Building a Modeled Event Mesh

You build a modeled event mesh by adding event brokers, application versions, and event versions to it. In a modeled event mesh, an event broker represents a runtime Solace or Kafka event broker. The applications and events that you add represent actual runtime applications and the events that flow through your actual event brokers.

You must add at least one event broker to a modeled event mesh before you can add applications and events.

This section includes the following tasks:

Adding an Event Broker to a Modeled Event Mesh

An event broker in a modeled event mesh represents a runtime event broker in an event flow. After you create a modeled event mesh, you must add a model event broker that represents an event broker in the runtime. Event brokers that you add to a modeled event mesh represent runtime event brokers of the same type. In Solace modeled event meshes you can add multiple Solace model event brokers to represent all of the runtime event brokers in the event mesh. For Kafka modeled event meshes, you can add only one model event broker to represent the Kafka cluster in the event flow.

In a Solace modeled event mesh, you can model an existing event broker service by selecting a service from your advanced event mesh account that has not already been added to another modeled event mesh. For both Solace and Kafka, you can also add an existing model event broker that was created with an Event Management Agent Connection or that was previously associated with a modeled event mesh that has since been deleted.

Alternatively, you can add a new event broker to the model. If you want to design the event flows for a new modeled event mesh but you aren't ready to add the event broker details, you can create a placeholder event broker with just a name and update the connection details later.

You must be an Administrator or Event Portal Manager to add event brokers to modeled event meshes. To add an event broker to a modeled event mesh, perform these steps:

  1. Log in to the Cloud Console if you have not done so yet. The URL to access the Cloud Console differs based on your authentication scheme. For more information, see Logging into the Cloud Console.
  2. In the Cloud Console, select Runtime Event Manager on the navigation bar.
  3. Select the Modeled Event Meshes tab.
  4. Click the name of the modeled event mesh that you want to add an event broker to.
  5. Select the Event Broker Connections tab.

  6. Click Connect Event Broker.

    Screenshot showing the options described in the surrounding text.

  7. To add a model event broker that represents an existing event broker service in advanced event mesh, or to add a model event broker that already exists in Runtime Event Manager, in the Manage Event Broker Connections List, select the checkbox next to the event broker service or model event broker that you want to add. Event broker services display next to the name.
  8. To create a new event broker in a Solace modeled event mesh, perform these steps:
    1. Click New Event Broker.
    2. Enter a Name for the model event broker.
    3. Enter the Message VPN name. Cloud event broker services have only one Message VPN. For software and appliance event brokers, event flows may be segregated to multiple Message VPNs. The model event broker represents a single Message VPN.

    4. In the Management tab, enter the connection details for the event broker:

      SettingDetails

      SEMP Username

      The username to connect to the event broker.

      To avoid storing passwords in Event Portal, you add passwords on the local machine when you install the Event Management Agent.

      SEMP URL

      The address of the event broker. The address can be an IP address or an FQDN, and may include ports, for example: 123.89.40.72 or https://a1bcd2e3f45.messaging.solace.cloud:943

    5. Select the Messaging tab.

      Click Add Protocol to add a communication protocol that the event broker users. Repeat this step for each protocol that you want to add. You can add protocols more than once with different transport types. You can add the following protocols:

      6. SettingDetails

      SMF

      Solace Message Format

      Select a transport type and specify a port. Available transport types include:

      • SMF (tcp)
      • Secured SMF (tcps)
      • Compressed SMF (tcps)
      • WebSocket (ws)
      • Secure WebSocket (wss)

      AMQP

      Advanced Message Queuing Protocol

      Select a transport type and specify a port. Available transport types include:

      • APQP (amqp)
      • Secured AMQP (amqps)

      MQTT

      Message Queuing Telemetry Transport standard

      Select a transport type and specify a port. Available transport types include:

      • MQTT (tcp)
      • Secured MQTT(ssl)
      • WebSocket (ws)
      • Secure WebSocket (wss)

      REST

      Representational state transfer

      Select a transport type and specify a port. Available transport types include:

      • REST (http)
      • Secured REST(https)
    6. Click Connect Event Broker.
  9. To create an event broker in a Kafka modeled event mesh, perform these steps:
    1. Select New Event Broker.

    2. Enter the connection details for the event broker:

      SettingDetails

      Name

      The name of the event broker that displays in the modeled event mesh.

