Migrating Traditional Business Rules Applications to the Cloud

1. Migrating Traditional Business Rules Applications to the Cloud Alexander Schmidt aschmidt@inrule.com http://www.inrule.com April 20, 2010

2. Overview • Introduction to BRE and Cloud • Objectives and Solution • Performance and Scalability • Simulation in the Cloud • Advantages and Conclusions

3. Introduction to Business Rules Spreadsheets & Documents ApplicationCode Where Business Rules Are Found Databases Mainframe Systems Processes Components of a Business Rule Management System (BRMS) Authoring Create and test business processes using business rules Rule Repository Store, organize, report and auditbusiness policies Rule Execution and Monitoring Deploy and monitor automated business policies as they execute.

4. Introduction to the Cloud • Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computersand other deviceson-demand, like apublic utility. • 3 major players:Microsoft AzureAmazon Elastic CloudGoogle App Engine Cloud Application Application Storage Compute Config Fabric

5. Objectives • Minimize TCO • Simplify BR management • Rules rollout should be quick • Rules repository

6. Towards BRMS Service Bus • Ruleapps are discoverable, other departments within an organization, i.e. feduciary, riskmanagement can get access,perform audit etc. • Can become a knowledge base thatis extendable as new services are added tothe service bus, a step towards SaaS. • Better security due to centralization of data, increased security-focused resources, etc. • Great opportunity for applicationsin different industries includingHealth, R&D, Education.

7. Solution • Traditional BRMS migration to Cloud • Parallel execution of rule applications (rule app and rule parallelism) • Cloud-based rule repository Architecture Overview Functional Overview

8. Architecture Overview AooFabric Server AooFabric Server RuleApp RuleApp RuleApp Schema Repository Entities EndPoints State Xml Schema Data SDS Rules Calculations Vocabulary Decisiontables Constraints Microsoft Azure

9. Functional Overview AppFabric Modules 1 PowerShell: AppFabric Command-lets WAS W2wp.exe (AppPool worker) Cache Service 2 Config AppDomain 3 ASP.NET Code MonitoringStore Event Management Service 4 Rule app Modules Code Service Rule Engine Workflow Service Workflow Management Service Repository

10. Performance and Scalability • Breaking down into chunks • Working Memory • Network • State management • Retrieving State • Storing State • Optimizations • Rete Algorithm (caching, logic optimiz.) • Sequential vs. Parallel rule execution

11. Repository Provider for the Cloud

12. Simulation • Goals • Verify BRMS in the Cloud • Evaluate performance and scalability • Check architecture decisions affecting BRE applications specific to Cloud • Methods • A sample ruleapp executed in the Cloud (AppFabric, Service Bus) • Repository in the Cloud

13. A sample ruleapp executed in the Cloud • Rule application with an entity • Entity contains 2 fields andreturns sum of both as a result // Create the rule app RuleApplicationDef ret = new RuleApplicationDef("Demo"); // Add Entity EntityDef entity1 = new EntityDef("TestEntity"); ret.Entities.Add(entity1); // Add Fields entity1.Fields.Add(new FieldDef("Value1", DataType.Number)); entity1.Fields.Add(new FieldDef("Value2", DataType.Number)); entity1.Fields.Add(new FieldDef("Result", "Value1 + Value2", DataType.Number)); return ret;

14. Sample Ruleapp Statistics • Tests performed in • On-premises environment • Intel Core i5, 4GB, 2.27 GHz • 1 Instance • Cloud environment • Windows Azure Guest OS 1.2 • 10 Instances

15. Repository in the Cloud Local DB SQL Azure

16. Repository in the Cloud Statistics • Goals • Deploy repository toCloud • Measure performanceof repository ops • Methods • Test rule application 3.8MB • Create, checkout, check in tests

17. SQL Azure vs. Local SQL Server • Not all features are supported • Replication and file management is automatic • Conceptually similar to an on-premise instance of SQL Server • Same Relational Data Model

18. Oracle in the Cloud • Oracle 11gR2 through Amazon Web Services (AWS) • Real Applications Cluster (RAC), Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and Storage Grid in the Cloud • Repository is similar to the one for SQL Server • Same product in the Cloud as the on-premises • AMI (Amazon Machine Image) is available

19. Advantages and Conclusions • Centralized repository • Improved security (centralized) • Unlimited scalability • Recovery • Improved application performance • Minimized TCO

20. References: • Windows Azure • http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/ • Windows Server AppFabric Architecture • http://blogs.msdn.com/endpoint/archive/2010/03/24/windows-server-appfabric-architecture.aspx • Oracle in the Cloud • http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/cloud/pdf/oracle-in-the-cloud-datasheet.pdf • Developing a Cloud-based Virtual Machine • http://cloudslam09.com/content/developing-cloud-based-virtual-machine-81.html • Migrating Traditional Business Rules Applications to the Cloud • http://www.alexschmidt.net/research/migrating-traditional-bre-to-cloud.pdf

21. Q&A