| |
Friday 1st August 2003
Oracle, Sun and Partners Publish WS Coordination Specification
| CBDI COMMENTARY
Last August IBM, Microsoft and BEA published two specifications WS-Transaction and WS-Coordination. Now we have a further specification covering a very similar area from Oracle, Sun and partners. At a capability level these specifications cover very similar functionality.
At first sight the WS-Coordination specification looks to be tightly bound with BPEL, which of course Oracle and Sun are currently in opposition to. Whilst we are predicting that the broader industry will eventually converge around a BPEL like protocol, it is clear that this is currently very inadequate when compared to ebXML, and it will not happen soon. However in reality the interface between business process steps is a Web Service, and hence an agreed standard protocol.
Neither specification has been submitted to a standards body yet, and this latest publication from Oracle Sun et al seems like an attempt to bounce IBM et al into a standards process that has broader representation. We think this is a good idea. The industry really needs to address how it is going to come together on the standards in the area of complex business transactions, and the arbitrary leadership of IBM, Microsoft plus a chosen partner (in this case BEA) is really inadequate for what is a complex and crucial set of protocols. We assess that the specifications are sufficiently close to be a basis for agreement on that specific area, without requiring the more difficult and contentious area of process scripting to be resolved concurrently.
LINKS
Web Services Composite Application Framework (WS-CAF) at Oracle
Automating business processes and transactions in Web services - An IBM DeveloperWorks Paper
| NEWS WITHOUT THE HYPE
Arjuna Technologies, Fujitsu Software, IONA, Oracle and Sun Microsystems have announced the publication of the Web Services Composite Applications Framework (WS-CAF). This is a collection of three specifications -- Web Service Context (WS-CTX), Web Service Coordination Framework (WS-CF), and Web Service Transaction Management (WS-TXM) - designed to solve problems that arise when multiple Web services are used in combination.
WS-CAF solves the TP information management and sharing problem by defining an open, multi-level framework for standard coordination of long-running business processes across multiple, incompatible transaction processing models and architectures.
- Web Service Context is a lightweight framework for simple context management that helps enable all Web Services participating in an activity share a common context and exchange information about a common outcome.
- Web Service Coordination Framework (WS-CF) is a sharable mechanism that manages context augmentation and lifecycle and provides the notification of outcome messages to Web services participating in a particular transaction.
- Web Services Transaction Management (WS-TXM), is comprised of three distinct, interoperable transaction protocols that can be used across multiple transaction managers. WS-TXM supports multiple transaction models to help enable participants to negotiate outcomes with each other and make a common decision about how to behave, especially in the case of failure, regardless whether the execution environment is CORBA, EJB, .NET, JMS, or some combination.
WS-CAF does not require the implementation of a new transaction protocol. The WS-CAF framework can use any transaction protocol in place of, or in addition to, the neutral protocols defined for WS-TXM, such as the OASIS Business Transactions Protocol. WS-CAF supports implementations of part or the entire framework, allowing users to leverage existing infrastructure commitments and investments. WS-CAF is compatible with other related specifications.
The authors plan to donate WS-CAF to a recognized industry standards organization soon under royalty-free licensing terms. Through this effort they hope to lead the industry to converge on effective solutions through an open standards organization with proven development processes. |
| | Read Full Article / Link to referenced materials |
|
Home