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Lab 1: Overview of the Anypoint Platform

Overview

APIs are the reusable assets that simplify and accelerate the creation of modern software applications. As a MuleSoft developer, you will need to consume and build on top of existing APIs, and publish new APIs for others to consume. This new consumption model is the foundation of a new approach for delivering software solutions where APIs form the building blocks of the modern enterprise.

MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform provides a single unified platform that covers the full API lifecycle. This makes it the ideal platform to use when implementing an Application Network that consists of reusable APIs. The following illustration highlights the key components of the Anypoint Platform.

lab1 design first

For this workshop, you will focus your attention on using just those components that are used to build out a specific use case. At the end of this workshop, you will find links to other workshops where you can get more experience with using the complete set of features of the Anypoint Platform.

This lab exercise will guide you through a quick introduction to the various features that are available in the Anypoint Platform.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn how to access the Anypoint Platform.

  • Become familiar with the various components of the Anypoint Platform.

  • Become familiar with the various runtime options that are supported by MuleSoft.

Step 1: Login to the Anypoint Platform

  1. Open your web browser and navigate to: http://anypoint.mulesoft.com

    lab1 login

  2. Enter your credentials into the Username and Password fields.

    Note:

    Use the Sign up button to ensure that you use an entirely new account for this workshop. Do not use an existing account.
    lab1 login2

  3. You should see the following landing page once you are logged in to Anypoint Platform.

    lab1 landingpage

  4. The Anypoint Platform provides several tools to organize and secure your integration assets to best fit your company’s needs. One tool that is commonly used is the Business Group. You can control access to groups of assets by organizing them into one or more Business Groups. Click on the Business Group that is on the top right of the screen. (The name will vary depending on which workshop you are participating in.)

    lab1 click bg

  5. Click on the Business Group that is associated with this workshop.

    lab1 select bg

Step 2: Explore the Anypoint Platform

Now you should take a few minutes to get introduced to the various features that are available in the Anypoint Platform.

Note:

The options that are available from your login may be different than what is shown in this section. Also, the contents of the following screeen examples will differ from what’s availabe from your login. These screen captures are intended to provide you with an illustration of what the various features can provide.

The features that are required to complete this workshop will be available to you.

  1. Start by scrolling the home page to see the various options that are available for your login.

    lab1 home page

  2. If you click on the "hamburger" menu in the upper left of the page a drop down list of the same options will be displayed.

    lab1 hamburger menu
    Note:

    As you explore the various features that are available note that you can always return to this home page by clicking on the "hamburger" menu and then clicking on the Anypoint Platform link at the top of the menu.

  3. Now, click on the link to the Design Center. Anypoint Design Center is a development environment that consists of two tools:

    • API Designer enables you to create API specifications in several modeling languages, and to create RAML API fragments. After you create a specification or fragment, publish it to Anypoint Exchange so that anyone in your MuleSoft organization can discover and re-use it across multiple projects.

    • Flow Designer enables you to create Mule applications to integrate systems into workflows. (Note that Flow Designer’s capabilities are now superceded by MuleSoft’s latest offering: MuleSoft Composer).

      lab1 design center

  4. Next, in the hamburger menu, click on the link to Exchange. Anypoint Exchange provides the benefit of being able to discover, share, and incorporate assets and resources into your applications. Anypoint Exchange helps you create API developer portals, view and test APIs, simulate sending data to APIs (Mocking Service), create assets, and use API Notebooks to describe and test API functions.

    You will have an opportunity to explore Anypoint Exchange in the next lab exercise.

    lab1 exchange

  5. Next, click on the hamburger menu and notice whether there is a link for DataGraph. If so, clicking on this link will display the starting page for Anypoint Datagraph with a warning that your workshop account does not have sufficient cpacity to configure Anypoint DataGraph.

    lab1 datagraph 1

    Anypoint DataGraph enables you to leverage the existing capabilities of your application network to drive productivity by unifying all the data within your application network into a unified schema. As a developer, you can dynamically query the unified schema and consume the fields that you need to create new connected experiences. You can improve your productivity and reduce operational costs by discovering and reusing the existing data in your application network.

    With Anypoint DataGraph you can:

    • Dynamically query data from a unified schema.

    • Explore your application network from a single UI.

