It would be quite desirable, in a perfect world to be able to accomplish any JON administrative task or resource query via an API call.  Today, we use a REST interface, implemented via the Jersey API, to interact with the JON provisioning system in order to support our Stand Alone Java processing.  Our SOA architecture is actually based on Spring and JMS via a home grown ESB on top of JMS (rather than standard WSDL based web services).  Those Spring services do not need a container to run in, but we use JON provisioning to deploy and manage these stand alone applications.  The deployable JON resource bundle includes all the startup and operation scripts for managing these processes and we have written JON Agent plugins that discover those processes and their operational scripts, along with their JMX MBeans (using the Java 6 attach API so we don't have to manage remote jmx ports).  This allows us to standardize multi node stand alone application suite deployment and run time management with JON, and hide all the nasty administrative details and fully automate that provisioning via a nice RESTful interface which our change Control folks leverage heavily.

In the future, rather than hoping for extensive UI enhancements for customizable dashboards in JON, itself, we plan on using the same approach to provide various administrative and application support personnel custom, slimmed down, tailor made UI's either via web apps, JSR-286 portlets, or even fat clients, that will use our JON RESTful interface to perform JON operations and manage JON managed resources.  In effect, RESTful interfaces to JON allow us to extend JON, in particular UI's, very quickly.  We also greatly simplify our need for managing large number of users and groups in JON, as we pass LDAP and Identity Asserter(RSA or SiteMinder) session cookies to the RESTful interface, perform SAML assertions on those and then call JON with single administrative account.

This is a very flexible and powerful way to work with JON without having to do a whole lot with the JON core application.  So long as the RHQ API is robust and complete enough, we are good to go!  It may be a great way for the JON product, itself, to progress.

David Webster
Union Pacific Railroad
Lead Architect-Web Infrastructure
Systems Engineering
Phone: (402) 544-1094 | Email: dawebster@up.com



From:        "Heiko W.Rupp" <hrupp@redhat.com>
To:        rhq-devel@lists.fedorahosted.org
Date:        09/30/2011 09:48 AM
Subject:        Re: REST is coming to RHQ
Sent by:        rhq-devel-bounces@lists.fedorahosted.org

---

David

Am 29.09.2011 um 15:15 schrieb David A. Webster:

> We already employ REST using Jersey extensively to interface with JON.  We write a lot of very customized dashboards that use our REST services to make JON API calls by proxy to execute operations and gather or consolidate environment information.  This is a good direction

that is cool.
Could you elaborate a little more what you are doing (and thus would expect in the RHQ api)?

> to pursue and may provide a more flexible approach to extending certain aspects about JON without having to constantly modify the core code.

Yes, this is one idea, meaning that we provide a well working basic set of features and provide the REST interface for individual
customization, sort of turning RHQ into a data hub.

 Heiko

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