WebSphere WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, Version 6.0.1 Operating Systems: AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows

Glossary

This glossary contains terms that are specific to WebSphere ESB and some related terms from other sources. You can find more related terms in the WebSphere Application Server and the IBM Terminology Database.

This glossary provides terms for WebSphere ESB that add to those provided for the underlying WebSphere Application Server and more general terms defined in the IBM Terminology Database:
Application integration environment
One of two conceptual integrated environments that help separate the deployment and management of applications and services from management of the underlying server and bus environment. Applications and services are deployed into the application integration environment, with little or no concern for their implementation and the underlying infrastructure services provided by the server and bus environment.

In the WebSphere administrative console, a solution administrator can choose to apply the Application Integration task selection filter to restrict the range of tasks to those associated with management of application integration.

Application server
A server program in a distributed network that provides the execution environment for an application program.
Augment (profiles)
The act of upgrading a profile to another profile. For example, you can use the profile wizard of WebSphere ESB to augment a WebSphere Application Server profile to become a WebSphere ESB profile.
Authentication alias
A Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Connector authentication alias contains authentication data, which includes a user ID and password. J2C authentication aliases are used to authenticate access to resource adapters and Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC) data sources.
Bus
See service integration bus.
Bus destination
A logical address to which applications can attach as a producer, consumer, or both a producer and consumer.
Bus environment
One of two conceptual integrated environments that help separate the deployment and management of applications and services from management of the underlying server and bus environment. A solution administrator can create an environment of ESB servers and service integration buses that support the application integration environment. This environment is referred to as the server and bus environment or, as a shorter term, the bus environment. The focus is on the administration of service integration buses, servers, their resources, the set up and management of logical administrative domains of cells and nodes, and how to balance workload through clustering and high availability configurations.

In the WebSphere administrative console, a solution administrator can choose to apply the Server and Bus task selection filter to restrict the range of tasks to those associated with management of the bus environment.

Business function
Some software that performs a business activity that can be abstracted as a service.
Bus member
An application server or server cluster that hosts one or more messaging engines in a service integration bus.
Collection page
The type of page in the administrative console that displays a collection list of administrative objects. From this type of page, you can typically select objects to act on or to display other pages for.
Common Event Infrastructure
The Common Event Infrastructure provides facilities for the run-time environment to persistently store and retrieve events from many different programming environments. Events are represented using the Common Base Event model a standard, XML-based format that defines the structure of an event.
Custom profile
A custom profile is an empty node that you must federate into a deployment manager cell to make operational. In contrast to a stand-alone server profile, a custom profile does not have a default server on its node. Nor are there any default applications on the custom node. Federating the custom profile changes it into a managed node.
Data store
The set of tables that a messaging engine uses to store persistent data in a database.
Deployment manager
The deployment manager is a server that provides a single administrative interface to a logical group of application servers on one or more machines. The logical group is known as the deployment manager cell. The runtime environment and files for the cell are defined by the deployment manager profile.
Deployment manager cell
The administrative domain of a logical group of application servers on one or more machines that is managed by a deployment manager.
Deployment manager profile
The profile defines the runtime environment and includes all of the files that the server processes in the deployment manager cell can change.
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
An enterprise service bus (ESB) is a flexible connectivity infrastructure for integrating applications and services. An ESB offers a flexible and manageable approach to SOA implementation.

You can gain the flexibility of an SOA by using an enterprise service bus (ESB). Participants in a service interaction are connected to the ESB, rather than directly to one another, helping to reduce the number, size and complexity of interfaces required — along with the time, cost and risk — to increase your business responsiveness.

In WebSphere ESB, a service enterprise bus is built upon the SCA* service integration buses for an administrative cell.

