Web Services Tools: Comparison

Over time, many organizations will adopt both proxy- and agent-based Web services tools and approaches as requirements warrant, ultimately resulting in a complete management layer for Web services and service-oriented architectures (SOAs). However, with the solutions provided by Progress Actional, the rate of adoption and the scale of deployment can be tailored to the specific needs of the organization. Indeed, it is possible, and often desirable to start small, identify key benefits to deliver, and take an incremental approach to deploying Web services. Working with a management solution early on in your Web services projects provides definitive value and does not detract from the key deliverables of the initial Web services projects.

Web Services Tools and Approaches That Align IT with Business Initiatives

Moreover, as these initial projects grow into full-scale enterprise deployments, those enterprises that deploy a Web services management platform in support of their expanding network of shared services will get what they expect: movement toward operation as a real-time enterprise and an IT organization able to rapidly respond to, and even enable, changes in the operation of the business. This approach is strategic to the enterprise as it provides the framework that aligns IT with business initiatives – effectively providing the agility required to run an efficient, responsive business.

Functional Requirement Proxy Agent
Insulation from change; often driven by consuming Web services not under control of the project, or providing Web services to a diverse audience that requires independence to change at their own pace
X
Ability to version services X
Ability to provision services differently to different customers X
Ability to understand relationships between Web services consumers and providers X
Ability to implement quality of Web service policy X X
Prefer a single infrastructure component rather than a separate component on each application server X
Ability to flexibly apply different security policies to a single service X
Ability to avoid rip-and-replace as 'project' requirements to expand to 'enterprise' requirements X X
Perform root-cause analysis to increase operational responsiveness and lower support costs X X
Highest level of performance in a Web services management solution X
Automated service discovery and total independence between service changes and Web services management system X
Management of services exposed by third-party applications, such as a CRM system or database, or management of services external to the control of the project X
Zero configuration changes to Web services container to take services under management. X

A Quick Comparison of Management Approaches

Which Web services tools are right for you? Which management approach? How can you best evaluate the tradeoffs associated with each? The table above summarizes the major differences and strengths of a proxy-based and an agent-based approach to Web services management.

For More Information

Understand the similarities and differences between Web services tools and technologies for governance: read the free white paper, SOA Introduction: IT and Business Perspectives

Web Services Tools: Understand the Differences

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