In a previous post I talked about iPaaS tools. One of the industry leading iPaaS tools which has been gaining a lot of popularity and acceptance is Boomi by Dell. In this post I will provide an overview of this tool along with the functionality and uses cases.
What is Boomi?
Dell Boomi is an on-demand cloud integration platform for connecting applications and data. It enables customers to design and deploy integration processes between cloud and on-premise applications. It has self contained development, deployment, administration and monitoring through an accessible on-demand web interface.
Architecture
Atom
At the lowest level of Boomi's architecture is the Atom. This is a single-tenant, single node runtime engine. It contains all of the components (connectors, transformation rules, business/processing logic) required to execute processes. it is lightweight and can be installed to a local machine or virtual machine in the cloud.
At the lowest level of Boomi's architecture is the Atom. This is a single-tenant, single node runtime engine. It contains all of the components (connectors, transformation rules, business/processing logic) required to execute processes. it is lightweight and can be installed to a local machine or virtual machine in the cloud.
Molecule
When Atoms are clustered together they form a Molecule. This is a single-tenant, multiple-node clustered Atom that allows for multiple processes to run concurrently. It is the enterprise-grade version of an Atom that can be deployed across multiple servers to enhance load balancing and ensure high availability for mission-critical integration processes.
When Atoms are clustered together they form a Molecule. This is a single-tenant, multiple-node clustered Atom that allows for multiple processes to run concurrently. It is the enterprise-grade version of an Atom that can be deployed across multiple servers to enhance load balancing and ensure high availability for mission-critical integration processes.
Connectivity & Integration
Use Cases
Data Integration:
- Cloud application to cloud application
- SaaS to SaaS
- On-premise application to cloud application
- On-premise application to on-premise application
System Maintenance Tasks:
- Data quality monitoring
- Create Update Delete (CRUD) operations
- Bulk pulling and loading data to 3rd party systems/applications
APIs:
- Create web services
- Encapsulate processes into exposable endpoints
- Add/Expose endpoints to business processes
Reporting:
- Reporting and analytics on data integration pipeline health
- Reporting and analytics on web services and hosted processes
- Document level inspection
Development
All development in Boomi takes place in the Build page. AtomSphere uses a built-in visual interface (a "visual designer") so users can create and direct process flows. The Build page contains the Component Explorer which lists all of the components that currently exist in the account, grouped by type. This page contains the process canvas where processes can be connected and orchestrated to build processes. This page also provides the ability to run tests against the processes built.
Deployment
All deployment in Boomi takes place in the Deploy page. This page is a control panel for your process and web service components and packaged integration solutions called integration packs. You can select the Atoms on which process components will run or web service components will be hosted and identify the required versions of the components. Deployment in Boomi simply means attaching a process to an Atom so that it can run on that particular server.
Reporting & Administration
Reporting in Boomi is divided among server pages. The Process Reporting page is used to search for information about deployed processes and their related documents and logs. All process executions that that have occurred can be filtered and displayed. The Account Dashboard page provides a quick summary of recent activity within their account using visualizations and graphs.
Learning Resource & Links
- Boomi Website - http://www.boomi.com/
- Free 30 Trial of Boomi - https://ondemand.boomi.com/trial/
- Boomi Training Videos - http://training.boomi.com/display/TDASH/Training+Video+Library
- Additional Boomi Training Videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfm0-Z3DGIU
- Official Boomi Blog - http://blogs.boomi.com/
- Unofficial Boomi Blog - http://www.kitepipe.com/blog