Host Integration Server on Azure

Introduction: This article is a continuation of the series of articles starting with the description of SignalR service which was followed by a discussion on Azure Gateway service, Azure Private Link, and Azure Private Endpoint and the benefit of diverting traffic to the Azure Backbone network. Then we started reviewing a more public internet-facing service such as the Bing API. and the benefits it provided when used together with Azure Cognitive Services. We then discussed infrastructure API such as Provider API, ARM resources, and Azure Pipeline and followed it up with a brief overview of the Azure services support for Kubernetes Control Plane via the OSBA and Azure operator.

Description: Kubernetes is not the only external environment supported by Azure. While the possibilities are endless for customers to integrate their own solutions, some planning might be required for legacy enterprise computing. In this section, we introduce the Host Integration Server and describe what it takes to host a similar service on Azure. A brief introduction follows:

A Host Integration Server empowers enterprise developers to write applications faster and will less custom code than directly be writing it on IBM host systems. There is no requirement to know the IBM host system, development tools or infrastructure. It also eliminates the need to convert data to and from data sources as the application can now connect directly to business intelligence tools.

There are five technology areas which include:

1) Network Integration that connects application infrastructure to existing IBM mainframes and midrange system network architectures. This service connects desktops, devices, and servers to existing host systems while reducing costs. For example, the print service provides server-based printer emulation.

2) The data integration component offers direct access to data stored in IBM DB2 management systems. It includes multiple data clients and one data service with support for a variety of data providers such as ADO.Net, OLEDB and ODBC.

3) Application Integration is provided by the Transaction Integrator which allows enterprise developers to call business rules in host mainframe. It comprises of a plugin designer, administration tool and runtime components.

4) Message Integration is provided by WCF channel for IBM websphere MQ which allows enterprise developers to send or receive MQ messages between WCF And heterogeneous or native IBM programs.

5) Enterprise Single-sign on provides AD integration to secure IBM host systems and maps to their host credentials storing them in SQL Server. These mappings can be retrieved at runtime from both ESSO SDK and HIS features.

Conclusion: Writing any service using Azure Services as backend is made easy with the programmability support that comes with Azure via its REST API, SDK, ARM manifests, CLI and PowerShell support. But virtualizing external environments on Azure requires a little bit more planning than just the integration of network, data, application, message, and security.