Getting Started

A common question from users who are considering adopting open source SOA technologies is "When do I use which FUSE component and how do I get started?"

The FUSE open source components are designed to make integration easy and flexible for application developers and integration architects. All of the FUSE components are designed for distributed enterprise environments. They were developed within the open source community to be easy to use, flexible and lightweight. The FUSE open source components are designed for the broad set of application developers that use widely adopted standards such as Java, SOAP, HTML and JMS.

The FUSE product family consists of four components that each provide a core capability to the application developer:

FUSE Services Framework for Service Enablement: Based on Apache CXF, FUSE Services Framework provides the ability to create web services on an existing or new application. Specifically, Java developers can use jax-ws, javascript, REST, or pojos to create web services for a client or server endpoint. FUSE Services Framework can be used stand-alone, with FUSE Mediation Router, and can be deployed in a variety of containers like FUSE ESB, J2EE, Servlet, or Spring-based containers.

FUSE Mediation Router for EIP Component Creation: Based on Apache Camel, FUSE Mediation Router makes it easy for Java developers to quickly implement integration patterns using a code-first approach using simple POJOs. The Camel API maps to the easy to understand Enterprise Integration Patterns, such that a developer with minimal integration skills can quickly create connector components that provide routing, mediation, and other integration capabilities. These components may leverage services that were created using the FUSE Services Framework. FUSE Mediation Router can be used stand-alone, with FUSE Services Framework, and can deployed in a variety of containers like FUSE ESB, J2EE, Servlet, or Spring-based containers.

FUSE Message Broker for Messaging: Based on Apache ActiveMQ, FUSE Message Broker is a cost-effective and flexible messaging platform for reliably executing transactions and moving data, efficiently scaling operations, and connecting processes across heterogeneous database and application environments.

FUSE ESB for Integration Deployment: Based on Apache ServiceMix, FUSE ESB provides a standardized methodology, server, and tools to deploy integration components. FUSE ESB was built from the ground up to support the JBI specification (JSR 208) and provides a structured environment to manage and deploy the components that developers create using FUSE Services Framework and FUSE Mediation Router as well as additional JBI-compliant components like BPEL. FUSE ESB uses FUSE Message Broker as its underlying messaging infrastructure.

We anticipate users will use a combination of the FUSE open source components in conjunction with our other open and closed source SOA Infrastructure offerings (Orchestration, Registry/Repository, Management and Data Services).  James created a handy diagram to help users decide which FUSE products are right for a project.  

The best way to get started is to install and run through the samples of the product.  You can download the products and the demo from the Download Page.  Each product has a set of samples that illustrate various capabilities.  Product installation instructions can be found on the Documentation Page.   Once the product is installed, you can start with the readme  file for each of the samples located in the samples folder (with the exception of FUSE ESB which you can start with the readme file at the root directory).  If you think you want to use multiple of  the FUSE products together, then the demo would be a good place to start (Note: the demo does not yet include FUSE ESB).  The demo requires that you install FUSE Services Framework, FUSE Mediation Router, and FUSE Message Broker.  The demo demonstrates how these components can be used together to create services and integrate services using routing, mediation, and messaging. 

The FUSE products are each based on an Apache open source project.  When you are ready to dive in and use the FUSE products, it may be useful for you to visit the corresponding Apache open source project sites which have documentation, user lists, issue tracking and other resources specific to each project.  Over time, we will continue to enhance the documentation on the Apache project sites and offer additional documentation on the Documentation Page of open.iona.com.  Here is a table which shows the corresponding Apache project for each FUSE product to help you get to the right Apache pages for the FUSE product(s) you are using.

When you are ready to get started with the Eclipse-based SOA Tools (STP), instructions for getting started are here. The FUSE forum is also available for any questions you may have.