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This naturally leads to two important questions:
- Is Apache Synapse an ESB?
- How is Apache Synapse different from Apache ServiceMix?
Firstly in the words of Dave Chappell one of the founders of Synapse and the author of the book Enterprise Service Bus
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A number of solutions that broker or mediate Web services exchanges are described as ESBs, and Synapse can reasonably be included in that category. However, what most defines an ESB is not its architecture, but its function, which in general terms is to provide
- a manageable system of message-based connectivity
- with a high degree of performance, scalability and reliability
- spanning multiple transports and heterogeneous endpoints.
In providing management through WS-* to Apache Axis, the Apache Synapse project provides a very important and useful capability to Web services. However, in its current implementation Apache Synapse would be overextended as an "architectural" solution. Building an SOA on Apache Synapse would presume that all exchanges in the SOA would be made through SOAP-based Web Services, that the management of the exchanges would be invoked exclusively by means of WS-*, and that the underlying SOAP stack(s) implement the relevant protocols.
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