Camel K is what you get if you take the integration DSL distilled from the rest of the framework and offer a way to write integration code that is executed directly on a cloud platform: it may be a “modern” cloud platform like Kubernetes or Openshift, or a “futuristic” cloud platform like Knative for serverless workloads (Knative can run on both OpenShift and Kubernetes and it’s powered by Istio).
Speaking technically, the starting point is writing the integration code that we want to run. For example:
File: integrate.groovy
// expose a rest endpoint that routes messages to a Kafka topic
rest().post("/resources")
.route()
.to("kafka:messages")
// transform all messages and publish them on a HTTP endpoint
from("kafka:messages")
.transform()... // any kind of transformation
.to("http://myendpoint/messages")
Integrations can range from simple timer-to-log dummy examples to complex processing workflows connecting several external systems, but you write them using the same Camel DSL.
Actually, I talked about “a” Camel DSL, but many of you already know that the Camel DSL is not a proper standalone language, but a set of primitives that can be used in multiple programming languages. So far we support the following languages:
Let’s not complicate things too much and consider one of the simplest integration for the moment. The classic “Camel Hello World”:
File: hello.groovy
from("timer:tick?period=3s")
.setBody().constant("Hello World from Camel K!!!")
.to("log:message")
A user that wants to run this integration on a cloud platform needs to download a small binary file that is available in the release page on the Camel K Github repository. It’s called kamel.
The kamel binary contains also a command to prepare your Kubernetes cluster for running integrations. Just run:
kamel install
Will take care of installing the Camel K CRDs, setting up privileges and create the operator (see next) in the current namespace.
Important: in some cluster configurations, you need to be a cluster admin to install a CRD (it’s a operation that should be done only once for the entire cluster). The kamel
binary will help you troubleshoot. If you want to work on a development cluster like Minishift or Minikube, you can easily follow the dev cluster setup guide.
Once the cluster is prepared and the operator installed in the current namespace:
kamel run hello.groovy
And your done!
This is what happens under the hood:
The kamel tool will sync your code with a Kubernetes custom resource of Kind Integration named hello (after the file name) in the current namespace.
The Camel K Operator is the component that makes all this possible by configuring all Kubernetes resources needed for running your integration. I’ll talk more about it later.
There exists also a dev mode that allow users to create integration incrementally and with immediate “buildless” redeploys. I think a demo is worth 1000 words.
The following video shows an example of what you can do with Camel K. It starts from the installation on a Minishift dev cluster, showing how to run a basic quickstart. Then it proceeds with a more complex example.
The second integration shown in the video will connect a Telegram bot (you can interact with it through the Telegram app on your mobile phone) to a Kafka topic that will be used to buffer messages and to throttle them. Messages will be received from Kafka again, filtered through one of the basic enterprise integration patterns available out-of-the box in Apache Camel, then forwarded to a external HTTPS endpoint.
All this is done in few minutes of video, and all integrations are created incrementally, leveraging the new build engine behind Camel K that requires just 1 second to redeploy the integration after each change.
Take a look:
Operator SDK is the framework that makes it possible to create all Kubernetes resources needed for running the “Camel DSL script”.
Operators are commonly used to install and configure applications or platforms on Kubernetes and Openshift. They are the digital version of the “human operator” that once installed the application in legacy environments, making sure that everything is in place for the application to run.
We brought this concept to the next level in Camel K. The operator is “intelligent” and knows what you want to run. It can understand the Camel DSL.
So, for example, if you define a REST endpoint using the Camel REST DSL, the operator will make sure that your integration is exposed to the outside and it will create a Service and a Route on OpenShift to expose it, or a Ingress on vanilla Kubernetes.
And in the future, it will have more administrative responsibilities:
The operator will make sure that all you should do is writing your integration in a “Camel DSL Script”, without caring about any administrative operation. That’s what we mean with “intelligent operator”.
There are a lot of things coming. We keep updated the projects section in the github repository with the current areas we’re working on. Those include the already mentioned work on Knative and also a Web UI for Camel K that will really rock!
We love contributions! If you’re interested in the project, there are a lot of ways to contribute.
Meet us in our dedicated Gitter room for more information.
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