Enterprise Service Bus is one of the most oversold solutions on the market. Vendors promise that ESB will solve all your integration problems. The reality? ESB is a powerful tool — but only if you actually have the problems it solves.
When ESB Makes Sense¶
10+ systems, multiple protocols (SOAP, JMS, FTP), message transformation, routing logic. It does not make sense for point-to-point integration between two systems.
ServiceMix vs. Oracle Service Bus¶
ServiceMix: open source, flexible, steep learning curve. Oracle Service Bus: an enterprise product with a GUI console and vendor support. The choice depends on the client.
Canonical Data Model¶
The key pattern: define a CDM independent of the source systems. Without CDM you have N×N transformations instead of 2×N.
Monitoring¶
Throughput, latency, error rate, queue depth. Alerts on anomalies. ESB adds a layer that you must monitor.
In Conclusion¶
ESB is not a silver bullet. For 3 systems — use simple integration. For 30 systems — ESB will save your life. Invest in the Canonical Data Model from day one.
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