What is the best Java based ESB Solution available?

Question

I know there are similar questions on this topic, but none of them answers my particular questions correctly.

We are in the phase of choosing a new ESB provider for our enterprise, our main purpose of choosing a ESB will be for using it as

• B2B with partners
• Messaging
• Orchestration
• Transformation
• Messaging and scheduling

And other general capabilities and requirements... Question is which one is the best and we need only java based solutions... Most of the other questions has no recommendations, I need some possible and potential candidates that satisfy these requirements...

Answer 1

The three top options I'm aware of:

• Mule ESB is considered one of the best options.
• Apache ServiceMix has become a strong competitor as well.
• Open ESB

The latter two are OSGi based.

All three have commercial support, if needed.

Answer 2

Quoting, Tijs Rademakers, the author of Open Source ESBs in Action:

I always use the following matrix to clarify the distinction between the popular open source integration frameworks:

• Mule --> Custom architecture, XML based configuration, easy for Java developers
• ServiceMix 3 --> JBI based, focus on XML messages
• ServiceMix 4 --> OSGi based, integrated with Camel configuration, also provides support for JBI
• JBoss ESB --> Custom architecture, runs on JBoss application server, fits great with JBoss products
• Synapse --> Focus on WS-*, Rest, build on Axis 2, great if you need things like WS-Security etc
• OpenESB --> JBI and OSGi based, runs on Glassfish, nice tool support with Netbeans
• Camel --> XML and Java DSL configuration, no container, support for EIPs and lots of transports
• Spring Integration --> XML and Java annotation configuration, no container, support for EIPs
• PetTALS --> JBI based, nice admin console, French based
• Tuscany --> SCA based, provides support for WS-*, focus on service development not integration

Personnally, I have good experience with Mule, decent with OpenESB (good toolset but documentation is less good), less good with Service Mix (hard to find your way through the documentation, some bugs). No experience with the others.

Given your requirements, candidates are Mule, ServiceMix, OpenEJB, JBoss EJB and PeTALS (Tuscani, Camel and Spring Integration don't meet them, not sure for Synapse). My preference would go for Mule, especially now that the future of OpenESB in not clear, because of snoracle, and I'm pretty sure it covers all your requirements. But if you want a solution that runs on an application server, consider OpenESB or JBoss EJB.

Here are some other must read resources on this topic, you'll get some more feedback there (the two first links are pretty recent, the third one is more old and maybe outdated):

• Top Open Source ESB Projects
• Comparing ESB / EAI : ServiceMix, Openadaptor and Mule
• ESB HOWTO: TSSJS Barcelona BOF Session

Answer 3

Well I'm biased, since I work for the company that makes it, but there's

Progress Sonic ESB

We have many enterprise-level reference accounts and have been doing ESB longer everyone else in the marketplace. We are however not open source.

We also provide enterprise support for Apache ServiceMix via our FuseSource subsidiary

To be impartial, Websphere Process Server is also widely used (and well supported), as well as BEA's Aqualogic.

Of the open source choices, that really depends on which application framework I'm working with. I really like ServiceMix, but if I'm using JBoss AS, I'm going to use JBoss ESB. Same for Glassfish. I tend to want to keep my framework choices to a minimum.

Answer 4

There are way too many variables that haven't been nailed down. To give you an idea, the open source direction will probably work great if you are looking for an integration platform to embed within solutions and be used primarily by "a-team" developers. On the other hand, if you have to interconnect dozens of legacy systems across multiple physical facilities, supporting hundreds of service interfaces developed by many separate teams, you will probably want the extended protocol support, graphical tooling, and general breadth of options that come with a commercial ESB.

I've spent a lot of time looking into all of the major ESBs, and I'd never want to pick one without knowing a lot more than you've provided. Even if I knew exactly what you wanted to do, I'd probably want to do an RFP with at least three products/vendors, including a well-organized proof-of-concept with each.

Can you provide more information?

Answer 5

Did you ever find a solution to this Teja? Who did you choose in the end? Has the implimentation been a success?