To put EAI applications through their paces, we configured systems in our NWC Inc. Real-World Business Applications Lab in Green Bay, Wis. (See inc.networkcomputing.com for more information on NWC Inc.)
Servers
• Inventory-Control System: Dell 2650 dual-CPU machine with 512 MB of memory running Oracle.
• Order-Fulfillment System: Dell 1650 single-CPU machine with 256 MB of memory running SQL Server.
• CIS/Order-Entry System: Quad-processor Compaq machine with
1 GB of memory running DB2.
• EAI Server: We installed each EAI product on a single 18-GB SCSI disk in an eight-processor Hewlett-Packard ProLiant DL760 running Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server.
The Scenario
NWC Inc. is in the business of creating widgets for sale on the Internet. Orders are taken online at our Web site (inc.gb.nwc.com), and widgets are produced at our Syracuse, N.Y., manufacturing facility. They are then shipped direct from our headquarters in Green Bay, Wis., to customers via a method the customers choose when they order.
Our Oracle system represents the NWC Inc. production facility, where all widgets are created. SQL Server represents a purchased package that tracks shipping of customer orders, and DB2 is our core customer and order-fulfillment system. Whenever the production facility finishes a run of widgets, it puts an entry into the Oracle database indicating how many widgets of which type were created. When a customer completes an online order form, order information is entered into the DB2 database by the order-entry system. Finally, when an order is shipped to a customer, the shipping information is updated in SQL Server.
We defined the interactions between the systems as follows:
1. When the production facility indicates it has produced a number of widgets, the information should be propagated to our core system and to the shipping system.
2. When an order is entered over the Web, order information should be propagated to the shipping database.
3. When an order is shipped, information that it has been shipped should be propagated to the main system, which will update both inventory on hand and customer orders fulfilled.
This setup gave us plenty of opportunity to test the ability of the EAI products to integrate systems based on various databases, on a real-time basis.
Because our deployment EAI machine was beefier than you would normally see in a production environment, we used a more standardized sample deployment for price comparisons. "As tested" prices listed in this article are based on the following configuration:
• One dual-processor production machine.
• One dual-processor development/testing machine.
• One dual-processor production backup machine (offline, cold backup).
Web Links
"W3C, Oasis Look for Common Web Services Ground" (InternetWeek Aug. 28, 2002)
"Securing Web Services" (TechWeb)
"Wash Away Those Web Service Testing Blues
With Parasoft's SOAPtest" (Network Computing, June 24, 2002)
REPORTS
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