Running the Vordel XML Gateway on Oracle VM

XML Gateways are generally available as hardware-only, software-only, or with the option of hardware or software. One of the great advantages of the software option is that it means the XML Gateway can be deployed in a virtualized environment. However, XML Gateways which are available as software but require a hardware card for performance are not good candidates for virtualization. Only if the Gateway has inherent acceleration capabilities, which are not hardware dependent, can be successfully virtualized without a loss in performance.

The following table shows the three different categories of XML Gateways, and their suitability for virtualization:

Hardware only	Not suitable for virtualization
Software with reliance on hardware card for acceleration	Not suitable for virtualization
Software with no hardware dependencies	Suitable for virtualization

Since it is available as software as well as an appliance, the Vordel XML Gateway is well-suited to running in a virtualized environment. A purely hardware-based product, or a product which depends on a third-party hardware component such as a Tarari card for its performance, can't map to a virtualization environment. By contrast, the Vordel Gateway does not include hardware dependencies which would hobble it in the virtualization arena.

Oracle VM is a great example of a Xen-based virtualization platform which is well-suited to running the Vordel XML Gateway. Setting up the Vordel XML Gateway on Oracle VM is straightforward. To run the Vordel XML Gateway on Oracle VM, I created a Vordel installation on an Oracle VM template running Oracle Enterprise Linux v5 with 1GB memory and 4GB hard drive.

I used Oracle VM Manager to spin up the template. Oracle VM Server then creates a virtual machine which (in this case) retrieves an IP address via DHCP and shows up on my network as 10.10.1.106. Now, I can access it just like any Vordel Gateway instance:

This means that I can now monitor the Vordel Gateway on Oracle VM:



I can manage its policies using Policy Studio, by connecting to the Oracle VM instance:



And I can test the Vordel Gateway on Oracle VM using SOAPbox:



To test the Vordel Gateway on Oracle VM, grab a copy of the Vordel Gateway and Oracle VM and get testing!