Project objective

The aim of the project was to enable the customer, CETIN a. s., to expose a secured REST API and manage the lifecycle of its interfaces. The original integration platform could not effectively create them. At the same time, this platform allows to use all the advantages of container technologies.

Implementation

During the initial workshop, we designed and explained to the customer the entire interface design lifecycle, including the "branching" strategy in Git. The entire deployment and configuration automation was designed using Ansible software that can be run through GitLab CI. Sensitive data such as names and passwords are stored in the KeyVault (HashiCorp Vault).

The platform is designed for HA operation with the ability to scale to customer requirements. At the same time, Disaster recovery scenarios were drawn up for the platform.

Implementation steps

Designs of individual environments, their sizing and configuration were created. The PostgreSQL relational database was chosen for data storage. The following steps were taken during the implementation:

• Creating installation and configuration of Ansible roles on WSO2 API Management and RH-SSO
• Creating automation roles for deploying API Management services
• Installation and configuration on 5 environments (3 of them in HA)
• Connecting administration screens to RH-SSO and centralised security
• Configuring the creation of clients that communicate with the platform and are stored in RH-SSO
• Linking Ansible and GitLab CI automation with container promotion
• Connecting the entire design process after service deployment
• Securing data in HashiCorp Vault and connecting to Ansible
• Performance and stress tests
• Connection to central log management

Part of the implementation was a set of training sessions and workshops where all the information about WSO2 API Management implementation was given. At the same time, installation and administration documentation was added.

Next phase of the project

Following the successful delivery of the first phase of API Management and Process Automation, Phase 2 has been implemented to further expand the capabilities of this component. It is mainly a SOAP/REST adapter allowing the translation of REST calls to SOAP and back.

This implementation will allow the customer to automate the transformation of the above services without additional development work or modifications to existing interfaces. At the same time, all information about the transformation is logged and transferred to the centralized log management.

The project also includes an integration methodology where we have created a basic inventory of all interface requirements.

Project result

There are currently 2 instances of WSO2 API Management running on the production environment (internal and external perimeters), which are set as HA. In total, there are 6 API Gateways running on the production environment that can provide defined services.

This project showed the benefits of using automation and the GitOps approach, where the implementation and deployment of services in the CETIN a.s. environment was simplified. At the same time, GUIs provide information about deployed services and their versions (Devportal), so that developers or operations can easily check deployed services.

What says the customer about our services?

“Wesecon company belongs to our key partners and not only in the integration platform development field. They always proactively search and suggest the most suitable solution for our needs. Within this project they have successfully integrated WSO2 API Management to CETIN environment and fully adapted it to the internal processes. For the customer side I must express satisfaction not only with the supplier approach and communication during the whole project duration, but especially with the final delivery.“

Pavel Jindra, IT Manager, Enterprise Applications, CETIN a.s.