WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services
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What is new in the Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services

The WebSphere Application Server Version 6.1 Feature Pack for Web Services introduces a set of Web services standards that support interoperable and reliable Web services applications. You can send messages asynchronously, which means that your messages can communicate reliably even if one of the parties is temporarily offline, busy, or not available. You can have confidence that your communication is reliable and reaches its destination, while interoperating with other vendors.

The capabilities of WebSphere Application Server V6.1 are extended to enable interoperable reliable, asynchronous Web services and support for the Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0 programming model.

JAX-WS simplifies application development through a standard, annotation-based model to develop Web services applications and clients. A common set of binding rules for XML and Java objects make it easy to incorporate XML data and process functions in Java applications. A further set of enhancements help you optimally send binary attachments, such as images or files, with the Web services requests.

Simplified management of these Web services profiles makes it easy to configure and reuse configurations, so you can seamlessly incorporate new Web services profiles.

The Feature Pack for Web Services does not support Java Message Service (JMS) transports or enterprise beans. This product only supports an HTTP transport and hosting JavaBeans endpoints within the Web container for JAX-WS Web services applications. To develop enterprise beans hosted as Web services, you must use the JAX-RPC programming model. This product does allow JAX-WS clients to issue requests from any of the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) containers along with the client Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) environment.

The following new Web services standards are supported. For a complete list of the supported standards and specifications, see the specifications and API documentation.
Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0

Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) is a Java technology that provides an easy and convenient way to map Java classes and XML schema for simplified development of Web services. JAXB leverages the flexibility of platform-neutral XML data in Java applications to bind XML schema to Java applications without requiring extensive knowledge of XML programming.

Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0

Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) is a programming model that simplifies application development through support of a standard, annotation-based model to develop Web services applications and clients. The JAX-WS 2.0 programming standard aligns itself with the document-centric messaging model and replaces the remote procedure call programming model defined by the Java API for XML-based RPC (JAX-RPC) specification.

SOAP 1.2

SOAP 1.2 provides a more specific definition of the SOAP processing model, which removes many of the ambiguities that sometimes led to interoperability errors in the absence of the Web Services-Interoperability (WS-I) profiles.

SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ) 1.3

SAAJ 1.3 is introduced to extend support to SOAP 1.2 message constructs. SAAJ 1.3 can be used to manipulate messages as they flow through the runtime. The JAX-WS programming model adds more enhancements to the use of Web services applications, including support for SOAP 1.2 messages, which is supported by SAAJ 1.3.

Streaming API for XML (StAX) 1.0

In previous releases, if you wanted to manipulate XML schemas and types, you had to use one of two standard mechanisms for parsing your XML data: Documents Object Model (DOM) and Simple API for XML (SAX). StAX is introduced as another, more efficient, alternative to change and traverse XML data.

SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM)

SOAP MTOM provides vendor interoperable attachment support for sending binary attachments, including images or files, with your Web services request.

Policy sets

Policy sets are used to simplify your Web service Quality of Service (QOS) configuration. Policy sets combine configuration settings, including those for transport and message-level configuration, such as WS-Addressing, WS-Reliable Messaging, WS-SecureConversation, and WS-Security.

WS-Security 1.1 enhancements

The WS-Security 1.1 standard brings several new enhancements to the security component, including Web Services Secure Conversation (WS-SecureConversation) and Web services policy sets.

Web Services SecureConversation (WS-SecureConversation)

WS-SecureConversation provides a secured session for long running message exchanges and leveraging of the symmetric cryptographic algorithm. The symmetric cryptographic algorithm provides better performance and throughput when compared to the asymmetric cryptographic algorithm.

Web Services Addressing (WS-Addressing) enhancements

Web Services Addressing (WS-Addressing) is a Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) specification that aids interoperability between Web services by defining a standard way to address Web services and provide addressing information in messages. The WS-Addressing specification introduces two primary concepts: endpoint references and message addressing properties.

Web Services Reliable Messaging (WS-RM)

The WS-RM protocol is introduced to support more reliable message exchange between Web services. HTTP is typically used as a transport protocol, however, HTTP is an unreliable transport for sending messages.

Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM)

Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) is an OASIS approved standard that supports managing resources through a standardized Web service interface. Your environment, such as WebSphere Application Server host or an operating system host that has an exposed resource as a Web service within a single interface is used to manage and control resources. WSDM provides a new way to expose the internal product administration functions for a Web service interface.

Feature Pack for Web Services Samples are available with installation of the Feature Pack. These Sample applications use many of the new functions and standards supported in this Feature Pack. The Samples demonstrate the simple message exchange patterns using both synchronous and asynchronous invocation of Web services in SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2 environments. The Samples are composed with Web service standards such as WS-Addressing (WS-A) , WS-Reliable Messaging (WS-RM), and WS-SecureConversation (WS-SC), and enable you to perform a broad range of interoperability tests. The samples demonstrate the use of JavaBeans artifacts and static service endpoints and proxy-based clients. Additionally, a Sample is provided that demonstrates Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM). To learn more about these Samples, see the Samples readme located in the app_server_root/samples/lib/WebServicesSamples directory. Read about installing the Samples using the administration console to learn how to install these Samples onto an application server that has been augmented with a Web services profile.

The following topics catalog the most notable new and changed features in the Feature Pack for Web Services: The following table represents the application-level features supported in the Feature Pack for Web Services using the JAX-WS programming model in comparison to the WebSphere Application Server V6.1 product which only supports the JAX-RPC programming model.
Application-level features Feature Pack for Web Services using JAX-WS Application Server V6.1 using JAX-RPC
Application client Supported Supported
EJB-based Web services client Supported Supported
Web services thin client Supported Supported
JavaBeans-based Web service endpoint Supported Supported
Web Services Atomic Transaction (WS-AT) Supported Supported
Web Services Addressing (WS-Addressing) Supported Supported
Web Services Notification (WS-Notification) Supported Supported
WS-Reliable Messaging Supported Not supported
WS-SecureConversation Supported Not supported
Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) Supported Not supported
JAX-RPC client and JAX-WS client in the same module Supported Not supported
Policy set Supported Not supported
SOAP 1.2 Supported Not supported
MTOM Supported Not supported
Service integration bus-enabled Web services Not supported Supported
EJB-based Web service endpoint Not supported Supported
SOAP over Java Message Service (JMS) transport Not supported Supported
SOAP - Remote Method Invocation (RMI) Not supported Supported
Web services gateway Not supported Supported
Web Services Business Activity (WS-BA) Not supported Supported



Related tasks
Feature Pack for Web Services
Installing Feature Pack for Web Services on distributed operating systems
Installing Feature Pack for Web Services on i5/OS
Installing the Feature Pack for Web Services on z/OS systems
New or updated for this feature pack Installing Web Services Samples with the console
Related reference
Web services specifications and APIs
Concept topic    

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Last updated: Nov 25, 2008 2:35:59 AM CST
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