Implementing Entity Services using NoSQL – Part 4: Java EE

Now that I have prepared a skeleton contract-first web-service and created a data access layer using Ektorp and CouchDB, it’s time to wire them together into a fully working entity service. To do this I’m going to use Java EE and Glassfish 3.1.

It’s worth noting at this point that it’s not strictly necessary that I use Java EE at all for his kind of R&D work. I don’t need the security or the transaction features that are provided by a JEE server like Glassfish and I could probably use something a little lighter like Tomcat or Jetty. However, I do like the convenience and the features of JEE, and many applications that begin life on an standard Java application server like Tomcat do end up either grafting JEE features into Tomcat (like JAX-WS) or migrating to a full JEE server like Glassfish.

Commissioning Glassfish 3 application servers on AWS EC2

Service Autonomy is one of the 8 key SOA design principals. One way that you can achieve better service autonomy and create more scalable services is to give each service it’s own hardware to play with. Cloud infrastructure like Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (called EC2 for short) is designed to fill this need by alowing you to add hardware at short notice and scale it horizontally or vertically.

Getting Started with BPMN

BPMN is a brilliant tool for designing or documenting your business processes, but it can be a bit daunting if you’re faced with adopting the diagramming standard quickly or within large teams.

But all is not lost – with these simple tips you can ease your adoption and see great results within a few hours.

My top tips are:

1. Lead by example – get stuck in.
2. Use my handy notation guide or others like it.
3. Peer review models with the whole team to get consistency in your approach.
4. Start with ‘as-is’ processes first, agree them, then create ‘to-be’ processes.
5. Keep it simple. As a team agree, the notation shapes you will and will not use.
6. Use a good diagramming tool, preferably something with team support like EA.
7. Accept that diagrams are never right first time, ever, even for pro’s!
8. Get proficient at diagramming first, save BPEL and other technologies for later.

BPMN Diagramming Cheat Sheet

This is my personal BPMN 1.1 cheat sheet I created in EA. I’ve put this together based on a couple of years of experience of daily BPMN diagramming within a medium sized analysis and design team. The cheat sheet contains a whole host of tips for creating basic but valid BPMN models and some guidelines on how ensure your diagrams are clear, concise and easy to understand.

Ben’s BPMN (1.1) Notation Cheat Sheet

To download a copy, just click on the thumbnail above.