Building loosely coupled integrations with Logic Apps

Toon Vanhouttehttps://be.linkedin.com/pub/toon-vanhoutte/6/276/84b

Building loosely coupled integrations with Logic Apps

Toon VanhoutteSolution Architect

@toonvanhoutte

Consider the following scenario

Enterprise integration

FILE, FTP, SFTP

Pure messaging

100+ Integrations

Batching

Debatching

Canonical data format

Business Critical

Goal of this sessionCan we establish such enterprise

integrations with Logic Apps?

Let’s get our hands dirty!

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Receive FF Archive FF Parse to XML Transform Send XML

Analyze the result!

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We cannot reuse this development effort in similar integrations!

This workflow is too tightly coupled with its

receiving transport protocol!

There’s no option to resume this workflow if it fails during processing.

This is spaghetti interfacing! There’s no

loose coupling or pub/sub involved! This workflow handles

multiple files, which results in difficult troubleshooting!

ConclusionLogic Apps is not a fit for enterprise integration!

Democratization of integration

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➔ IFTT / P2P integration➔ SaaS connectivity➔ Failure expected /

tolerated➔ Democratized➔ User-centric➔ API’s

Citizen Integration➔ Loosely coupled

integrations➔ On-Premise LOB systems➔ Mission critical➔ Dedicated IT resources➔ Organization-centric➔ API’s + Messaging

Enterprise Integration

BizTalk Server

Logic Apps

Logic Apps is a natural fit for citizen integration

you know your patternsyou know its strengthsyou know its limitations

Logic Apps can be used for enterprise integration if

Analyze the result!

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We cannot reuse this development effort in similar integrations!

This workflow is too tightly coupled with its

receiving transport protocol!

There’s no option to resume this workflow if it fails during processing.

This is spaghetti interfacing! There’s no

loose coupling or pub/sub involved! This workflow handles

multiple files, which results in difficult troubleshooting!

Design your solution to enable reuse of

common integration tasks!

Perform protocol and message processing in different Logic Apps.

Design your solution to turn resubmit into

resume functionality!

Don’t forget your enterprise integration patterns! Avoid P2P! One Logic App

instance should handle only

one message.

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How to achieve this?➔ Process Manager: orchestrates the message

exchange by consuming reusable nested Logic Apps➔ Publish - Subscribe: leverage Azure Service Bus and the Logic Apps connector to create loosely couple integrations

➔ Routing Slip: configure a message exchange, by reusing Logic Apps, without the need for a central process manager

➔ Templated Deployments: leverage advanced deployment techniques to introduce reuse of development efforts

The Routing Slip Pattern

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➔ Route a message through a series of processing steps➔ Dynamically assign a route for each message➔ The message exchange is completely config-based

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The Routing Slip Pattern➔ How to assign a routing slip?

➔ External➔ Static➔ Dynamic➔ Scheduled

➔ How to invoke a service (step)?➔ Sync➔ Async➔ Combination

Using Azure Service Bus

The Claim Check Pattern

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➔ Azure Service Bus has a 256kB message size limit➔ Store the payload in Azure Blob Storage➔ Include a SAS-URI reference in the exchanged message

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The Final Solution➔ Developed a custom API App that:

➔ Provides Routing Slip functionality➔ Reads Routing Slips from Azure File Share➔ Integrates with Azure Service Bus➔ Leverages claim check pattern with Azure Blob

Storage

Example: Routing

Slip

Example: Transform

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Example: Flat File Decoding

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Example: Debatching

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Example: Batching

Demo time!

Debatching

Scenario 01 – Debatching of Sales Order

Batching

Scenario 02 – Batching of Invoices

Analyse the result!

Advantages➔ Solid design➔ Configuration driven➔ Fast release cycles➔ Robust➔ Good error handling➔ Easy side-by-side

versions28

Challenges➔ Requires solid

framework➔ Async = expensive

➔ Service Bus➔ Blob Storage➔ Polling

➔ Monitoring

Conclusion

Logic Apps is a natural fit for citizen integration

you know your patternsyou know its strengthsyou know its limitations

Logic Apps can be used for enterprise integration if

Thank you!

Toon VanhoutteSolution Architect

@toonvanhoutte