Planning for Middleware

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Planning for Middleware

• Rose GambleLeigh DavisJamie Payton
• University of Tulsa

2
Interoperability Problems

• Planned interactions among independent,
  heterogeneous components turn into unplanned
  performance problems
• Problems are complex, costly, difficult to
  resolve
• Solutions incorporate primary functionality in
  the form of translation, control, and extension

componentinteractions
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Issues of Integration

• Integration of independent components
• Migration of existing systems
• Reuse of well-tested processes

• Requires an integration solution (middleware)
  that is
• effective offers a detailed comprehensive
  integration solution
• testable can be evaluated to satisfy performance
  requirements
• flexible can be adapted to evolving components
  and application requirements

4
Enterprise Application Integration

• Industrys approach to a solution
• Consultant-driven
• Implementation- based
• Quick-fix
• Ad-hoc

• Whats missing?
• Assessment technology
• Trained personnel
• Compositions of primary solution
  functionality

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Integration Architecture Design

• Detailed, but abstract
• use what you need know why
• functional composition of primary entities
• Uniform framework
• components, connectors, integration elements, and
  their composition
• Consistent with industrial middleware trends
• design patterns
• the UML
• process integration
• technology automation

Whats needed?
integrationarchitecture
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Role of Software Architecture
Provides a level of abstraction that allows for
sufficient expressive detail

• Binds representation of concepts related to
  interoperability
• system architecture requirements
• component architectures
• integration architecture
• middleware infrastructures
• Provides basis for conflict prediction and
  severity
• Manifested in products for potential comparison

middleware
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Architectural Assessment

• Entities can be characterized by a set of
  high-level architectural properties
• Mismatches and incompatibilities with component
  properties can be detected
• Drives solution choices, but no direct
  correspondence to resolution functionality

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Issues