DataPower

XML Integration Appliance XI50

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Product profile
A 1U (1.75" thick) rack-mountable network device capable of
transforming between disparate message formats, including
binary, legacy, and XML, and providing message routing and
security. XI50 can be used for cost-effective XML enablement of
mainframes, wirespeed enterprise message buses, and
enterprise application integration.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Overview
IBM SOA appliances are purpose-built, easy-to-deploy network
devices that simplify, help secure, and accelerate your XML and
Web services deployments while extending your SOA
infrastructure. These new appliances offer an innovative,
pragmatic approach to harness the power of SOA while
simultaneously enabling you to leverage the value of your
existing application, security, and networking infrastructure
investments.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Overview
WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances - Helps you simplify,
secure, and accelerate your XML and Web services
deployments while extending your SOA infrastructure. There are
3 types of appliances:
WebSphere DataPower Integration Appliance XI50 - XI50 can
be used for cost-effective XML enablement of mainframes,
wirespeed enterprise message buses, and enterprise application
integration.
WebSphere DataPower XML Security Gateway XS40 - Purpose-
built by some of the world's top XML experts to help secure XML
and Web services transactions
WebSphere DataPower XML Accelerator XA35 - Helps offload
overtaxed servers by processing XML, XSD, XPath and XSLT at
wirespeed
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Overview
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Key Features & Benefits

• Acceleration of existing integration hubs.
• Mainframe modernization and Web services
• Appliance simplicity
• Any-to-any transformation
• Integrated message level security
• Sophisticated multi-step message routing, filtering, and processing
• Multiple synchronous and asynchronous transport protocols
• Detailed logging and audit trail
• Standards-based interfaces
• Agile, highly flexible underlying scripting/configuration support
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Key Features & Benefits

• XML enablement and wirespeed application integration
• Metadata-based integration
• Security and performance
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Enhance Features for version 3.6.1

• Configuration checkpoints
• Conformance Policy
• Conformance validation
• Document processing
• IMS™ protocol support
• NFS
• Quality of Service (QoS)
• Role-based management (RBM)
• SOAP Messages with Attachments (SwA)
• SOAP 1.2
• SQL data source
• Virtual LAN (VLAN)
• Web Services Policy (WS-Policy)
• Web Services Reliable Messaging (WSRM)
• WebSphere® MQ
• WSDL interface
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Monitoring and management

• Count monitors: increment very time messages pass through a service.
Can generate notifications.
• Duration monitors: increment very time a configured amount of time
Passes, are used for delay or throttle

• Web Service monitors: level activity based on user-configured.

• Service level monitors: provide a finer degree of user control.

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

XML threat protection and security

• Checks on the incoming XML including the
following:
• XML/SOAP firewall, filtering based on message content, headers, or other network
variables
• Incoming/outgoing data validation
• Data schema validation (XML and binary)
• XML threat protection
• Single message XML denial of service (XDoS) protection
• Multiple message XML denial of service (XDoS) protection
• Message tampering protection
• Protocol threat protection
• XML virus protection
• Dictionary attack protection
• SQL injection protection
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Functional acceleration
• The performance advantage of DataPower appliances are often close to seventy
times higher than when using general purpose systems alone. When digital signature
checking and message encryption/decryption take place, there is a great deal of
overhead in processing messages.
• The intermediary DataPower appliance decrypts and authenticates the message
before forwarding it in the clear over the last mile hop to eventual service provider.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Application-aware routing and data aggregation

• DataPower is capable of choosing from requests, hosting servers depending on
dynamic network conditions and service-level information, such as with the XPath
language .
• DataPower Appliances allow wire-speed translation of data models using XSLT,
completely decoupling the client from the implementation.
• DataPower can retrieve data from a database not just to enable lookup-baesd
routing, but also to augment service requests as they pass through the appliance. In
this way, messages can be enriched with data dynamically.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Protocol and format bridging

• Protocols. Services can be exposed and called using any combination of the typical
protocols used for passing SOAP and XML messages in an SOA, such as HTTP,
HTTPS and JMS. Direct communication with WebSphere MQ and IMS Connect is
also supported.
• Any-to-any Transformation Engine: If the enterprise’s standard protocols reach
beyond the commonly accepted Web Services data formats, appliances can parse
and transform arbitrary binary, flat text and XML messages, including EDI, COBOL
Copybook, ISO 8583, CSV, ASN.1 and ebXML.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Configuration Architecture
• DataPower device consists of layers of related objects.
DataPower Device

Service
Processing Policy
Rule
Action

Filter
XSLT

• Service objects, such as an XSL Proxy, XML Firewall or

Web Service Proxy,occupy the top layer. .
• Any single service has only one processing policy.
The processing policy,however, might have any number of rules.
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Configuring and using DataPower

• DataPower provides a powerful Web Graphical User Interface (Web GUI). It shows the
palette of common mediations (actions) that can be dropped in the message processing
policy.
• In addition to the WebGUI, DataPower provides a command line interface (CLI) that is
accessible via SSH and Telnet. Programmatic support is enabled through XML management
interfaces, such as the Service-Oriented Management API (SOMA) and the Appliance
Management Protocol (AMP).
• An Eclipse plug-in enables tooling support for configuration. Multiple appliances can be
managed together as part of a set through the use of IBM Tivoli Composite Appliance
Management System Edition for WebSphere DataPower (ITCAMSE for WDP).
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Logging
• Various objects on the device can generate log messages during
normal operation.
• Log targets: local files, HTTP-based destination, Syslog, SNMP, SMTP.

• Log categories: the use of categories allows log targets to subscribe.

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

WebGui Control Panel

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Configure Web Service Proxy Sample

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

DataPower Weaknesses
• The use of Front Side Handler is confusing and can potentially
cause problems in design time and run time.
• Port numbers need to be associated with each Web Service Proxy,
can cause problem in load balancing and uri.
• DataPower can be polluted with unwanted objects due to deletion,
can cause problem in limited space and too many unwanted objects.

• Monitor is weak, only keep track for 3 hours.

• Debugging and probing can be dangerous if the person is not trained.

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Suggested DataPower Setup

• We would like to keep dev, qa and production DataPower in very
similar structure.
• The suggested domains are by regions: National, NCAL, SCAL, HI,
NW, CO, GA, OH and MAS.
• Pre-assigned port numbers for each domain (region) so that they are
not overlapping.

• Setup Web Service Proxy within DataPower to use default port 80 only.

• Setup reports to run against DataPower clean up un-used objects.

DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Suggested Domains and Web Service Proxy Setup

WS
Proxy:80

KP Domain

WS
WS WS Proxy:8000
WS
Proxy:1000
WS Proxy:2000
WS Proxy:8002
WS
Proxy:1002
WS Proxy:2001
WS Proxy:8003
Proxy:1003 Proxy:2003
WS
WS WS Proxy:8999
Proxy:1999 Proxy:2999

MAS Domain
National Domain NCAL Domain
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Suggested Topology

ND

IHS
ND

WS Providers
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Demo
DataPower
XML Integration Appliance XI50

Support
http://www.datapower.com
Reference docs:

• ReferenceGuide.pdf
• WebGUIGuide.pdf
• 3.6.1-Extensions-Common.pdf