Development of an integration layer for interaction with existing solutions in the IBM i (AS/400) system

Duration: 1 year
Services: Product Development, Backend Development, Custom Software Development, Software Integration Services
Technologies: Data Bases, JUnit / TestNG, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Swagger, Git, Apache Maven, BitBucket (Stash), Spring Boot, Java, Cloud Platforms, Build and Dependency Platforms and Tools, Backend, Mockito, Spring Security, Spring, Development Infrastructure and Tools, Standards and Protocols, Test Automation, Source Code Management (SCM), OAuth2, APIs, CI/CD and DevOps, Languages, Protocols, APIs, Network Tools, Network Tools, Putty, Software Engineering and Management Tools, IBM i (AS/400), HTTP/HTTPS, H2 DB, HttpWatch, Java Libraries, License4J
Business Domains: IT Industry
Software Categories and Types: Integration Solutions
IT Architecture Paradigms and Approaches: Enterprise Integration Patterns, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Architectural Patterns
Technical Expertise: Java Server Side Development, Databases
DevOps Expertise: Advanced build organization

Team size (3):
1 Project Manager
2 Backend

Project summary

JazzTeam engineers were tasked with the development of an integration layer responsible for synchronization and interacting of client high-level business applications with already existing solutions and databases in the IBM i (AS/400) system. The integration layer is to provide the same functionality as our previously developed commercial Mule connectors via an API. The purpose of this project was to ensure direct interaction of AS/400 systems with the client applications via REST API:

Reading and writing of data queues.
Calling commands.
Calling programs.

The use of this API layer is planned for integration projects in situations where businesses cannot or do not want to give up the existing infrastructure, but would like to be able to integrate the existing in the IBM i-Series (AS/400) solutions with other systems, either proprietary or third-party.

Technologies

Stack: Java, Maven.
Infrastructure: AS/400, BitBucket, AWS.
Test Automation libraries: JUnit + Mockito.
Frameworks: Swagger, Spring Boot, Spring Security.
Protocols: Https, Oauth2.
DB: H2.
Other libraries: license4j.

Screenshots

The applications interaction with the solutions in the IBM i (AS/400) system

Project features

A distributed team from different time zones and countries (North America, Asia, Europe).
Working directly with the AS/400 system is a complex task that requires non-standard knowledge in the internal specifics of the system.
High performance with possibilities to scale and balance the load was ensured.

Project results

The API continues to be used in the customer’s larger projects.
The customer was satisfied with the results of all iterations.
All tasks were completed in a very short time.

Company’s achievements on the project

Following the best practices of the REST API architectural style allowed us to create a unified solution, which is now the core for other customer products.
А large number of various tests were created, such as functional, system, unit tests with a coverage percentage of at least 70%.