Saturday, July 5, 2008

OSGi technology - Dynamic module system for Java

OSGi technology is Universal Middleware. OSGi technology provides a service-oriented, component-based environment for developers and offers standardized ways to manage the software lifecycle. These capabilities greatly increase the value of a wide range of computers and devices that use the Java platform.OSGi technology adopters benefit from improved time-to-market and reduced development costs because OSGi technology provides for the integration of pre-built and pre-tested component subsystems. The technology also reduces maintenance costs and advances unique new aftermarket opportunities because networks can be utilized to dynamically update or deliver services and applications in the field.

The OSGi framework can be divided in two main elements:

* Services Platform

A services platform is defined as a software platform that supports the service orientation interaction. This interaction involves three main actors: service providers, service requesters and a service registry, although only the service registry belongs to the services platform. In the service orientation interaction, service providers publish service descriptions, and service requesters discover services and bind to the service providers. Publication and discovery are based on a service description.
In the context of OSGi, a service is described as a Java class or interface, the service interface, along with a variable number of attributes, the service properties, that are name and value pairs. Service properties allow different service providers that provide services with the same service interface to be differentiated. The service registry allows service providers to be discovered through queries formulated in an LDAP syntax. Additionnaly, notification mechanisms allow service requesters to receive events signalling changes in the service registry; these changes include the publication or retrieval of a particular service.
In OSGi, service providers and requesters are part of an entity called a bundle that is both a logical as well as physical entity. Service interfaces are implemented by objects created by the bundle. In standard OSGi, the bundle is responsible for run-time service dependency management activities which include publication, discovery and binding as well as adapting to changes resulting from dynamic availability (arrival or departure) of services that are bound to the bundle.

* Deployment infrastructure


Physically, a bundle correspond to a delivery and deployment unit that is materialized by a JAR file that contains code and resources (i.e., images, libraries, etc.) along with a file that contains information about the bundle, the manifest file. The OSGi framework provides mechanisms to support continuous deployment activities (for example a local console or an administration web page). These deployment activities include installation, removal, update, starting (activation) and stopping (de-activation) of a physical bundle. Once a bundle is installed in the platform, it can be activated if deployment dependencies that are associated to the bundle are fulfilled (these dependencies are described in the next section).
Reference
http://www.osgi.org
http://gravity.sourceforge.net/servicebinder/osginutshell.html

No comments:

ORM Framework for Kotlin

In Kotlin, ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) libraries provide a convenient way to interact with databases using object-oriented programming p...