ESB server
A general term used to refer to an application server created from the default WebSphere ESB template.
Export
Exports let a Service Component Architecture (SCA) module offer a service to others; they define interactions between SCA modules and service requesters. Export bindings define the specific way that an SCA module is accessed by others.
Export interface
Export interfaces are abstract definitions that describe how service requesters access an SCA module.
Export binding
Export bindings are concrete definitions. They specify the physical mechanism that service requesters use to access a service. Typically, an SCA module export has one binding specified.
Foreign bus
One of the other service integration buses with which a particular service integration bus can exchange messages.
Import
Imports let a Service Component Architecture (SCA) module access external services, (services that are outside the SCA module) as if they were local. Imports define interactions between SCA modules and service providers. SCA import bindings define the specific way that an external service is accessed; for example, using SOAP/HTTP.
Import binding
Import bindings are concrete definitions. They specify the physical mechanism that SCA modules use to access an external service; for example, using SOAP/HTTP.
Import interface
Import interfaces are abstract definitions that describe how an SCA module accesses a service.
Interaction endpoint
A service requester or provider.
JMS connection factory
A set of configuration values that produces connections that enable a J2EE component to access a JMS resource. Connection factories provide on-demand connections from an application to an enterprise information system (EIS).
Master configuration
The configuration data held in a set of files that form the master repository for either a deployment manager profile or a stand-alone profile. For a deployment manager profile, the master configuration stores the configuration data for all the nodes in the deployment manager cell.
Mediation
The action of applying service interaction logic to messages flowing across a service integration bus, between service requesters and providers. Mediation can perform a range of functions, including the following functions:
  • Adapt message formats
  • Convert transport protocols
  • Route messages between services

The service interaction logic for mediation is contained in a special type of SCA module known as a mediation module.

Mediation flow (also known as a Mediation flow component)
A mediation flow component contains one or more mediation primitives. Rather than performing business functions, mediation flow components are concerned with the flow of messages.
Mediation module
Mediation modules are Service Component Architecture (SCA) modules that can change the format, content or target of service requests.

Mediation modules operate on messages that are in flight between service requesters and service providers. They allow you to route messages to different service providers. They also let you transform messages: you can amend message content or form. In addition, mediation modules can provide functions such as message logging, and error processing that is tailored to your requirements.

Typically, mediation modules contain a specific type of SCA component called a mediation flow component. A mediation module can contain, at most, one mediation flow component. The purpose of a mediation module that does not contain a mediation flow component is to transform service requests from one format to another. For example, a service request might be made using JMS but need transforming to SOAP/HTTP before sending on.

Mediation modules are deployed to WebSphere ESB by specifying the EAR (Enterprise ARchive) file using the browser-based WebSphere administrative console, the command line, or scripts.

Mediation primitive
A unit of service integration logic for mediation. Mediation primitives can be wired together as building blocks to create a mediation flow. Mediation primitives typically function at the level of a single operation, with possible mediation of the request (input) and response (output). Several standard mediation primitives are provided with WebSphere Integration Developer and WebSphere ESB. If special mediation capabilities are needed, custom mediation primitives can be developed and deployed.
Messaging engine
A component of a service integration bus that provides messaging function and a connection point to which applications connect to the bus. A messaging engine runs within a server, that is, a WebSphere process. A messaging engine uses an instance of a JDBC data source to interact with the database that contains the data store for that messaging engine.
Quality of service (QoS)
A set of communication characteristics required by an application. QoS defines a specific transmission priority, level of route reliability, and security level. (IBM English Terminology Database)
Queue destination
A bus destination that is used for point-to-point messaging.
SCA binding
Bindings are concrete definitions that specify the physical mechanism that SCA modules use to access an external service or that service requesters use to access the SCA module.
SCA component
SCA components, or service components, are SCA building blocks. You build SCA modules such as mediation modules, using SCA components. You can create and customize SCA modules and components graphically, using WebSphere Integration Developer.
SCA import binding
SCA import bindings define the specific way that an SCA module accesses an external service; for example, using SOAP/HTTP.
SCA module
A module that conforms to the Service Component Architecture (SCA) with well-defined interfaces. The module makes its function available to requesters by exporting its interface through an Export. The module acts as a requester to a service provider by importing the provider's requirements through an Import. It is possible to specify another module as a target in an import.

