A few days ago, I talked about some of the really cool new features in CA Live API Creator 4.1 that I was particularly excited about. The Product Manager called me to task on that - not because Team Development and TeamSpaces aren't pretty awesome, but because I was pretty glib on the other marquee features - integrating messaging with RabbitMQ and JMS…ESPECIALLY since I'd also recently written a blog about integration. And she's right - I did kinda gloss them by. So let's fix that, and talk about why this new integration is so important.
First, let's talk about message queues - some of you may be familiar with them, but a quick overview. So, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I am married, and therefore, a sherpa who's stood in lines at a certain coffee shop, ordering a venti Chocolate Covered Strawberry Frappuccino for my wife. This is not a random statement - this is exactly what messaging queuing is all about. I order said venti Chocolate Covered Strawberry Frappuccino and pay for it. The cashier writes down the order and my name on the coffee cup (a message) and sets it on the counter for the barista to pick it (the queue). Now, if I DIDN'T go to the shop at the time of day everyone (including the wife) wants their coffee, then maybe that work gets done right away. Alas, this doesn't happen too often, and the cup joins a row of other cups (again, the message queue). As I said, this is how enterprise messaging works - the server (the cashier above) that's creating your message hands off messages to brokers (the barista) to be processed.
With CA Live API Creator 4.1, we've added support Java Message Service (JMS) and RabbitMQ listeners to subscribe to messages in one or more queues (Kafka and MQTT listeners are already supported) . There's quite a few messaging systems out there - so the integration of RabbitMQ and JMS into CA Live API Creator simply means that it's a better fit for the enterprise - using the coffee analogy, it means that you don't just have to have Starbucks - we've added support for Peet's, Dunkin' Donuts, Costa, and even McDonald's to the list.
On a related note....one of the key reasons architects are so excited about microservices is autonomy – breaking up the monolith into smaller pieces that are independently developed, deployed and scaled. Microservices communicate with each other using… messages. So if one is down at the moment, the others continue, and the broker ensures eventual completion.
That’s pretty remarkable stuff. But the real power gets unlocked when you realize CA Live API Creator is not just about receiving / reformatting / sending messages (and APIs), but processing them as well. Reactive Logic – spreadsheet-like business rules that are 40x more concise than code. That’s what’s led to enthusiastic adoption by the Agile and CA Services teams, and what drives value for customers that is unique, strategic… and simple.