Process Manager Pattern in Apache Camel - apache-camel

Does the Apache Camel framework offer support the Process Manager Pattern?
(http://www.enterpriseintegrationpatterns.com/ProcessManager.html)

Yeah you can use the dynamic router
http://camel.apache.org/dynamic-router.html
And then keep state on the exchange which the dynamic router accesses to determine the next step.
When you are done then the next step should be evaluated as null.

Related

Any benefit to Use Finite State Machine with Apache Camel

We already have project which received request on REST EndPoint and by
using FINITE STATE Machine evaluate next action with Transition and
call action class accordingly.
I am assigned to evaluate possibility to migrate this part to apache camel.
But i am not seeing any value addition as in camel we already defined
routes and we can also use dynamic routing for evaluating next
endpoint.
I googled but couldnt find any Apache Camel example using FSM.
I need comments any use case where we can use FSM in Apache Camel or
we dont require due to nature of Camel.
if anyone found any links for google please share it to.
https://dzone.com/articles/why-developers-never-use-state
Regards,

How to deploy same Camel routes in multiple server nodes for load balancing and fail over?

We're having some came routes defined in a single CamelContext which contains Web services,activemq.. in the Route.
Initially we've deployed the Routes as WAR in single Jboss node.
To scale out(usually we're doing for web services) , I've deployed the same CamelContext in multiple Jboss nodes.
But the performance is actually decreased.
FYI: All the CamelContexts points to the Same activemq brokers.
Here are my questions:
How to load balance/ Fail over camel context in different machines?
If CamelContexts are deployed in multiple nodes, Will aggregation work correctly?
Kindly give your thoughts!
Without seeing your system in detail, there is no way of knowing why it has slowed down so I'll pass over that. For your other two questions:
Failover
You don't say what sort of failover/load balancing behaviour you want. The not-very-helpful Camel documentation is here: http://camel.apache.org/clustering-and-loadbalancing.html.
One mechanism that works easily with Camel and ActiveMQ is to deploy to multiple servers and run active-active, sharing the same ActiveMQ queues. Each route attempts to read from the same queue to get a message to process. Only one route will get the message and therefore only one route processes it. Other routes are free to read subsequent messages, giving you simple load balancing. If one route crashes, the other routes will continue to process the messages, there will just be reduced capacity on your system.
If you need to provide fault tolerance for your web services then you need to look outside Camel and use something like Elastic Load Balancing. http://aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/
Aggregation
Each Camel context will run independently of the other contexts so one context will aggregate messages independently of what other contexts are up to. For example, suppose you have an aggregator that stores messages from ActiveMQ queue until receives a special end-of-batch message. If you have the aggregator running in two different routes, the messages will be split between the two routes and only one route will receive the end-of-batch message. So one aggregator will sit there with half the messages and do nothing. The other aggregator will have the other messages and will process the end-of-batch message but won't know about the messages the other route picked up.

Simple Expression Language: how to get the ${routeId} in Apache Camel 2.10

How can I access the "routeId" in Apache Camel 2.10?
I see that the property exists from camel 2.11.
From Simple Expression Langauge docs
${routeId}
String
Camel 2.11: Returns the id of the current route the Exchange is being routed.
Is there another easy hack available?
No, you would need to do a little piece of code to get the route id. You can check the source code of Camel 2.11 onwards to see how Camel does it in that function.

