PubSub+ Cloud-Managed Micro-Integrations
Cloud-Managed Micro-Integrations are not enabled by default. To enable Micro-Integrations in your account, please contact Solace.
Micro-integrations are small, lightweight, event-driven integration modules that connect enterprise technologies (legacy and SaaS applications, messaging services, databases, files, AI agents, etc.) to an event-driven distribution layer, so they can exchange information in real-time. Micro-Integrations are to integration and connectivity what microservices are to application architectures: they decompose a monolithic integration flow into smaller, more manageable, purpose-built components.
A micro-integration includes a source or target connector which establishes data flow between an event distribution layer such as an event broker or an event mesh and some other source or target system. They can (but do not always) also include one or more functions that modify the message’s content such as payload transformation, data enrichment or validation, or header modification.
Unlike synchronous integrations which can become complex, fragile, and hard to change because of potential impact to other systems and integrations, micro-integrations focus on specific, narrowly defined tasks or processes so they are easier to design and change without impact to any other systems because the effect and risk of the change is localized.
Using Cloud-Managed Micro-Integrations results in rapid event integrations completed within minutes. Micro-Integrations are available in the PubSub+ Cloud Console and allow you to manage and observe the state of an integration between your external system and an event broker service or event mesh. When you use Micro-Integration, you can focus on streamlining the details of the event-driven integration rather than managing the operational overhead of the infrastructure associated with an event-driven integrations allowing you to have better flexibility and improved scalability.
Understanding Micro-Integrations
A Micro-Integration represents the flow of data between an external system and a PubSub+ event broker service. There are two types of Micro-Integrations:
- With a target Micro-Integration, data flows from the PubSub+ event broker service to the external system.
- With a source Micro-Integration, data flows from the external system to the PubSub+ event broker service.
You decide at creation time whether to create a source or target Micro-Integration.
Using Micro-Integrations in PubSub+ Cloud
You can create and manage Micro-Integrations in the PubSub+ Cloud Console. Your PubSub+ Cloud account comes with a pre-defined number of Micro-Integrations, but you can make a request for more. For more information, see Micro-Integration Usage. The workflow for using Micro-Integrations is as follows:
- Decide and Discover
- You find the right Micro-Integration and decide to create a source or target Micro-Integration. Many of the Self-Managed Connectors that are available in the PubSub+ Integration Hub are also available in PubSub+ Cloud. See Discovering Micro-Integrations in PubSub+ Cloud.
- Design
- You create and configure the Micro-Integration to supply information about your external system, such as the connection name or address, authentication detail, queue names, and so on. These details are necessary to allow the Micro-Integration to connect to the external system as either a source or target. For more information, see Designing Micro-Integrations.
- Deploy and Observe
- You deploy and observe your Micro-Integration to ensure that it fulfills your requirements. Unlike PubSub+ Self-Managed Connectors, Cloud-Managed Micro-Integrations provide a way to visualize the state of the Micro-Integration so you can focus on the details of the data flows between the external system and your PubSub+ event broker service. For more information, see Deploying a Micro-Integration.
- Update and Evolve
- You can iterate and modify the configuration settings as required. Before making modifications, you must undeploy the Micro-Integration. After you make updates to the Micro-Integration, you can redeploy it. If the created Micro-Integration doesn't perform as expected, you can also delete it and restart the design. For more information, see Managing Micro-Integrations.
- Upgrade
- Solace automatically upgrades your Micro-Integrations. For more information, see Upgrading Micro-Integrations.
Micro-Integration States
A Micro-Integration can have a number of different states depending on where it is in the creation and management workflow:
- Not Deployed
- When you undeploy a Micro-Integration, it transitions from Running to Undeploying, and then to Not Deployed state. A Micro-Integration starts in the Not Deployed state when it's first created. In the Not Deployed state, data does not flow between your external system and the PubSub+ event broker service.
- Deploying
- A transient state that indicates the Micro-Integration is in the process of being deployed. If successful, data will start to flow between the external system and the PubSub+ event broker service.
- Running
- When you deploy a Micro-Integration, it transitions from it's current state to Deploying, and then the Running state. In the Running state, data flows between your external system and the PubSub+ event broker service.
- Undeploying
- A transient state that indicates that the Micro-Integration is the process of being undeployed, and the flow of data is stopping between your external system and the PubSub+ event broker service.
- Unable to Deploy
- If an error condition occurs during the deployment of the Micro-Integration and the Micro-Integration cannot be deployed, the state transitions from the Deploying state to the Unable to Deploy state. When you view the Micro-Integration, the reasons for the errors are displayed in the error text.
- Down
- If an error condition occurs with a Micro-Integration and recovery is not possible, the Micro-Integration moves to the Down state. When you view the Micro-Integration, the reasons for the errors are displayed in the error text.