IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances Part I: Overview and Getting Started
From IBM Redbooks: IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances Part I.
DataPower is an interesting product. It's basically a network device that's really really good at transforming XML messages using XSLT. The marketing-speak says that it does it "At Wire Speed" (aka really really fast). Now you may wonder why you would need this box when WebSphere Process Server can transform messages itself. The devil is in the details about the hardware. In order to transform an XML message, theres a ton of work needed by your server to convert the structure into java and then run the transformation engine etc. Why use your expensive server hardware for such a trivial task? Offload that work onto an appliance designed for just that task and use your process server for the actual business integration that you bought it for.
One thing I hear about DataPower is that it's a very expensive product. What most people miss though, is that it allows you to buy a less powerful server in exchange. You interact with the box via SOAP/HTTP calls which allow the transformation to be used by any application, not just process server. I also hear of it being used a lot in conjunction with WS-Security, allowing the box to put the appropriate headers onto the messages in a "pass-through" manner.
This Redpaper is actually the first in a series of four that are scheduled to come out this year.
Draft Redpaper, last updated: Mon, 10 Mar 2008- Understand and effectively deploy DataPower SOA appliances - Parse and transform binary, flat text, and XML messages - Learn how to extend your SOA infrastructureIBM® WebSphere® DataPower SOA Appliances represent an important element in IBM's holistic approach to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
DataPower is an interesting product. It's basically a network device that's really really good at transforming XML messages using XSLT. The marketing-speak says that it does it "At Wire Speed" (aka really really fast). Now you may wonder why you would need this box when WebSphere Process Server can transform messages itself. The devil is in the details about the hardware. In order to transform an XML message, theres a ton of work needed by your server to convert the structure into java and then run the transformation engine etc. Why use your expensive server hardware for such a trivial task? Offload that work onto an appliance designed for just that task and use your process server for the actual business integration that you bought it for.
One thing I hear about DataPower is that it's a very expensive product. What most people miss though, is that it allows you to buy a less powerful server in exchange. You interact with the box via SOAP/HTTP calls which allow the transformation to be used by any application, not just process server. I also hear of it being used a lot in conjunction with WS-Security, allowing the box to put the appropriate headers onto the messages in a "pass-through" manner.
This Redpaper is actually the first in a series of four that are scheduled to come out this year.
Related Posts
- IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances Part III: XML Security Guide
- IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances Part IV: Management and Governance
- IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances Part II: Authentication and Authorization
- WB552: Random DataPower Thoughts Part 1
- Issues that I encountered while creating my DataPower to MQ Demo
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