Architecting Web Services: Models, Designs, and Solutions

By William Oellermann

- A complete walk-through of building full life-cycle Web services covering the architecture, models, designs, and implementation. - Presents a technology-agnostic approach that focuses on building applications around established open standards. - Addresses issues not found anywhere else, such as security, technology standards efforts, and vendor strategies around Web services. - Plenty of examples through illustrations and code help the reader not only to understand Web services, but to start implementing them right away. - A supporting Website (www.fundamentalwebservices.com) will host live

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893115585
• ISBN13: 9781893115583
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 654 Pages
• Weight: 2.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Clear, structured and coherent

This well written book starts with a coherent definition of what web service are and how they fit within the framework of a coherent architecture. I like the way the author uses terminology to which I can relate to explain the inner workings of services. I am intimately familiar with processes, procedure calls and the such, so the examples and illustrations used to describe the models were crystal clear. I also liked the layered approach to architecture, which is the hallmark of a well-thought out design; as well as the distinction between physical and logical design. In addition, the analogies made using CORBA, for example, to underscore the fact that a well designed architecture is a structured collection of services, developed as discrete components or objects, reinforces the notion of reusability and highlights the importance taking a component-based software engineering approach to web services architecture.The chapters devoted to XML (technical primer and using XML) were clear explanations of this important facet of web architecture. If you are coming from a legacy background or are attempting to web-enable systems in support of enterprise application integration, these two chapters will get you quickly up-to-speed. Chapter 5, Web Services Models, is the heart of this book and should be carefully read by architects and the design team; chapter 7, Building a Web Services Workflow, is essential reading for functional analysts, the creative and technical members of the design team, and QA. A nice touch is how the author used a hotel reservation system as an example to marry theory with a realistic web-based application.As a non-developer I thought the way the author kept the level of abstraction above actual code (although example code is provided) and made examples independent of any particular development environment was a masterful way of describing the process of architecture without getting bogged down into details that have more to do with coding than design or seeing the grand scheme. Too many authors are developers at heart and cannot resist details that lose the attention of the intended audience - architects in the case of this book. He wisely left out the gory details associated with the build phase of a web project, and also showed wisdom by not attempting to get lost in scalability, performance or other issues that would merit another book to cover. As such this book is focused, and provides a structured and coherent framework for component-based software engineering approach to web architecture. If you or your team is not committed to doing up-front design and architecture you may not find this book very useful. However, if you want to see how employing sound architectural principles to web systems design can be done, or are working in a mature development environment, you will find this book well written and the approach consistent with best practices in software engineering and architecture.

Turns theory into practice

If you want to learn how to architect a web system instead of slapping one together start here. Some of the advantages of reading and applying this book is it is not tied to a specific web service platform and it views web architectures as a series of building blocks called services. This accomplishes two things: it allows the architect to pay attention to architecture instead of development, and it allows the architecture to proceed without the distraction of system limitations and constraints. Done right the constraints, performance and scalability issues and other real world details will be handled by the technical design team, where trade-offs in development and platform specifications are made.I like the way Mr. Oellermann compares Web services to CORBA in such a way that those familiar with object request brokers in general will see that web services at the architectural level should be treated as objects that are the building blocks of a total system, with services managed and arbitrated in a controlled fashion that not only promotes Mr. Oellermann's premise for reusability and efficient development, but in finer detail in matters such as configuration management, effective build analysis and streamlined regression testing. These alone show the author's high level of real world experience and his deep knowledge of software engineering. Another strong point is the wide array of architectural models that are given. This, and the fact that all of the examples are independent of a single platform, show that a good architecture is not based on an single magic solution, but does involve trade-offs and an intelligent review of constraints even at the level of abstraction that architects work at. This is reinforced by the way business models and other realities are treated at a high level because no single book could hope to cover all possible architecture/business model or system goals combinations. This book hands you the process and a lot of examples, but it does not promise to do your thinking for you. Like any profession, tools alone will not produce a masterpiece--you have to have a blueprint, understand how to use those tools and apply logic and deep thought. Architects with more than one project in their portfolio will see the beauty in this book's message and should appreciate the blueprint and tools that Mr. Oellermann is sharing in the form of this book. If you have no exposure to process, architectural principles or have no interest in proven blueprints and tools that require your effort to intelligently adapt them to a given situation you are not going to be happy with this book. On the other hand, if professionalism, process and methods are important and you are a web architect this book will save you a lot of time and transfer to you a lot of the author's knowledge and experience.

