Chapter 21: Advanced Web Services

Overview

Web services have already changed the way developers model their applications. Web services allow developers to easily expose application logic and data with relatively little work. Various vendors have now built into their toolsets the means to easily expose and consume Web services.

Although the Web services model is great, it originally generated a little bit of worry in the enterprise. Where is the security? What about sending binary objects such as images? What about the routing of SOAP messages? These were good questions because they pointed out what the Web services model was lacking-a common way to provide security, send attachments, establish routing, and more.

Companies such as IBM and Microsoft started working on a number of specifications that addressed these needs. These were

• q WS-Security

• q WS-Timestamp

• q WS-Attachments

Developers watched these new specifications with great excitement, and wanted to begin using them immediately. This desire gave birth to the various WS-* (WS-star) technologies. This chapter takes a look at these advanced specifications and what they do for your Web services. In addition to examining the specifications, this chapter also describes implementing these specifications in your applications today.