Apache Camel Tutorial – Introduction to EIP, Routes, Components, Testing, and other Concepts

Data exchanges between companies increase a lot. The number of applications, which must be integrated increases, too. The interfaces use different technologies, protocols and data formats. Nevertheless, the integration of these applications shall be modeled in a standardized way, realized efficiently and supported by automatic tests. Such a standard exists with the Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP) [1], which have become the industry standard for describing, documenting and implementing integration problems. Apache Camel [2] implements the EIPs and offers a standardized, internal domain-specific language (DSL) [3] to integrate applications. This article gives an introduction to Apache Camel including several code examples.
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Spoilt for Choice: Which Integration Framework to use – Spring Integration, Mule ESB or Apache Camel?

Three lightweight integration frameworks are available in the JVM environment: Spring Integration, Mule ESB and Apache Camel. They implement the well-known Enteprise Integration Patterns (EIP, http://www.eaipatterns.com) and therefore offer a standardized, domain-specific language to integrate applications. These integration frameworks can be used in almost every integration project within the JVM environment – no matter which technologies, transport protocols or data formats are used. All integration projects can be realized in a consistent way without redundant boilerplate code. This article compares all three alternatives and discusses their pros and cons.
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Cloud Integration with Apache Camel and Amazon Web Services (AWS): S3, SQS and SNS

The integration framework Apache Camel already supports several important cloud services. This article describes the combination of Apache Camel and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) interfaces of Simple Storage Service (S3), Simple Queue Service (SQS) and Simple Notification Service (SNS). Thus, The concept of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is used to access messaging systems and data storage without any need for configuration.
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Cloud Computing Heterogeneity will require Cloud Integration – Apache Camel is already prepared!

Cloud Computing is the future – if you believe market forecasts from companies such as Gartner. I think so, too. But everybody should be aware that there won’t be one single cloud solution, but several clouds. These clouds will be hosted at different providers, use products and APIs from different vendors and use different concepts (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS). Thus, in the future you will have to integrate these clouds as you integrate applications today.
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Java / JVM – When to use Multicast (e.g. Tibco Rendevous) instead of Point-to-Point Messaging (JMS Implementations)

Several solutions are available in the Java / JVM environment for messaging. All have in common that they exist for many years and still do its job in mission critical systems: Sending remote messages fast and reliable. There exist two different concepts which compete against each other for enterprise messaging solutions. This article describes and compares Point-to-Point (e.g. ActiveMQ) and Multicast (e.g. Tibco Rendevous) messaging to answer the question when to use which one. Although both solutions are available for many years now, this question is still very important – also for new software!
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Book Review “Apache Camel In Action”

In January, I spent a lot of time playing with Apache Camel. I really like this EAI-framework. Thus, I will hold a workshop in our company and at some external events, e.g. at the IT conference “Confess 2011” in Vienna. It helps you a lot in any integration project within the Java environment. The book “Camel in Action” released some weeks ago. If you want to learn Apache Camel, you need this book! Here is my short review.
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