Dynamically select adapters based on context using WebSphere Business Services Fabric

Learn how to dynamically invoke resource adapters using WebSphere® Business Services Fabric’s policy framework.

Scenario overview

Company XYZ recently acquired Company ABC to expand its printing business. Company XYZ uses a DB2 Enterprise Information System (EIS) to store and retrieve customer data, but Company ABC uses a file-based data storage mechanism. The processes of the two companies need to be integrated into one system that uses both of the existing data storage mechanisms (DB2 EIS and file system).

The integrated solution design needs to be adaptable and able to retrieve or update information in the appropriate EIS, based on user log-in.

In addition, company XYZ is planning integration with other third-party vendors for printing services, in which customer data would be sourced from third-party systems. In short, the company is looking for a solution that allows generalized access to multiple systems and that enables adding new backend systems or third-party vendors incrementally without requiring changing its business processes.

For the sake of simplicity, we won’t address the overall business solution in this article, but will deal only with retrieving the appropriate customer information based on user context. We’ll use WebSphere Adapters to integrate the databases, and Fabric to select the appropriate adapter implementation based on user context.

Following are the steps required to achieve the integration:

1. Create a Service Component Architecture (SCA module) based on the WebSphere Adapter for Flat Files.
2. Create an SCA module based on the WebSphere Adapter for JDBC (Java™ Database Connectivity).
3. Create a generic interface to abstract calls to the adapter implementations for Flat File and JDBC.
4. Test the Adapter for Flat File and Adapter for JDBC SCA implementations.
5. Use the Fabric policy framework to select the correct adapter implementation based on the user context.
6. Test the integrated solution.
7. Manage changes.

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The article of mine was first published by IBM at – http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/1005_jain/1005_jain.html. All rights reserved by author and IBM.