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SERVICE-ORIENTED
COMPUTING
Service-oriented computing (SOC) is the
computing paradigm that utilizes services as
fundamental elements for developing applica-
tions. SOC involves the service layers, function-
ality, and roles (see the sidebar “Services
Overview”) as described by the extended ser-
vice-oriented architecture (SOA) depicted in the
figure here. Basic services, their descriptions,
and basic operations (publication, discovery,
selection, and binding) that produce or utilize
such descriptions constitute the SOA founda-
tion. The higher layers in the SOA pyramid pro-
vide additional support required for service
composition and service management.
The service composition layer encompasses nec-
essary roles and functionality for the consolidation
of multiple services into a single composite service.
The resulting composite services may be used by
service aggregators as components (basic services)
in further service compositions or may be utilized
as applications/solutions by service clients. Service
aggregators thus become service providers by pub-
lishing the service descriptions of the composite
Illustration
by service they create. Service aggregators develop
Peter Hoey specifications and/or code that permit the compos-
execution). becomes
• Assurations
• Suppornace
t
form, the deployment of
Compo
sition Composi
te servic
es
services and the applica-
• Coord
• Monitoring: Subscribe • Conform ination
• Monito ance
tions. Operations man-
to events or informa- Service provider
• Q oS
ring Basic serv
ices agement functionality
tion produced by the Descrip
tion and
Basic O
peration
may provide detailed
• Cap s
component services, • Interfabacility
e
• Publicatio
n application performance
• Beh • Discov
and publish higher- • QoSavior • Selectioer y statistics that support
• Binding n
level composite events assessment of the appli-
(by filtering, summa- Service client
cation effectiveness, per-
rizing, and correlating Service aggregator mit complete visibility
component events). into individual business
• Conformance: Ensure transactions, and deliver
the integrity of the composite service by match- Extended service-oriented application status notifi-
ing its parameter types with those of its compo- architecture: Service cations when a particular
layers, functionality, and roles.
nents, impose constraints on the component activity is completed or
services (to ensure enforcement of business rules), when a decision condi-
and performing data fusion activities. tion is reached. The organization responsible for per-
• Quality of Service (QoS) composition: Lever- forming such operation management functions is
age, aggregate, and bundle the component’s QoS known as the service operator, which may be a service
to derive the composite QoS, including the com- client or aggregator, depending on the application
posite service’s overall cost, performance, security, requirements.
authentication, privacy, (transactional) integrity, Another aim of SOA’s service management layer is
reliability, scalability, and availability. to provide support for open service marketplaces. Sev-
Overview of Services
Services are self-describing, open components that of the service (by using terms or concepts defined
support rapid, low-cost composition of distributed in an application-specific taxonomy). The service
applications. Services are offered by service interface description publishes the service signa-
providers—organizations that procure the service ture (its input/output/error parameters and mes-
implementations, supply their service descriptions, sage types). The (expected) behavior of a service
and provide related technical and business support. during its execution is described by its service
Since services may be offered by different enterprises behavior description (for example, as a workflow
and communicate over the Internet, they provide a process). Finally, the Quality of Service (QoS)
distributed computing infrastructure for both intra- description publishes important functional and
and cross-enterprise application integration and col- nonfunctional service quality attributes, such as
laboration. service metering and cost, performance metrics
Service descriptions are used to advertise the (response time, for instance), security attributes,
service capabilities, interface, behavior, and qual- (transactional) integrity, reliability, scalability,
ity. Publication of such information about available and availability. Service clients (end-user organi-
services provides the necessary means for discov- zations that use some service) and service aggrega-
ery, selection, binding, and composition of services. tors (organizations that consolidate multiple
In particular, the service capability description services into a new, single service offering) utilize
states the conceptual purpose and expected results service descriptions to achieve their objectives. c