Karen Brent
Published on October 4, 2013
If you used WebSphere Message Broker Version 7, you might be familiar with the concept of a message flow project (known as a Message Broker project in V8) as a container for the message flows and other resources that contribute to a solution.
WebSphere Message Broker Version 8 introduces a new container that is called an application. An application differs from a Message Broker project in that, when you deploy an application, the resources are deployed to the execution group in a self-contained environment. The application's self-contained environment provides runtime isolation for the resources within the application. Runtime isolation means that an individual application can be stopped, restarted, or updated without affecting, or being affected by, other resources that are deployed in the execution group.
You can still continue to use Message Broker projects if you don't require the runtime isolation or you can convert Message Broker projects to applications if you do want to make use of this capability.
WebSphere Message Broker Version 8 also introduces a container that is called a library. A library is a container for a set of related resources that are typically used by more than one Message Broker project or application. By using a library, you can define and develop a single instance of a resource and then reuse it in several integration solutions.
Libraries can be used by both Message Broker projects and applications. However, there are significant differences between the way that Message Broker projects use libraries and the way that applications use libraries.
Once a library is deployed, you can modify the library to include updated or new resources. However, the steps you must take to make the modified library available to Message Broker project resources are different from the steps you must take to make the modified library available to applications.
The scenario Updating a WebSphere Message Broker library (PDF attached) explains the differences between the use of libraries by Message Broker project resources and the use of libraries by applications, and provides the steps that are required to make library updates available to Message Broker project resources as well as the steps that are required to make the library updates available to applications.
If you have any suggestions for other scenarios associated with the use of applications or libraries, please let us know by adding a comment.
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