Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Integration pattern
Also known as: enterprise integration pattern, EIP
German: Integrationsmuster
In software architecture, an integration pattern is a proven, named solution to a recurring problem in connecting systems, such as publish-subscribe, request-reply, content-based router, message translator or saga.
- System integration
In one sentence
An integration pattern is a proven, named solution to a recurring system integration problem, such as publish-subscribe or request-reply.
Example
The team documents the MES-to-line interface as “request-reply with correlation ID” and the machine-status feed as “publish-subscribe,” so both sides share the same expectations.
How it applies
- Architecture: Patterns give teams a shared vocabulary and known trade-offs. The widely used catalog “Enterprise Integration Patterns” by Hohpe and Woolf names many messaging patterns in use today.
- Engineering: Name the pattern each interface uses, then apply its known safeguards, for example correlation IDs for request-reply or duplicate handling for at-least-once messaging.
- Documentation: Referencing patterns in interface documents shortens descriptions and reduces misunderstandings. Still describe the specific choices, such as timeouts, retries and error channels, because a pattern name alone leaves them open.
Integration pattern vs. integration architecture
An integration pattern solves one recurring problem. The Integration architecture combines many patterns, technologies and rules into the overall design of a system landscape.