      Bootstrap Servers

      The bootstrap server addresses for event brokers in the Kafka cluster.

      Authentication type

      Select the type of authentication used to connect to the Kafka event broker.

      • No authentication
      • SASL_SCRAM
      • SASL_PLAIN
      • mTLS
      • IAM

      Authentication options

      Specify the applicable username, trust store location, and TLS options for the authentication type. If a password is required for authentication, in the Password field, select Generate an environment variable for the password to include an environment variable name in the connection details.

      To avoid storing passwords in Event Portal, you create an environment variable on the local machine when you install the Event Management Agent and supply the password in the environment variable.

    3. Click Connect Event Broker.
  10. Click Add.

Managing Model Event Brokers

Administrators and Event Portal Managers can view information about each event broker in a modeled event mesh, including details about the Event Management Agent connection and the list of associated applications. For Kafka event brokers you can also view the list of associated events. For Solace event brokers, you can also view associated Event API Products. If the model event broker was created for an event broker service in your advanced event mesh account, you can also view the event broker service in Cluster Manager.

You can delete an event broker from a modeled event mesh if it has no objects associated with it. When you delete an event broker, any corresponding runtime discovery data and audit results are deleted. If you created the event broker from an existing advanced event mesh event broker service, it is not affected.

Because a Solace modeled event mesh can have multiple event brokers and a Kafka modeled event mesh only has one event broker, the steps to manage them are slightly different.

To view and manage a model event broker, perform these steps:

  1. On the Runtime Event Manager home page, select the Modeled Event Meshes tab.
  2. Click the name of a modeled event mesh that you want to manage the event brokers for.
  3. In the modeled event mesh, select the Event Broker Connections tab.
  4. If you are managing event brokers in a Solace modeled event mesh, perform the following actions:
    1. In the event broker list, select the event broker you want to view the details for.
    2. Perform any of the following actions:
      • If the model event broker is connected to an Event Management Agent, click Run Discovery Scan to scan for runtime data. For more information, see Running Discovery Scans.
      • To view or edit the connection details to connect to an Event Management Agent, click View Connection Details.
      • To view the linked event broker service in Cluster Manager, click More Actions for the event broker and select View Service in Cluster Manager.
      • To view the linked event broker service in Broker Manager, click More Actions for the event broker and select Open in Broker Manager.
      • To delete the event broker from the modeled event mesh, click More Actions for the event broker and select Delete From Event Portal.
  5. If you are managing the event broker in a Kafka modeled event mesh, perform any of the following actions:
    • If the model event broker is connected to an Event Management Agent, click Run Discovery Scan to scan for runtime data. For more information, see Running Discovery Scans.
    • To view or edit the connection details to connect to an Event Management Agent, click View Connection Details.
    • To delete the event broker from the modeled event mesh, click More Actions for the event broker and select Delete From Event Portal.

Adding Applications and Events from Designer

You use Designer to add application versions and event version created in Designer to a modeled event mesh. To add applications and events you associate an application version with an event broker. When you associate an application version with an event broker, you also associate the events that the application version publishes and subscribes to.

You must have at least Editor access to both the application domain and the environment to add an application to a modeled event mesh. For more information, see Adding an Application Version to an Environment.

You can also add a Kafka event version to a modeled event mesh by associating it directly with an event broker. You must be an Administrators or Event Portal Manager to add a Kafka event to a modeled event mesh. For more information, see Adding an Event Version to an Environment

Administrators and Event Portal Managers can also associate applications and events with a modeled event mesh by importing them from a runtime event broker. For more information, see Importing Runtime Objects into Event Portal.

After you associate an application version to one model event broker, you can associate it with other event brokers using Runtime Event Manager. The event broker can be in the same modeled event mesh or a different modeled event mesh in any environment.

Viewing Object Environment Associations

You can view the environments, modeled event meshes, and event brokers that applications are associated with in Runtime Event Manager. You can also view associations for Kafka events added to an environment.

To view the environment associations for an object, perform these steps:

  1. On the Runtime Event Manager home page, select the Modeled Event Meshes tab.
  2. On the Modeled Event Meshes tab, click the name of the modeled event mesh that contains the application or Kafka event.
  3. Select the Architecture tab.
  4. In the list view, in the Applications list or Events list, click More Actions for the object and select View Environment Associations.