The modules are then packaged in a standard WebSphere Enterprise Archive (EAR) file. An EAR file contains all the files required to deploy the application.

SCA request
A service request that conforms to the Service Component Architecture (SCA). An SCA module routes the request to a service provider, after having done any additional processing specified by the module.
SCA runtime
The server functions that provide support for the Service Connection Architecture.
Service
A service forms an abstract representation of a business function, hiding the specifics of the function interfaces.

Services advertise capabilities, both offered and requested, by declaring interfaces they implement, or expect other services to implement, and by policies governing potential partner interactions. Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and other Web services standards provide the vocabulary for these declarations. The service abstraction enables loosely-coupled connection with service requesters, and enables the implementation of the service to be changed without affecting requesters of the service.

Service application
A WebSphere application used to deploy mediation modules.
Service Connection Architecture (SCA)
SCA defines the model for describing service components and offers a way to assemble them into solutions. Service Component Architecture separates business logic from implementation, so that you can focus on assembling an integrated application without knowing implementation details. The implementation of services is contained in SCA components.

Service Component Architecture enables you to group components within an SCA module, and specify which services are exposed by the module to outside requesters.

Service Data Objects (SDO)
An open standard for enabling applications to handle data from heterogeneous data sources such as relational databases, XML data sources, Web services, and enterprise information systems in a uniform way. SDO is based on the concept of disconnected data graphs. Under the disconnected data graphs architecture, a client retrieves a data graph from a data source, mutates the data graph, and can then apply the data graph changes back to the data source
Service integration bus
A component that supports applications using message-based and service-oriented architectures. A bus is a group of interconnected servers and clusters that have been added as members of the bus. Applications connect to a bus at one of the messaging engines associated with its bus members.
A link between messaging engines on different service integration buses. This enables requests and messages to pass between the buses.
Service integration logic
Integration logic on an enterprise service bus to mediate between requesters and providers. The logic performs a number of functions such as to transform and augment requests, converts transport protocols, and route requests and replies automatically
Service integration technologies
The service integration functionality within WebSphere Application Server that provides a highly-flexible messaging system for a service-oriented architecture. This supports a wide spectrum of quality of service options, protocols, and messaging patterns. It supports both message-oriented and service-oriented applications.
Service Message Object (SMO)
Service message objects (SMOs) are enhanced Service Data Objects (SDOs). SMO provides an abstraction layer for processing and manipulating messages exchanged between services.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
An architecture where services represent business functions as components that can be reused and combined. A Service-oriented architecture (SOA) combines adaptable connections with well-defined, standards-based interfaces to help you build flexibility into your existing infrastructure. In an SOA, you can reuse services extensively regardless of whether they are based on new services implementations or existing IT assets.
Service provider
A service provider is a program that provides a business function as a service through an enterprise service bus. The service provider receives messages from a service requester and runs the requested service. The service provider might also send messages back through the bus in reply to the request.
Service requester
A service requester is a program that requests the business functions provided as a service by another program. The requester sends a request message over an enterprise service bus to a service provider.
Stand-alone server profile
The profile defines the runtime environment and includes all of the files that the stand-alone server process can change.

A stand-alone server profile has its own administrative console and all of the sample applications (if you installed the Sample applications gallery feature). Each stand-alone server is fully operational and is managed independently from all other servers.

Stand-alone server
A server managed independently from all other servers. A stand-alone server has its own administrative console and all of the sample applications (if you installed the Sample applications gallery feature).
Topology
A physical arrangement of application servers, messaging engines and WebSphere MQ queue managers and the pattern of bus connections and links between them.

Concept topic

Terms of Use | Rate this page

Timestamp iconLast updated: 13 Dec 2005
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/dmndhelp/v6rxmx/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.wesb.doc\concepts\cwesb_glossary.html

(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 2005. All Rights Reserved.
This information center is powered by Eclipse technology. (http://www.eclipse.org)