– Which Boomi deployment option fits your organization? –
Boomi is an integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) that enables organizations to develop and manage integrations between applications in the Boomi public cloud. The Boomi platform offers the flexibility to make those integrations operational on other infrastructures. Boomi and Yenlo offer interesting deployment options for this.
Moving toward the public cloud
The demand for the public cloud continues to grow. Gartner predicts spending on public cloud services will grow nearly 21% by 2023. Stand-alone business applications can now, in an accessible way, be purchased as a public cloud service, and the diversity and choice of applications are increasing. As a result, the application landscape, or the working field of an integration platform or iPaaS, consists of more and more connected SaaS applications.
Of course, specific business applications are often unavailable in a SaaS variant or for which an apparently simple “lift & shift” to a public cloud presents too many technical challenges. Moreover, such a migration process entails the necessary costs, which do not necessarily outweigh the direct benefits in the short term. Reluctance to move applications to the public cloud with concerns about data confidentiality also often plays a role.
The path that organizations take toward public cloud adoption is different.
- Digital native start-ups and scale-ups will almost exclusively use SaaS applications which means they rely heavily on public cloud services.
- At the other end of the spectrum are organizations with critical business processes embedded in, for example, on-premise ERP applications. In such a case, full migration to a public cloud is not on the roadmap in the near future.
The platform must have the flexibility to support both scenarios for an iPaaS that aims to apply application integration quickly but securely.
Boomi public cloud, with hybrid capabilities
Boomi is a cloud-native iPaaS. There has never been a previous version of Boomi that organizations could install as a software stack in an environment of their choice. Since Boomi was “born” in the cloud, the platform was set up from the ground up according to a Single instance Multi-tenant architecture. Every user of the Boomi iPaaS uses the same most recent software version of Boomi, but every working environment (tenant) of an organization is securely separated from each other.
To use the platform, the starting point is the Boomi AtomSphere, which is only available as a service in the Boomi public cloud. The development, testing, and monitoring of integration processes and APIs occur there via the users’ web browser. After developing and testing integration in AtomSphere, this process and all associated resources, such as connections, data profiles, and data mappings, are housed on a Boomi runtime. It is possible to deploy this Boomi runtime on various infrastructures, with which integrations via Boomi can run both on-premise and in the cloud or a hybrid form.
- Option A: Boomi runtime on the Boomi Atom Cloud (the Boomi public cloud)
- Option B: Boomi runtime on premise
- Option C: Boomi runtime on an IaaS of your choice
The image below gives a global overview of the options for deploying a Boomi runtime, followed by an explanation.
- Using the Boomi Atom Cloud (in the Boomi Public Cloud). The Boomi public cloud was set up by Boomi and is managed in various regions, including America, Europe, and Asia. This option is suitable when only SaaS applications need to be integrated. In addition, it is important that the development of the integrations can take into account the limit of 1GB of data processing that applies to the Boomi Atom Cloud.
- The installation of a Boomi runtime on premise. You retain a great deal of control over the available resources by using your own on-premise installation of the Boomi runtime. The organizations themselves can determine the performance & capacity by making the server or VM used for the Boomi runtime heavier. The main advantage of this scenario is the possibility to (also) set up integrations with on-premise applications, which are located in the same network as the Boomi runtime.
- Deployment of a Boomi runtime with an IaaS provider of your choice, such as Microsoft, Amazon, or Google. This option is basically similar to option B, but IaaS providers bring the benefits of elastic scaling and pay-as-you-go.It is still possible to integrate with on-premise applications, although additional services from the IaaS provider, such as a VPN, will be required.
Technical management of Boomi components
In the above paragraph, we talk about the Boomi runtime. In fact, it is available in 2 variants, namely an Atom and a Molecule. An Atom is the standard lightweight runtime that IT organizations can easily place on a server, VM, or in a Docker container. A Molecule is a clustered version of an Atom that creates a configuration that offers load balancing and high availability options. Particularly for application integrations that are part of business-critical processes, integrations must always be operational, and rolling out a Molecule is strongly recommended.
The management of a single Atom will be manageable for many IT organizations because it involves no more than monitoring underlying components such as JVM, Operating systems, and resources such as storage and memory. In the case of a Molecule, the architecture causes the technical management to become more complex. A Molecule cluster, by definition, consists of several nodes, network components such as a load balancer and shared file storage are required so that the nodes can work together.
An additional component in an on-premise or IaaS scenario can be deploying a Boomi API gateway to handle incoming API traffic securely and structurally.
Boomi arranges the technical management of the AtomSphere platform in the Boomi public cloud. However, the flexibility that is available to place the other Boomi components on-premise or in an IaaS environment creates a hybrid architecture in which organizations themselves also have a significant role in the technical management of the entire iPaaS.
A fourth option: Managed Services
There is a fourth option for organizations that are looking for more control over application integration with a low-code platform such as Boomi but want to reduce the technical management burden. Rolling out Boomi as iPaaS is accompanied by relieving stress about Boomi infrastructure. There are two options, Boomi Managed Cloud Services (MCS) and Yenlo Runtime as a Service for Boomi.
Boomi Managed Cloud Services
With Boomi Managed Cloud Services, Boomi offers organizations a collection of IT services to provide hosting and runtime maintenance. The Boomi Cloud Team is involved in the design, delivery, and operation phases for hosting.
Yenlo Runtime as a Service for Boomi
Yenlo offers Runtime as a Service, whereby the necessary infrastructure with the Boomi runtime(s) running on it is delivered and managed via Yenlo’s Connext Platform.
Various variants are available, such as a “single instance” (based on an Atom) and a “redundant instance” (based on a Molecule) with the corresponding Service Level Agreements. If relevant to the integration use case, an API gateway and a VPN connection for connection to on-premise applications in the local network of organizations are also part of the service.
The advantage for organizations is that with this service, Yenlo can be the single point of contact for:
- Advising on Boomi functionality and delivering the Boomi licenses
- Implement integrations between applications
- Keeping it operational in a Yenlo-managed environment.
The operational management provided by Yenlo can be done smartly because Runtime as a Service also includes Yenlo’s Monitoring Service. This service ensures that logging from the Boomi runtime(s) is made available in an Elastic Cloud environment, and errors are noticed faster and can be repaired.
The table below summarizes the options for deploying Boomi runtime(s):
| A Boomi Atom Cloud | B Boomi runtime on-premise | C Boomi runtime on IaaS | D Managed Runtime as a Service by Yenlo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure delivery | Boomi | You | IaaS provider | Yenlo |
| Infrastructure management | Boomi | You | You | Yenlo |
| Management of Boomi runtime(s) | Boomi | You | You | Yenlo |
| Connect on-premise apps | x | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Performance & capacity | Limited | Scalable | Scalable | Scalable |
| API-gateway infrastructure | x | ✓ (possible) | ✓ (possible) | ✓ (included) |
| Runtime health monitoring | x | Optional | Optional | ✓ (included) |
| Single point of contact | x | x | x | ✓ |
The Boomi iPaaS setup for your organization
Yenlo can support all application integration and API management stages, from analysis to implementation, and 24/7 operational support. It starts with advice on the right iPaaS that suits your organization. Suppose the choice falls on Boomi as an iPaaS. In that case, Yenlo can further advise on the correct set-up and architecture as explained in this blog: All components in the Boomi public cloud or a hybrid architecture in which organizations choose the degree of technical management that suits them. In short: Private management of Boomi runtime(s) and API gateway(s) or no stress via Boomi Managed Cloud Services or Yenlo Runtime as a Service.
Start your iPaaS selection and advice process today and contact Yenlo.
