such as routing, transformation, protocol conversion and enhancement, from a described behaviour.
- Describe iPaaS and its functional components, and contrast it with an ESB and traditional middleware.
- Explain why iPaaS and full lifecycle API management are not interchangeable.
- Describe what a message queuing service adds to an integration landscape.
Key terms:
- Middleware: in a broad sense, any software that sits between two apps.
- ESB: an architecture for enterprise application integration over a bus-like infrastructure.
- iPaaS: cloud-based integration software connecting applications, data and systems across cloud and on-premises environments.
- Full lifecycle API management: overseeing APIs from design and publishing through documentation, analysis, security and governance.
- Message queue: a broker where one app publishes a message so another can consume it asynchronously.
Key facts
ESB bus technology
- Detail
- Usually a messaging server such as JMS or AMQP
ESB canonical format
- Detail
- Almost always XML; the contract between systems
ESB state
- Detail
- Generally stateless; state is embedded in messages
ESB availability
- Detail
- Multiple ESB instances increase throughput and remove single points of failure
iPaaS components
- Detail
- Connectors, workflow orchestration, API management, data transformation, event-driven architecture
iPaaS infrastructure
- Detail
- No hardware or middleware to install or manage
iPaaS vs API management
- Detail
- Not interchangeable; both are needed
Anypoint MQ trial
- Detail
- Not available in the trial edition
- Why does MuleSoft call the ESB an architecture rather than a product?
- When an ESB adapter sits between an application and the bus, what can it do besides transformation?
- Does an iPaaS handle only real-time traffic?
- Which subscription do you need before using Anypoint MQ?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the MuleSoft Integration Foundations pack
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