The new Web services standard is helping to grow up. However, Web services are ready to become your company's enterprise software strategy for the backbone of the What?
Business optimization in many IT companies have become idioms. The goal is simple: to reduce application development time and costs, improve order fulfillment and other processes, and supply chain management process of such external interactions.
Of course, the most frequently recommended solution is based on SOA.
Silver bullet? Can not count on it. So many IT architects have tried to deploy SOA-based Web services, and this demonstrated a lack of security, Web services, to ensure that the distribution mechanism and complexity of business processes to achieve the necessary foundation.
However, when Web services start growing, these have changed. Although the standard is to ensure the distribution is defined, at least for how to send, the industry has been agreed. However, there is still a long way to go.
Publish and subscribe mechanism is still in the process of standardization, and standards are not yet ready to use Web services to define the data access logic is independent of the unity of business logic.
When these standards are adopted, they are going to change the company's network architect's work. SOA beyond the boundaries of firms and sectors, it will create a secure XML-based services, user authentication and enhanced policy-based network security architecture.
Meanwhile, the routing infrastructure so that Web services may need to consciously stop a long transaction (that is, those information services subscription) filled with the data network. This enhanced network will be routed more important to ensure that other Web service QoS.
Web services into a boom
Unless you are in the past three years, reclusive, or you have heard of SOA. It is for the companies to design their software infrastructure to bring about revolutionary change. With SOA, companies can work for each element (such as updating a customer account) can be defined as the reuse of other applications as a service. This allows companies to reduce software development costs, shorten development time, and create new business processes.
And SOA together attain the heaven is the Web service, the software structure using Web Services Description Language (Web Service Description Language, WSDL) and Simple Object Access Protocol (Simple Object Access Protocol, SOAP) to implement messaging between systems.
While Web services and SOA is better than other technologies can also be used to build, but Web services for SOA injected fresh vitality, these are indisputable facts. Platform-independent Web services means that developers can. NET in the development of input data in the J2EE platform, and can use a lot of third-party management and deployment tools.
And IBM's WebSphere MQ and Sonic Software's SonicMQ and other message-oriented middleware (Message-Oriented Middleware, MOM) compared to, Web services, licensing and implementation of standards-based and may be cheaper. However, it is also because of significant performance problems out of the name, and this problem is based on the MOM solution that does not have.
However, do not forget, the performance problem is not the fundamental issue of Web services, and since 2002 has undergone many changes. According to the analysis of Rutgers University, SOAP poor performance is largely due to the optimization of Apache Axis SOAP stack well, using a number of system calls to send one logical message.
This is good news, but since 2002 there are still many places has not changed. Web services still rely on text-based XML protocol. Text-based messages longer than many of the same binary form, so that Allstate Financial's enterprise architect Kevin Rice have proposed restrictions on services to ensure no more than 5KB to 10KB.
In order to solve the text surrounding the characteristics of XML issues arising from this fall, W3C's XML Binary Character of the Working Group began to develop a binary XML standard. Binary XML format, parsing XML documents that have been encoded, thus reducing the amount of information transmission and storage size. Encoded documents can be 60 times the speed of some binary XML parser to parse and transform.
Proprietary binary format already exists. Although the language of binary XML may improve performance and reduce storage requirements, however, with different binary XML version, or is caused interoperability problems. The Working Group is currently trying to resolve the real problem.
To safety, but also reliable
Most companies may want to wait for the XML standards or investment to accelerate the hardware, so as to improve the performance of Web services, but security is another important issue. Companies in the internal network from the Web service is running the transition to the Web service from the Internet extends to business partners, security became a very important issue.
In fact, according to surveys, 66% of the IT architect readers that they are very concerned about security issues. Integration of reverse engineering or the cost of the application concerns ranked second, accounting for 49%.
How can we more secure?
Today, most IT architects (40.9%) still use SSL to encrypt and sign data, Web services, but SSL does not protect the full path of a transaction. When companies need to comply with the provisions of the demand transfer of sensitive data, path-level protection becomes very necessary. To promote the organization of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has developed a new standard to solve this problem. With WS-Security, application developers can encrypt and decrypt the SOAP packet, then the user name and mark to authenticate the user. From the W3C's XML Signature provides a digital signature method of XML documents, while XML Encryption defines how to encrypt XML document or part of the encryption.
These standards provide sufficient protection to ensure that Web services through the Internet security. Security really should not be a major problem. To ensure the security of Web services is not difficult.
However, it is not widely available Web services from the underlying abstraction of security policies. Today, companies must put safety of hard-coded into Web services, which limits its flexibility. OASIS WS strategy in the busy and this is to allow Web services independent of those methods specify a standard, but the final draft and the initial implementation may not produce the end of 2006.
Security Assertion Markup Language (Security Assertion Markup Language, SAML) version 2.0 provides a number of individual names can be asserted that way.
With IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, RSAS Security, and Sun's identity management system to achieve and listing, SAML 2.0 adoption may only become more widely next year.
Web services need to be sent reliably
If the company rely on automated services to achieve one or all of our customers and partners interact, IT architects must ensure that the transaction is completed. They also need to be able to interact in more complex Web services, clearly expressed, and this interaction may take a longer period of time (as opposed to fast query and response) to complete. When the transaction requires a lot of Web service interactions, such as when to respond to a request for information or fill out a purchase order when the complexity has increased.
Until this year, in May, in order to use SOAP, IT architects have been forced to send a standard two reliable sources to choose between.
Novell, Oracle, Sun and SeeBeyond belong to support OASIS's Web Services Reliable Messaging Technical Committee. The Commission in November 2004 issued a WS-Reliability (WS-R) as a standard. Meanwhile, IBM, Microsoft, Tibco and BEA supports the Web Services Reliable Messaging and Web Services Reliable Messaging Policy Assertion (WS-RM Policy) specification.
