A CloudStreams connector contains connections and services that you use to integrate with a software as a service (SaaS) provider.

Although CloudStreams provides predefined connectors for some SaaS applications (for example, Salesforce.com), you might want to create connectors for other SaaS applications. You use the CloudStreams Development plug-in to create connectors, which you can publish to webMethods Integration Server. The CloudStreams connector is installed on webMethods Integration Server as a package.

The type of a CloudStreams connector depends on the type of SaaS provider you communicate with. If you communicate with a SOAP-based cloud application provider, you create cloud connections using a CloudStreams SOAP connector. If you communicate with a REST-based provider, you create cloud connections using a CloudStreams REST connector. You use Integration Server Administrator to load, manage, and use the CloudStreams connectors.

You can create one or more connections for a CloudStreams connector at design time to use in integrations. A connector service uses a connection to connect to a SaaS provider at run time. You must create and enable a connection before you can create connector services. The number of connections you create depends on your integration needs.

A connector service is an webMethods Integration Server service used to integrate an on-premise application with a SaaS application. At run time, the connector service constructs and maps a SOAP or REST request from the service’s input pipeline to an appropriate message builder. When the application provider sends a response, the connector service processes and maps the response and populates the output pipeline. If you are using a REST-based provider, you must create at least one connector service for each REST resource.