A comparison of using NServiceBus versus Mule ESB for service bus integration geared towards Microsoft C# developers.

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NServiceBus / Mule ESB Comparison
February, 2015
Michael Byrne
Practice Director, Integration and Custom Solutions
mbyrne@spitfiregroup.com
Doug Gregory
Practice Director, Enterprise Architecture
dgregory@spitfiregroup.com
www.spitfiregroup.com

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Overview
• Apples and Oranges are both food
• NServiceBus and Mule are both ESBs

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High-Level Comparison
• Code-centric  API / Framework
• One-way / request-response / publish-subscribe
messaging
• Sagas for long running processes
• Good for messaging between .NET applications
NServiceBus
• Configuration Centric
• Integration-platform-as-a-service (IPAAS)
• Heterogeneous environment
Mule ESB

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NServiceBus Challenges
• Cannot necessarily be plugged directly into existing WCF
services without changes
• Web App
• Send to another tier (service tier) which then publishes
(Don’t use Publish from Web Application!).
• Command -> Event architecture
• http://www.make-awesome.com/2010/10/why-not-publish-
nservicebus-messages-from-a-web-application/
• Requires Service layers as either custom windows services,
or NServiceBus.Host.exe services.
• Easier to configure using NServiceBus Studio extensions
for Visual Studio

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Comparative Estimates
• Independently estimated a 66% reduction in the needed
development effort compared to a implementation against an
existing NServiceBus architecture.
• Matches numbers we later learned from MuleSoft
• After initial architecture patterns are created, skill level to
apply the patterns is lower

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Mule Connectors
• Out-of-box access to many systems
• SalesForce
• Streaming API support allows for integration from behind a firewall
(Bayeux protocol based on COMET – similar to SignalR)
• ServiceNow
• SQL Server (JDBC)
• Concur
• Many More – 125+ Connectors

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Mule Support for Microsoft Platform
With MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform instantly access a
large library of Microsoft products and enable cross-
platform connectivity:

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Vision for developer experience
Call .NET assets in the context of
a Mule flow
Build and debug integration
components in VS.NET

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.Vision for Microsoft Platform
RESTful APIs
SOAP APIs
RAML for .NET (Coming Soon)
AMQP Connector
WCF/JAX Support
Visual Studios Designer Integration
(coming soon)
BizTalk Migrator
(coming Soon)
MSMQ Connector
.NET Connector
Microsoft Application Connectors
(Dynamics, SharePoint, SQL Server)

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Scenario – Integration with
SalesForce
• NServiceBus
• Connectivity
• Need a web application listener exposed through the firewall to
receive SalesForce events. Follow Command – Event pattern to
handle events in Services tier.
• or a custom implementation of Bayeux protocol to receive streaming
events, AND a custom Windows Service for polling implementation to
guarantee message reliability
• API
• Need to implement custom code to call SalesForce APIs
• Mule
• Connectivity
• Add an endpoint for streaming.
• Add a polling endpoint for reliability
• API
• SalesForce connector provides extremely easy / no-code API access

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Scenario – Integration with
SalesForce – Flows

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Scenario – Integration with
SalesForce - Upsert

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Scenario – Integration with
SalesForce – Streaming Flow

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Scenario – Integration with
SalesForce – Polling Flow

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Scenario - Integration with COTS
Database
• May not be able to have COTS send an NServiceBus
message
• NServiceBus
• Need a scheduled polling solution, either NServiceBus
scheduler, or a custom Windows Service.
• Need a mechanism to track progress (watermark).
• Need to implement database access code
• Need to create an consume events and translate to APIs
in various systems
• Mule
• Built-in polling / watermarking
• Built-in JDBC access / infrastructure
• Datamapper can map data between message payloads
and APIs

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Scenario – Integration with COTS
Database – Polling

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Scenario – Integration with COTS
Database – Polling XML

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Scenario – Integration with COTS
Database – Data Mapper

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Staged Event Driven Architecture
(SEDA)
• Each flow is treated as a configurable Stage
http://www.mulesoft.org/documentation/display/current/Tuning+Performance

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Mule ESB - Enterprise
• Self-contained 480 MB distribution
• Includes an integrated management console website

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CloudHub
• Lighter set of Admin features
• Requires network connections back into SQL databases

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AnyPoint API Platform
(RAML developer experience inside VS.NET IDE)
Anypoint Studio
API Designer
API Manager
API Notebook

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RAML Example
Mule is working on adding RAML design to Visual Studio

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Mule for C# Developers
AnyPoint
Studio
•Based on Eclipse
•Source Code integration
•No custom code integration
MEL
•Mule Expression Language (based on MVEL / MVFLEX Expression Language)
•Java / JavaScript syntax
Groovy
•Dynamic Language based on Java
Spring
•Dependency Injection
Maven
•Build and Template Management
Java
•Writing simple POJOs instead of POCOs
•Helper classes
•Classes to override and extend behavior

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Platform Tools Comparison
NServiceBus Mule ESB
Code Centric Configuration Centric
C# .NET Java / Invoke .NET Business Logic
Visual Studio AnyPoint Studio (Eclipse)
MSMQ (other pluggable
Transports)
MSMQ
JMS / AMQP (ActiveMQ /
RabbitMQ, etc)
MS Build Maven
Unity / Castle Windsor /
Spring.NET / StructureMap /
Autofac / Niject / other
Spring (Beans)
NServiceBus.Host.Exe or custom
service
Mule ESB / Mule Management
Console
Windows Clustering Active-Active Shared Memory
Clustering

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Spitfire Lessons Learned
NServiceBus
• Good solution for integrating
custom .NET applications where
you control the code
• Integrating with Cloud or COTS
solutions where you don’t
control the code can require a
lot of custom code to get
messages onto the ESB
Mule ESB
• Good solution if you have a
heterogeneous environment, or
know you will need to integrate
with Cloud or COTS in the
future
• A working Mule application can
be developed through AnyPoint
Studio with no Java code /
Spring / Maven / Groovy
• Minimize Java dependencies by
engaging specific resources or
outside help with basic setup /
architecture, then leverage that
architecture across
configuration-based flows.

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Questions / Discussion
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