Point-to-point integration, also known as one-to-one integration is the simpler of the two integration models. Point-to-point integration is very tightly coupled and is used when a sender has to send a message to a single receiver (that is, a 1:1 relationship).
While adequate for simple integration, this model is quickly unmanageable for larger integration requirements because of the n(n-1) connections rule (also referred to as the n-squared problem).
As an example, assume that four different systems have to be integrated. This means that the total number of connections can be up to 12 (a bi-directional connection counts as two connections). This rarely happens in practice, but it does illustrate how quickly this integration model can become unmanageable with even a small number of systems. Hence, this model should be adopted when the number of systems that need to be adopted is fairly small.
Figure 1 illustrates how fast the number of connections can grow.
Figure 1 The n(n-1) rule for point-to-point integration
Another drawback of this model is that it’s fairly fragile. By its nature, point-to-point integration is used for synchronous communications. If the receiver is down, the entire system can fail (or at the very least, hang) because of the tight coupling between the sender and the receiver.
The tightly coupled nature of the point-to-point integration results in a ripple effect whenever there is a change or update in one system, thus impacting every other systems integrating with the system undergoing the change.
Following are the reasons why this model is harmful for infrastructure:
- Exponential Increase in Complexity
- Single Points Of Failure
- No Course Of Action For Emergencies
- Loss of Business Agility
- Inflexible and Brittle
- Expensive to maintain
- Cannot implement new standards
Middle ware Integration
Middleware is application-independent software that provides services that mediate between applications. Middleware hides the complexities of the underlying operating system and network in order to facilitate the easy integration of new and legacy systems. This is a means for connecting clients to servers, clients to clients, and servers to servers without having to navigate through many operating systems, networks or resources server layers. There are two types of middleware, logical, that is related with how information moves through the organization and physical, that really moves the information and covers the technology used for this purpose.
P2P vs SOA Cost Comparison
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