Application Development for IBM WebSphere Process Server and Enterprise Service Bus 7.0

I was recently given a copy of the new book Application Development for IBM WebSphere Process Server 7 and Enterprise Service Bus 7 to review. In general, I’m very impressed. The authors do a good job of explaining general SOA concepts, and the components of the respective IBM products which are used in implementing these concepts, right down to the nitty-gritty of how to implement a sample scenario (with thorough walk-through steps and screenshots). They cover both the key concepts of mediation flows and BPEL-based business processes. The book is light on a few subjects (it doesn’t really discuss the WebSphere Adapters, for example, and the chapter on deployment is a bit light – see the Production Topologies Redbook for more detail), and the hints ‘n’ tips chapter seems messy, but generally, it seems excellent for a beginner trying to learn these products.

(In the interests of disclosure, I received only a free copy of the book for this review).

Default Directory Change for WebSphere Integration Developer/Process Server/ESB in V7

Updated 2010-01-25: Typo corrected.

I’ve just been experimenting with WebSphere Integration Developer (WID) v7. If you’re working with this new release, you might like to know that the default directories for the WID WTE (WebSphere Test Environment, also called ITE or UTE in some places) has changed.

By default (on Windows), WID is now installed in C:\Program Files\IBM\WID7. However, the WTE runtime (and its associated profiles) can now be found in a separate hierarchy instead – C:\Program Files\IBM\WID7_WTE. If you are using WebSphere Process Server or WebSphere ESB, the runtime that’ll interest you is in C:\Program Files\IBM\WID7_WTE\runtimes\bi_v7. The profiles can be found under there, in subdirectories called qesb and/or qwps. This is different from in previous versions of these products, where the profiles were in a separate directory structure from the runtime. Note that as always, there are separate profiles for WebSphere ESB and WebSphere Process Server, even though the underlying runtime is the same – and technically WebSphere Process Server – in both cases. This is possible because WebSphere Process Server is a functionality superset of WebSphere ESB.

WebSphere ESB / Integration Developer / Process Server 7.0 Announced

For those already working with WebSphere Integration Developer, WebSphere ESB, or WebSphere Process Server, or those considering using them, you might be interested to know that version 7.0 has just been announced and is scheduled to be available around the end of Q4 2009.

Please look at the official announcement for more information, but some of the new things I think are particularly interesting are:

• Service Federation Management between WebSphere Services Registry and Repository and WebSphere ESB.
• More pattern-based development.
• Exploitation of WebSphere Application Server V7.
• Improved Service Gateway scenario support.
• Event sequencing support in WebSphere ESB.

WebSphere Application Server 7 Internals

Sorry that there haven’t been many posts here recently. To whet your appetite, I’m currently preparing a series of articles with a working title of ‘Mediation Flow Creation Guidelines’, which will aim to provide some guidance on well-worn ways to develop mediation flows efficiently.

In the meantime, I’d just like to mention a new book coming out soon called WebSphere Application Server 7 Internals. I’ve been lucky enough to take a look at some preview chapters, and I have to say the content is set to be excellent; Colin has done a great job of explaining many of the more detailed and nitty-gritty topics involved in WebSphere Application Server, which underpins several IBM products, including the one I specialise in, WebSphere ESB. I’m sure it’s set to be a handy tome.