Not a How-to-Code Book

The theme of this outstanding book is not coding, although developers will find the contents useful. The ideal audience includes (1) architects who are seeking a coherent paradigm against which web-based systems can be designed, (2) developers who are seeking an approach to developing reusable code, and (3) 'software factories' and integration companies that develop components for resale of license.Key strengths of this book include: Clearly defined definitions of web services, which set the context of the book, code examples that are provided using Websphere and ASP (the dual examples remove any bias towards any specific vendor, especially since the Websphere examples are generic enough for any shop using Java), all code and accompanying artifacts are provided from the author's web site (ensures ongoing updates, errata and emerging information that was not available when the book was published), and text insets on almost every page that give the author's advice, his experience in a particular topic and clarifications of terms and approaches - these alone make the book a treasure.What I like most about this book is the fact that it is comprehensive in that the services described are the foundation of any well-designed web architecture. The author does not pretend to have all of the answers or provide solutions, but he does give one of the best frameworks for designing a web architecture based on services that I've encountered. The framework itself is straightforward: Objective-> Solution-> Implementation-> Services, with the focus on services. If your interest is component-based software engineering or reuse economics you'll probably appreciate this book's value more than developers and architects whose objective is to design, build and implement a web-based system.<p>If you are working in an environment where you seem to be reinventing the wheel for each project the ideas in this book will give you a clear path for breaking that cycle. If you are an architect this book will provide you with a clear view of web-based architectures as a collection of services. If, on the other hand, you are a developer looking for completed code or how to do the basics this book will not meet your needs. I personally think that the author has provided a valuable addition to the growing body of knowledge of web software engineering, and I also applaud his success in tackling the daunting task of clearly articulating a complex topic and providing valuable example from two different development environments.

This is a five star architecture/design book

Apparently there is some confusion regarding the purpose of this book and Web services in general. Web services are code neutral and should be treated as a design paradigm. At the coding level, you are only required to know two things: how to utilize a transport protocol operating on top of IP, and XML basics. Therefore, this book focuses on architecture and design processes and not code.The introductory chapters quickly cut through the hype and define the scope and definition of a Web service. Like COM and CORBA, they allow the sharing of processes between remote applications. Unlike COM and CORBA, the communication is stateless and the specification is text-based and not binary. This is the primary strength of Web services, as it removes the barriers imposed by various operating systems. All you need to implement them is an HTTP server with a scripting language. After the definition, the book provides a quick primer on XML and schemas. It then covers the design issues involved with Web services and security. The next couple chapters cover the creation and use of three different services. The book ends with a current (as of July 2001) description of the emerging technologies and competing Web service standards.One final thing should be noted. The author has actually hosts a server exposing Web services for the reader to code clients against. ... The site also provides all sample code and test clients to test with. I have never had a book provide me with a server to test against. Given this, along with the superb content, I give the book 5 stars.

Finally! Something for Architects

One thing that I really liked about this book was the fact that it was not your typical "Here's how you build a Web Service and you can learn how in less than a lunch break!" This book is for those who are serious about building Web Services. Not only does William show you different implementations, but gives you the architectural guidance that most (if not all) other books on the subject lack. This book is definitely not a re-hash of some help file or article, but a clear, concise way of designing and architecting Web Service solutions. Not only do I have a book for myself, but have another one for my team I work with. This is one book you must get if you are serious about building Web Services.