Middleware

Middleware (English for services layer or intermediate application) referred to in the computer science application-neutral programs that mediate between applications so that the complexity of these applications and their infrastructure are hidden. You can Middleware as a distribution platform, that is, as one of the protocol ( or protocol bundle) perceive on a higher layer than the ordinary computer communication. In contrast to lower level network services, which handle simple communication between computers, middleware supports communication between processes.

In the field of computer games development, however subsystems for parts such as the game physics are referred to as middleware. This middleware is often prepared and offered by third-party developers.

Operation and applications

Middleware is a layer in a complex software system, the other otherwise decoupled software components allows as a "service " data exchange. Most of these communication makes use of a network that is made transparent by the middleware for it -use software components. Middleware cooperates at a high level within the layer model: Your task is thus not the low-level communication for individual bytes ( for example as an OS provides ). Middleware organizes the transport of complex data (so-called messaging ), mediated function calls between components ( so-called remote procedure calls ), the transaction security across otherwise independent subsystems ago (function as a transaction monitor ), etc.

Middleware software is available as standard software from multiple manufacturers. Technically, it provides software interfaces or services. A software component, which wants to use the middleware layer to communicate with a software component B can use these interfaces. The corresponding calls are forwarded by the middleware software component over the network. Here are usually common network standard protocols - almost always IP and TCP, it usually based HTTP, on this basis, inter alia, SOAP or Web Services - used. On the receiver side, the middleware sets the request into a function call to the software B. If necessary, it passes back the "answer " of component B to component A on the same path.

A disadvantage of middleware can their size and clumsiness are called. To optimize the performance of these programs is rarely possible due to the programmer.

Middleware categories

A rough subdivision for better understanding:

Typical middleware products

  • Cold Fusion - ColdFusion
  • Application Link Enabling ( ALE) of SAP
  • Common Object Request Broker Architecture CORBA shortly by the Object Management Group (OMG)
  • D-Bus from freedesktop.org project
  • Element of ENEA
  • EAI products: most include middleware functionality ( and additional modeling tools and runtime engines for processes )
  • Enterprise Service Bus Oracle
  • Merger of Oracle
  • Wildfly RedHat JBoss Application Server
  • Membrain realtime Connector ( RTC) of Membrain
  • Missing Link Server ( MLS)
  • IBM's MQSeries
  • Object Broker of BEA Systems, ( Object Request Broker)
  • SAP Process Integration SAP
  • Tibco TIBCO
  • Transparent Inter Process Communication (Open Source, originally developed by Ericsson )
  • Visibroker Borland
  • Vitria Vitria
  • WebSphere Application Server IBM (Java EE server)
  • X gene of Swiss Risk AG
  • XmlBlaster ( open source )
.NET Framework Java remote method invocation Asynchronous I/O Queue area Java Message Service Enea AB Oracle Corporation JBoss (company) IBM WebSphere MQ TIBCO Software TIPC Distributed Computing Environment Systemsoftware Integrated Authority File
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