Microservices Integration Added to
ClearPath Forward ePortal 10.0

An increased need for collaboration, changing business and regulatory dynamics, and emerging demands from digital natives have combined to evolve the idea of what an enterprise architecture can – and should – be. In response, many IT departments are exploring and adopting microservices deployments.

But why? What makes a microservices architecture ideally suited to deliver on changing business and IT demands?

In a microservices deployment, you’re able to break code into small chunks that perform specific business services. Because these services are decoupled, it’s easier to build, alter, and scale applications, increasing agility while limiting the strain on your resources. Replacing and upgrading services as business needs change becomes simpler, as well.

This approach lends itself well to agile development practices – and lets developers function with greater autonomy – increasing the speed with which you can bring fresh capabilities to market.

Plus, because microservices focus on a single, specific business capability, you’ll be better equipped to understand which are bringing the most value to your organization.

The best news of all? Thanks to a few key updates we’ve added to ClearPath Forward® ePortal 10.0, you’re now able to easily integrate ClearPath® MCP and ClearPath OS 2200 applications into a microservices deployment.

Outbound Web Service Communication

Using the Outbound Web Service Communication feature, you’re able to make external REST service calls directly from your MCP or OS 2200 COBOL programs.

In ePortal Developer, you now have a way to import an OpenAPI Specification, which defines the interface to an external RESTful Web Service. Once you have this definition, you’ll be able to generate a complete pipeline for calling that service from your application at runtime. You can even generate COBOL record definitions and quickly integrate them into your application, so it’s easier to make these service calls from your ClearPath Forward system.

By doing this, you’ll be able to easily integrate external microservices with the business logic residing in your ClearPath application.

Inbound REST Services

A key area in ePortal that is undergoing continuous improvement is the ability to expose ClearPath application transactions as RESTful Services. In conjunction with improvements made by Microsoft® to their open-source .NET Core offering, ePortal 10.0 gives you greater flexibility when defining RESTful Services. For instance, you can now control the way a Service operation should be called, what type of data it consumes and produces, how that data is transferred in the request and response, and much more.

But That’s Not All…

In addition to these exciting microservices-enabling features, ePortal 10.0 offers the following new and updated capabilities:

• Enhanced ePortal Manager web site: The ePortal Manager web site’s user interface has been updated to take advantage of current technologies, and also includes improvements in such areas as role management, authorization, and user feedback on long-running processes.
• Enterprise compatibility: New networking capabilities in ePortal Software Edition support domain-based services like DNS and DCHP, making it easier to integrate it into your environment.
• Publishing technology: You can now take advantage of standard Microsoft publishing technology when deploying your ePortal applications. Using the Microsoft Visual Studio® “Publish” option, you can stage an ePortal presentation project to your ClearPath Forward system, copy the presentation project files to appliances on the system, and use ePortal Manager to deploy the application to an ePortal Web Cluster.
• External load balancing: With this update, you’re free to use your preferred load balancer in your ePortal environment.
• Xamarin client technology: Xamarin Forms mobile development technology is now supported in ePortal, augmenting the solution’s current responsive design capabilities and giving you the freedom to choose between two industry-popular development paradigms.
• SSL configuration for AB Suite: A new configuration option in ePortal 10.0 allows you to establish an SSL connection for Agile Business Suite (AB Suite®), so you can maintain compatibility with security enhancements made to the RATL protocol and encrypt data between your ePortal application and AB Suite environment.
• Visual Studio 2019 qualification: ePortal 10.0 is qualified with Visual Studio 2019, allowing you to utilize the development environment’s newest capabilities in ePortal Developer.
• OS 2200 XPC-L cluster support: By enabling ePortal 10.0 to participate in eXtended Processing Complex Lock (XPC-L) clusters, your applications can take advantage of a multi-host clustering environment that delivers extensive horizontal growth, capacity, and non-stop availability.
• Connection Pooling enhancements: This feature extends the current Connection Pooling support for AB Suite and Enterprise Application Environment (EAE) applications by providing scope for custom-pooled objects on an application-by-application basis.
• Support for Windows Server 2019: ePortal Software Edition supports Microsoft Windows Server® 2019 and all of the release’s new features and capabilities.
• Information Center: With ePortal 10.0, you get access to the all-new ePortal Information Center – a comprehensive, one-stop shop for all ePortal documentation and related assets.
• Orchestration enhancements: The Orchestration feature has received the following updates:
  • Message assignment: Allows you to specify from which message to apply the automatic assigns in the “Assign Data for Message” dialog box.
  • External process parameters: Adds local variables, calculation, and literal parameters to external processes.
  • Initial value property: Enables you to set an initial value for ePortal orchestration variables.
    

If you’d like to learn more about how ClearPath Forward ePortal 10.0 can benefit your business – or have questions about utilizing the solution to support microservices – please contact your Unisys sales representative. And for additional information, please visit our web site to see all the value ePortal can bring to MCP and OS 2200 environments.