XEngine Server Module for Docker Overview

The rapidly developing application “containerization” methodology changes the way IT operations are carried out: containers have taken the spotlight alongside virtual machines. Instead of virtualizing the entire server hardware stack, container-based virtualization occurs at the operating system level. Containers share the same operating system kernel as the computer they run on and that makes them lightweight. They require far fewer resources than virtual machines with separate operating systems running on a physical server. Containers allow you to isolate your applications from your infrastructure and ensure that software runs reliably when moved from one environment to another. This gives you instant application portability.

Edifecs adopts Docker

Staying with the recent technology trends, Edifecs has adopted Docker to bring your infrastructure to a new level. We offer the XEngine Server (XES) Module for Docker that helps eliminate the need to configure environments for XEServer. An entire run-time environment - software (XEServer), all its dependencies, libraries, and configuration files required to run it are bundled into one self-sufficient image and provided along with the basic XEServer license. To get the XES Module for Docker image, contact Edifecs support.

What we offer

Your business orchestration (profiles and routes) is kept separately in the Smart Trading Cloud or as a local profile image, which you can provide (during the XES Module for Docker startup) as a parameter and ensure identical configuration for all of your Docker instances.

With XES Module for Docker, you gain management efficiency in terms of scalability, use of memory, CPU, and storage compared to traditional virtualization and physical XEServer hosting. You can run as many XES Module for Docker instances as you require, to meet your business needs in data processing.

You can instantiate containers in a "just in time" manner when they are required and drop them when they are no longer needed, thereby freeing up resources on their hosts. You can also use a clustering tool like Docker Swarm for scaling based on your requirements to utilize resources in a cost-effective way, including automated scaling and other essential tools.

Solution benefits

XES Module for Docker brings you the following benefits:

  • A fast and easy way to spin up a new isolated XEServer environment for a given business process to boost performance during peak load.
  • Focus on building the business orchestrations (profiles), not on the software configuration and deployment.
  • The ability to store your orchestrations in the Smart Trading Cloud for continuous integration and deployment. This includes a Blue-Green deployment methodology (a technique that reduces downtime and risk by running two identical production environments) with zero downtime when new updates get into your business process.
  • The ability to use your hardware infrastructure as a resource pool for a Docker platform, rather than individually managed computers to reduce administrative and maintenance costs.
  • The ability to leverage built-in automatic recovery on failover to ensure guaranteed uptime for your business processes. The Docker technology provides out-of-the-box recovery mechanisms.
  • The ability to run other business applications alongside XEServer on a shared hardware pool.
  • The ability to leverage Docker and many other free* tools to reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). These tools are not part of the Edifecs software and have to be installed and used separately.

* Docker is free in the Community Edition.

There are some limitations with the XES Module for Docker compared to the full on-premise version of XEServer: operational monitoring is limited. You can only view a profile's start and end in Edifecs Application Manager. However, detailed statistics are available through SSH.