    • Discover, reuse, and serve information from your application network without writing new code.

      lab1 datagraph 2

  6. Next, click on the hamburger menu and then click on the link to API Manager.

    Note:

    The following popup may appear. Select the Sandbox environment if prompted.
    lab1 api manager 1

    Anypoint API Manager is a component of Anypoint Platform that enables you to manage, govern, and secure APIs. It leverages the runtime capabilities of API Gateway and Anypoint Service Mesh, both of which enforce policies, collect and track analytics data, manage proxies, provide encryption and authentication, and manage applications.

    lab1 api manager 2

  7. Next, click on the hamburger menu and then click on the link to Runtime Manager.

    Note:

    The following popup may appear. Select the Sandbox environment if prompted.
    lab1 api manager 1

    Anypoint Runtime Manager is the interface to the Anypoint Platform that provides a unified view of your applications, servers, and APIs.

    With Runtime Manager, you can deploy, manage, and monitor your Mule applications in a sandbox, staging, or production environment from one central location, whether your apps are deployed in the cloud or on-premises.

    You can use Runtime Manager in these scenarios:

    • CloudHub: MuleSoft hosts your app deployments in CloudHub and you use the Anypoint Platform Runtime Manager cloud console to manage them.

      CloudHub is a complete integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that automatically meets all of your server needs without requiring any configuration or customization, including object store infrastructure, monitoring, troubleshooting, and scheduling.

      For applications deployed to CloudHub, you can use Insight for analytics and monitoring.

    • Hybrid: Your on-premises Mule servers host your app deployments and you use the Anypoint Platform Runtime Manager cloud console to manage them.

      For applications that you deploy on-premises, you can send data to third-party analytics applications.

    • Anypoint Platform Private Cloud Edition: Your local Mule servers host your app deployments and you use the on-premises Runtime Manager instance included with Anypoint Platform PCE to manage them.

      If you are using the on-premises Runtime Manager, you can deploy anywhere except CloudHub.

      For applications deployed to your private cloud servers, you can send data to third-party analytics applications.

    • Anypoint Runtime Fabric: Built on top of a Kubernetes instance, your locally hosted Runtime Fabric instance hosts your app deployments and you use the Anypoint Platform Runtime Manager cloud console to manage them.

      lab1 runtime manager

  8. Next, click on the hamburger menu and then click on the link to MQ. Anypoint MQ is a multi-tenant, cloud messaging service that enables customers to perform advanced asynchronous messaging scenarios between their applications. Anypoint MQ is fully integrated with Anypoint Platform, offering role-based access control, client management, and connectors.

    lab1 mq

  9. Next, click on the hamburger menu and then click on the link to Visualizer.

    Note:

    The page may not be populated initially. Complete the following steps to populate the display:

    * Expand the Environments section, click on the Sandbox radio button and then select the Sandbox check box associated with the Business group that is listed.

    * Expand the Tags section and then select the Lsw check box.

    * Select each of the check boxes under the Services section.
    lab1 visualizer 1

    Anypoint Visualizer displays views of different aspects of an application network graph. You can use the graph to explore your application network. Use cases for Anypoint Visualizer include architectural review, troubleshooting, and policy compliance.

    Anypoint Visualizer provides a real-time, graphical representation of the APIs, and Mule applications that are running and discoverable. It also displays third-party systems that are invoked by a Mule API, proxy, or application within your application network. The data displayed in the graph is dynamically updated and does not require prior configuration. Additionally, the data displayed is secure, as only users with the proper permissions can view the application network graph.

    The following image shows how a typical application network appears in Anypoint Visualizer.

    lab1 visualizer 2

  10. Next, click on the hamburger menu and then click on the link to Monitoring.

    Note:

    The page may not be populated initially. Select the Sandbox environment and then select a resource to populate the display.
    lab1 monitoring 1

    Understanding the state of your infrastructure and systems is important for ensuring the reliability and stability of your services. As a part of the Anypoint Platform, Anypoint Monitoring provides visibility into integrations across your application network. The monitoring tools provide feedback from Mule flows and components in your application network.

    Operations and development teams use the monitoring tools to diagnose issues and prescribe solutions to behavior that negatively impacts digital performance. The monitoring tools are designed to reduce the time to identify and resolve these issues through aggregated metrics, data visualization tools, alerts for issues, and a log aggregation system. Specifically, Anypoint Monitoring provides ways to:

    • Aggregate and map metrics across dependent systems in real-time.

    • Configure dashboards and alerts to reduce the Mean Time To Identification of issues (MTTI).

    • Store and search log data at scale.

      lab1 monitoring 2

Summary

Now that you have been introduced to the Anypoint Platform you can begin your API journey by using Anypoint Exchange to locate existing assets that may already be available for you to use.

Proceed to Lab 2: Overview of Anypoint Exchange to continue.

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