Very basic: What is meant by upgrade to web methods 9.5 from 8.2 in ESB?

Question

I have got a requirement to test an application which upgrades from web methods 8.2 to 9.5 in ESB.

While I tried to understand what is an ESB, I assume that ESB can be of 2 types - Web Sphere Enterprise Service Bus V6.0.2 and Web Sphere Message Broker V6.0.0.3.

Now what does the Term web methods imply ? What is the relation between the 3 terms - Web Sphere Enterprise Service Bus, Web Sphere Message Broker aESBnd Web Methods ?

I tried to google and in some places, it is mentioned as broker is part of ESB and some places, it is like we can use either broker or esb ... But I am still not clear how this 3 terms are related with each other.

Please clarify

Answer 1

There is no connection between WebMethods and WebSphere products. WebMethods is an ESB made by SoftwareAG. ESB is a generic term for referring to messaging busses (let's say software for transferring messages). Latest version seems to be 9.5. Your requirement is to upgrade their ESB (that is WebMethods) from version 8.2 to 9.5.

WebSphere Message Broker is also an ESB. This one is made by IBM. So is WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, but this one is made to cover other use cases. The later is discontinued, and the former is being renamed to IBM Integration Bus.