Hi Brad
Amdocs is using Kafka extensively for data flows and inter-system communication, not necessarily specifically in the Resource Inventory area.
Our event model is basically the same as our API payload model, and thus aligned with the relevant TMF Open APIs.
Let's separate between the model and the communications.
For the communications, Kafka has many advantages, but you need to be aware of possible errors and recovery paths. For example, what do you if your message was posted successfully but was not processed by some (or all) of the relevant listeners.
For the model, the inventory model is generic and catalog-driven, it probably doesn't make sense to use TMF639 without defining your resource structures in TMF634 (Resource Catalog). So I advise you to examine both APIs to see if you have a good fit to your assets.
Without knowing what your exact use cases are it is a bit difficult to relate explicitly, but hope these ramblings help.
You might get more additional assistance or advice from
@Dave Milham (he is pushing for a cross-domain topology model and API) and
@Vance Shipley (much experience in catalog and inventory management, especially for resource functions).
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Jonathan Goldberg
Amdocs Management Limited
Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 13, 2020 18:47
From: Brad Taylor
Subject: TMF639 data model encapsulated in Apache Kafka messages
Coming from an ITSM/ITIL world where our IT assets are held in a graph database service model (CMDB).
We want to share these assets with TMF oriented systems. It seems that TMF 639 is the right API / data model for this, and will also enable other network and telco focused inventory mgmt systems to participate.
Our TMF systems are connected to Apache Kafka, which will enable near-real-time updates from the inventory systems - which is desireable.
Has anyone done this type of data flow before, using Kafka as the intermediary?
thanks in advance... Brad
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Brad Taylor
TELUS
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