A scalable bus with multiple Camel instances

My idea is to use camel to decouple modules. In order to support scalability and failover, I am wondering if the following architecture is adviced?
I have two applications with Camel embedded AppCamel1 and AppCamel2. Then I have standalone camel nodes Camel1 and Camel2.
AppCamel1 would have a route with fail-over/load balancing to Camel1 and Camel2. This way, if Camel1 crashes for example, Camel2 is used for failover.
Camel1 and 2 would do a REST call with the http component for example. Also there would be a request-reply from AppCamel1 up to camel1 or 2.
Is it a valid scenario?
What should I use to interconnect the different Camel instances (AppCamel1 to Camel1 or 2)? (I would like to know if it's possible to avoid another component like a jms server in the middle)
Thank you!
Edited following Boday's answer
the REST calls are from Camel1/2. I'd like to interconnect AppCamel1/2 to Camel1/2 and see if I can avoid anything in between. I guess mina is a possibility or even http but in that case a AppCamel1 and AppCamel2 need to know Camel1/2 which is not so good.
This is also being discussed at the Camel mailing list, where there is also some pointers and suggestions
http://camel.465427.n5.nabble.com/scalable-bus-with-multiple-Camel-instances-tp5606593p5606593.html
If you are trying to load balance HTTP requests to your AppCamel1/2, then you'd need a proxy server in between (apache mod_proxy, perlbal, etc). To load balance from AppCamel1/2 to Camel1/2, you can use Camel's load balancer or even JMS request/reply...
From AppCamel1/2 to Camel1/2, it sounds like you are using REST as the interface. If you need more complex communication between the instances, then I'd use JMS (via camel-activemq) for messaging and Hazelcast (via camel-hazelcast) for distributed caching/locking, etc.
If you use jms to communicate then you do not need a special load balancer. Just use one queue and let both Camel1/2 listen to the queue. Then they will automatically failover and load balance.
I would definetly go for a jms middleware. Activemq is the natural choice (camel is even considered a sub project of activemq). It is trivial to embedd amq along with your canel instances and cluster them. Activemq will then be able to handle both load balancing and failover for you.

Apache Camel: Keeping routing information completely independent of the Java Code

First of all thanks to folks who are currently involved in the development of Camel, I am grateful for all the hard work they have put in.
I am looking for some design advice.
The architecture is something like this:
I have a bunch of Java classes which when instantiated are required to connect to each other and send messages using Apache Camel. The design constraints require me to create a framework such that all routing information, producers, consumers, endpoints etc should be a part of the camel-context.xml.
An individual should have the capability to modify such a file and completely change the existing route without having the Java code available to him.(The Java code would not be provided, only the compiled Jar would be)
For example in One setup,
Bean A ->Bean B->Bean C->file->email.
in another
Bean B->Bean A->Bean C->ftp->file->email
We have tried various approached, but if the originating bean is not implemented as a Java DSL, the messages rate is very high because camel constantly invokes Bean A in the first example and Bean B in the second(they being the source).
Bean A and Bean B originate messages and are event driven. In case the required event occurs, the beans send out a notification message.
My transformations are very simple and I do not require the power of Java DSL at all.
To summarize, I have the following questions:
1) Considering the above constraints, I do I ensure all routing information, including destination addresses, everything is a part of the camel context file?
2) Are there example I can look at for keeping the routing information completely independent of the java code?
3) How do I ensure Camel does not constantly invoke the originating bean?
4) Does Camel constantly invoke just the originating bean or any bean it sends & messages to irrespective of the position of the bean in the entire messaging queue?
I have run out of options trying various ways to set this up. Any help would be appreciated.
Read about hiding the middleware on the Camel wiki pages. This allows you to let clients use an interface to send/receive messages but totally unaware of Camel (no Camel API used at all).
Even better consider buying the Camel in Action book and read chapter 14 which talks about this.
http://www.manning.com/ibsen/
Save 41% on Manning books: Camel in Action or ActiveMQ in Action. Use code s2941. Expires 6th oct. http://www.manning.com/ibsen/
If you consider using ServiceMix of FuseESB, you might want to separate your routes in two parts.
First part would be the Event-driver bean that trigger the route. It could push messages to the ServiceNMR (see http://camel.apache.org/nmr.html).
The other part would be left to the framework users, using Spring DSL. It would just listen to message on the NMR (push by the other route) and do whatever they want with it.
Of course endpoint definition could be propertized using servicemix configuration service (see http://camel.apache.org/properties.html#Properties-UsingBlueprintpropertyplaceholderwithCamelroutes)

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