In May, the industrial sector through the third bridge the gap between OASIS organization, which is the reliability of Web services to exchange Technical Committee (WS-RX). WS-RX organizations, including from the WS-Reliability and WS-ReliableMessaging camp, and probably some time in 2007 to launch a separate specification.
However, this standard may not be sufficient to solve the reliability level required for financial firms.
In addition to ensuring that the sending, before the Financial Services may also need longer time to complete the external process. For example, a purchase order to respond to all relevant organizations to send financial information or published in a production process order changes.
This type of transaction needs to send asynchronous SOAP mechanism to replace the current office needs immediate response. Only use asynchronous Web services generally limit the scope of services, because the application before continuing their operation must wait for the transaction is completed.
OASIS has been supporting two sets of specifications, WS-RX and WS-Notification, which makes the standardization of asynchronous services possible.
Ensure the flexibility of logic
Long-term goal is the deployment of Web services to achieve this effect: the bottom of the SOA to become agile enough to be able to adapt to and cope with the process of change without the need to modify the code a lot. This part, depending on the service process is how to build, but also on the general security from the underlying services capabilities and business strategy. Like a data center is responsible for the presentation layer (Web server) and application logic layer (application server) and information (database server) separated as a well-designed SOA is responsible for the business logic and user data needed to distinguish to the scheduled tasks.
General business logic from application logic is the OASIS Business Process Execution Language (Business Process Execution Language BPEL) core functions. This is an attempt to model the business logic of language, its goal is to define a build event-based application procedures.
For example, when a purchase order or RFP occurred, the need for the implementation of these documents in the enterprise until the completion of business processes. In the case of purchase orders, this may mean calling a stock check, if there is enough stock to send confirmation message to the user.
Oracle BPEL has the most well-known standards achieved by their early 18 months before the start of the Collax project. Microsoft's BizTalk to use their own language for business process modeling, but not be able to import and export BPEL. IBM provides a test BPEL implementation (www.alphaworks.ibm.com), and in April will introduce BPEL support to WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation 5.1.
Despite all the talk about BPEL, but the standards need to be generally realized a few years. First need to focus on the industrial sector to use the program they will agree.
So far, BPEL may have been prepared for the implementation. Today, BPEL already complex enough, but not strong enough. We can use BPEL to a simple operation, but it is too complex to be used to implement complex workflow.
BPEL there are other issues, including the need to use a centralized, non-distributed architecture constraints.
Create a new network data
As the industry again, and again repeated, inter-enterprise Web services, forcing people to the company network to rethink critical junction, it is already crystal clear again. So far not clear that these changes through a dedicated Web service equipment to achieve, or through expansion of existing facilities. In the past six months, if there are any signs of this problem, then, most companies prefer the latter approach.
Since Web services are based on XML, they are not expressed as a binary format can be known in advance. Each packet must be processed separately, very intensive computation. Such as DataPower, Sarvega (now part of Intel), Reactivity, and companies such offer Conformative can accelerate XML and Web services data processing and conversion of the XML engine.
Companies need to decide how best to guide the network Web services. The so-called Web services (ie those who subscribe to information) router integration is meant to be equivalent to the same IP multicast capabilities in the network only to send a copy of Web service messages, thereby reducing network traffic. However, XML routing conscious need, after 12 to 18 months before they can be widely used.
Sarvega in August this year, Intel's acquisition of the trend fueled.
June, subsystems also make Cisco the company to its own application-oriented network (Application-Oriented Networking, AON) strategy for transmission. AON will make a special process to integrate XML into Catalyst 6500 switch platform.
Today, Web service processes the collapse of the platform in general, only the network infrastructure to follow the general trend in the data center.
Combination of the application layer switching, SSL termination and acceleration of Web application front-end (Application Front Ends, AFE) begins. XML through the combined processes and other platforms, IT can continue to benefit without having to suffer collapse, and management of other headaches.
Web service business model change
Those who have already deployed Web services, people not only to promote its IT brings to the significant changes, but also changes in the way business runs. The most commonly cited benefit is to reduce the IT costs. Rapid application development using Web services, JetBlue Airways is one of the reasons. JetBlue application architect Tyrone Paige said: "We can build a service to escape our human, without having to reinvent the wheel."
Cost reduction can also be embodied in other forms. For example, an integrator to use Web services to help customers to send a document, the client should be sent by overnight transfer to a large image of the document. E-mail can not be used, as this may result in blocking E-mail system, FTP clients is too much trouble. Through the deployment of Web services, integration providers can enable customers do not see the complexity of the system, to reduce transmission costs by 50% to about 200 U.S. dollars per year, of course, also reduced the time to share documents.
Bandwidth savings also have great potential. Despite the performance issues for SOAP has been discussed for many, XML declaration feature will enable companies to reduce their need to transmit in the network traffic.
Online ordering system a software developer is the case is this. XML and Web services in use prior to a request by news software release, the software requires all the required fields into the requested data. Many services do not require every field, forcing developers to insert a blank field and unnecessarily expand the message capacity. With XML, companies can describe the data, allowing them to provide only relevant information and a request. This marked a part of the capacity of XML messages, will address the "disconnect" transaction cycle from 23 seconds down to tenths of a second.
Strategically, the company has been able through Web services and SOA to their business processes streamlined. Forrester Research pointed out: As a regional government agency in Australia, Queensland Department of Transportation is a classic example of this phenomenon. Queensland implements a XML-based interface, making transport can register their place of purchase.
Department of Transportation found that it can be solved and the traffic monitors related business problems. Queensland a very large area, the government employed to transport inspectors to team management very difficult. Now, Queensland Transport can be independent certification of inspectors, and through the XML interface to transport them into the management system.