SOA Platforms

All of the concepts and open technologies and specifications we discussed so far in this book require the support of a vendor platform for us to build a functional service-oriented architecture. It is therefore worth taking a look at the current technology offerings provided by the two primary development and runtime platforms used to build both traditional distributed solutions, and now, our primitive and contemporary SOA models.

This chapter begins with an overview of some development and architecture platform basics that explain the common parts of the development and runtime ends of a distributed technology platform. This section establishes a neutral reference point from which we then launch into our coverage of SOA support provided by J2EE and .NET.

Note that sections 18.2 and 18.3 in this chapter are structured identically. This is intentional so as to allow you to cross-reference topics covered between the two platforms. Note also that this chapter draws no comparisons between J2EE and .NET; it only provides a high-level documentation of the platforms' respective support for SOA.

Note

Both the J2EE and .NET platforms support the WSDL-first design approach through features that allow for the import of WSDL definitions or the auto-generation of classes derived from WSDL documents. Covering the Java language and the various .NET programming languages is beyond the scope of this book. Code samples are therefore not provided in this chapter. However, a number of recommended books on building Web services are listed at www.serviceoriented.ws.

 

How case studies are used: TLS and RailCo proceed to develop their new service-oriented applications with .NET and J2EE platform technology, respectively. While RailCo makes their platform choice out of necessity, TLS decides to change platforms as an exercise to prove enterprise-wide service interoperability.