What is a servicebus and when do I need one?

Question

I have heard talk about the NServiceBus, but I haven\'t really understood what it is. They claim to be \"The most popular open-source service bus for .net\".

So; what

Answer 1

This term was introduced with SOA which is in a way the successor (as buzz word) of EAI.

When you need it? That's a good question. It comes with a lot of complexity.

A rule of thumb could by if it solves more problems than it causes.

To be serious if you have a heterogeneous environment and want align (different) applications (using different technology) with business processes. Then it could be helpful to use BPEL (but this introduces problems by migration) for orchestration and choreography

EDIT: What's not on wikipedia, is practice: An ESB can i.g. adapt using special connectors, old terminal applications for use with Corba or Java Enterprise thats meant by interoperability. The drawback is the over 100 'Standards' around SOAP wich don't cooperate without enormous effort.

You definitely need it if you have to interconnect IT systems within six month after a merger of 2 big assurance companies.