Sam Gentile's Blog (if (DeveloperTask == Communication && OS == Windows)

Series – Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs) Drive SOA Adoption

Blog Post 2 – Neuron as an ESB - Connectivity

Introduction

Last time around, in the first installment of this series, I began by giving my rationale for looking deeper at the Neuron ESB, particularly around it being the only packaged out-of-the-box ESB built with 100% Microsoft technologies as well as meeting most of the traits of the ESB definitions and characteristics that I presented. Then I presented the value scenarios for an ESB. Next, I used Wiki’s ESB topic as a list of general common traits of an ESB. Following that, I focused on the ESB as an operating environment for services, the ESB as a common messaging fabric, and the ESB as an Architectural Pattern.

In this installment, I will leave the world of the abstract, and talk concretely and deeply about Neuron as a manifestation of the architectural pattern and possessing the desired characteristics of an ESB:  a combination of SOA + MOM + EDI +EDA. Before getting into connectivity, I would like to talk at a deeper level about why I use Neuron and what makes it unique.

What Do I Like About Neuron?

I talked a bit about why Neuron is my personal ESB last time. I have no desire to repeat all that but want to focus on three things that I personally like in the product. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Neuron is perfect. There are some rough edges that need to be ironed out, but in short, it seems to do most of what I need to do.  Three things I want to focus on are the simplicity of the overall GUI-driven product, the fact that it is completely built on the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), which I feel is the right choice, and finally, how simple it is to set up communication.

Simplicity 

To the first point, I have used a lot of ESBs (and a lot of distributed computing technologies) and Neuron seems to have a balance of features and simplicity that works for me. That manifests in at least three ways for me. First of all, Neuron is not a multi-hour install process like some commercial ESBs, nor is a whole bunch of complicated code concepts you need to understand like some open-source ESBs. You run one Setup.exe and less than five minutes later you have a fully installed and operational ESB. The second aspect is that it is lightweight. The one setup.exe essentially results in two things: a GUI (“The ESB Explorer”), and the “ESB Service.” The ESB Service operates as one NT service. It’s then easy for me to manage. It operates like any NT service, writes to the Event Log and so forth. The third aspect is what separates Neuron from the pack IMHO, and that is that it has a very easy to use GUI.

Why is this important? As we discussed last time, ESBs can be very powerful and rich products, which can lead to a lot of complexity. However, when I launch the Neuron ESB Explorer, I am presented with a UI that is very task-driven, wizard-driven and easy to use. The following screen shot shows the initial screen:

As the screen shows, to work with Neuron, it can be as  simple as

1.       Set Up Communication

2.       Set Up Services

3.       Set Up Data

4.       Set Up Integration Functions

Each of these button-clicks leads to a dialog that is a combination of help and task wizards. The example for “Set Up Communication” is a perfect example:

4. When prompted "Do you want to start the ESB Service now?", click Yes.

5. Launch 2 test clients by selecting Tools > Test Client > 2 Test Clients from the menu.

Wait for 2 test clients to launch.

6. Sign-on Test Clients.

Enter the subscriber Id "Test1' for the first test client and click Connect.

Enter the subscriber Id "Test2" for the second test clients and click Connect.

Both clients should display a green ONLINE indicator shortly.

On the Test1 client, click the Send button.

A copy of the message should appear on the Test 2 client's Receive tab.

Congratulations! You have sent a message from one program to another via an ESB.

Where Are We?

In this article, I moved from an abstract discussion of ESBs in general to a concrete one focusing on Neuron specifically. Again, Neuron is not perfect and will not solve your every problem. However, it is so much better than building all this stuff yourself and the product has some key capabilities that I focused on. These included the simplicity of the product, the building of the product on the Windows Communication Foundation, and Basic Connectivity. As you saw, you can set up basic messaging within 5 minutes of installing the product. Instead of writing about 500 lines of WCF code for basic publish-subscribe, you can this basic communication without any code.

In the next installment, I will look at the overall architecture of Neuron, from both the inside and outside of the bus.