Real-World SOA: SOA Platform Patterns You Can UseRandy Heffner
Vice President
Forrester Research
July 19, 2005. Call in at 10:55 a.m. Eastern Time
Theme
Evolve your SOA platform according to your business
needs — working from your existing infrastructure
Six stylized paths to SOA
• Your path to SOA will borrow and combine elements from six generic paths to SOA:
» Simple internal integration
» Infrastructure services
» Rich internal integration
» Multichannel applications
» External partner integration
» Core business flexibility
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Core application platforms
SOA platform vision — three core value propositions
…
Service delivery network
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Service clients
Service interfaces
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Connection
Queensland Transport — Early SOA (1997)
• Regional government agency in Australia
• Applications
» Vehicle titles and registration, customer service appointments, distribution of public information
» SLAs: 2 sec response for 90% of txns (XML-RPC)
• Key choices
» Implement services using native J2EE and CICS servers
» XML only for external interfaces
» Simple solutions for security and interface definition
• Paths to SOA
» Integration (simple internal, external), infrastructure services, multichannel applications
Pattern: Non-SOAP, basic SOA
J2EE (Borland)
Business services
Oracle
Custom XML server
CICS
Business services
DB2AllFusion Gen tools
Web server
Web applications
CA WSDM(future)
XML Schemas XML-RPC
External partners
Public access
PKI Web server
CA AllFusion Gen CA AllFusion Gen
InternalExternal
Custom web framework
monitoringmanagement
HP OpenView
J2EE callsCICS
services
XMLSpy
Two-way SSL
Queensland Transport — Lessons
• SO is a business model, not a technical solution
» It’s about business transformation
» Think through the full value chain, not just internal processes
• Use business process analysis to find services of value
• Be prepared for service support issues
» End users will come to you when they have issues, not to an intermediate provider
Unique (Zurich Airport) — SOA-based portal
• Manages the operations of Zurich airport
• Applications
» Airport management portal — integrates data and transactions from multiple outsourced systems
» Up to 50 msgs/sec @ 20 ms to 500 ms latency (most messages are very small)
• Key choices
» Require each externally hosted application to expose SOAP
» Single access channel to integrate applications
• Paths to SOA
» Rich internal integration, quasi-external integration
Pattern: Layered SOAP, reliable delivery SOA
SourceSafe
SOAP
.NET / Windows 2003 Server
Business services
webMethods
webMethods tools
Airport management portal
SOAP SOAP SOAP
Airport operations Radar data Baggage Other
SOAP
Local data cache
User interaction
Other(flight status)
Private network connections to externally hosted applications
reliable delivery
events
monitoring
policyXMLSpy
VS.NET
Unique (Zurich Airport) — Lessons
• Separate service specification and implementation
» First, define the service interface
» Design interfaces based on process requirements
» Then, design how to fulfill the service
• Do not put business logic in the delivery network
• Get an early handle on governance of data semantics
Large financial institution — SOAP-centric SOA
• Applications
» Customer systems, check image services, account inquiry, insurance services
» Started with XML over MQ, now moving to Web services
» Tested to 300 request/reply roundtrips per second
• Key choices
» Focused on unifying service access
» Focused on performance of XML transformations
» Avoided repository (so far), but addressed vocabulary management
• Paths to SOA
» Simple and rich internal integration, multichannel applications
Pattern: Unified service delivery network SOA
Systinet
WebLogictools
Service consumersOpenView
(no WSM)Contivo
WebLogic Server (J2EE) IMSNonStop• Compensating transaction capabilities implemented in services• Native protocols used to connect to downstream applications
metadata mgttransforms
DataPower
WebLogic Integration
SOAPSOAP
XML over MQ
Compensating transaction logic implemented in service consumers
WebSphere MQSOAP
Systinet tools
Nativetools
transforms adaptation
monitor / mgt
enhancedSOAP
Scripting toolsdeployment
SOAP
XMLSpy
Large financial institution — Lessons
• Getting IT executive buy-in to SOA vision is very important
» Enterprise-level funding because CIO gets the vision
• Start small and learn, then get a couple of big, visible projects
» Be sure projects know that SOA is an executive priority
» Do “project interventions” to identify and design good service interfaces — and to build project team competency
• Web services standards are only a start: much more work is required
• Don’t worry about a repository until you have the discipline to use it
Large North American bank — Custom SOA
• Applications
» Centered around customer information: retail banking, check images, stop payment
» Mission-critical volumes for internal applications
» External response times typically less than 2 seconds
• Key choices
» Continue to leverage high QoS of custom middleware
» Work with multiple existing EAI products
» Unify legacy service interfaces on the mainframe
• Paths to SOA
» Integration (simple, rich, external), multichannel applications
Pattern: Diverse, custom delivery network SOA
VS.NET
.NET
SOAP / RMI
TIBCOVitria
BizTalk
CICS
DataPower
WebSphere
WebSphere Studio
EAI tools Custom middleware
Service consumers(internal)
routingencryption
identity propagation
Word of mouth“repository”
Rational
IMS
WebSphere 390
Tivoli(no WSM)
PKI
Aion
BPMMetadata
mgt
Identity & access
mgt
SOAP
External partners
DMZ security
monitoringmanagement
Future leverage
Legacy tools
Sun ONE meta-
directory
Large North American bank — Lessons
• Reuse is nice, but business agility is the real payback
» Good service design enables “pluggable business” (e.g., business process outsourcing)
• Semantics (data, interface) can make or break you
• Many services management issues tie back to your firm’s standard for message headers
» If it’s not in the header, you can’t manage it
• Central funding is critical for thinking through your architecture strategy
Thomson Prometric — SOA for flexibility
• Manages certification test delivery at 4,000 training centers
• 300+ external partners (test owners)
• Applications
» Test center scheduling and capacity management, test delivery
» No concerns about messaging volumes — can scale using load balancing in standard ways
• Key choices
» Use orchestration to overcome underlying application limitations
» Use Web services management for policy and versioning
» Implement a dual-identity scheme (test owners, test takers)
• Paths to SOA
» Internal (rich, external), multichannel applications, core flexibility
Pattern: Process and policy driven SOA
VS.NET
BizTalk
Actional
Reactivity
J2EE tools
OpenView
Prometric’sWeb applications
monitoringmanagement
policyversion resolution
encryptionidentity (dual)
Web page“repository”
Visio orchestrationreliable messaging
B2B connections
rules enginecompensating txns
LDAP
Partner Web apps
Manual deployment
.NET WebLogic WebSphere
Thomson Prometric — Lessons
• How much your SOA will achieve is limited by how big your SOA thinking is
• Business process modeling is core to SOA success
» Craft new processes, don’t just document existing processes
• Orchestration provides one of the biggest value opportunities within SOA
» Process/workflow centric knowledge worker applications enabled by the underlying services
Overall themes and recommendations
• Business drives architecture
» Guide SOA evolution based on business needs
» Leverage existing infrastructure
» SOA creates opportunities for “pluggable business”
• As a strategy for business design, SOA applies to many scenarios
» Services must be designed in a process-centric way
• Learn from emerging patterns in the real world
» Start SOA platform design with the service delivery network
» Orchestration is a good first step into greater levels ofSOA flexibility
Selected bibliography
• March 29, 2005, Trends “The Elements Of SOA Maturity”
• March 29, 2005, Trends “Your Strategic SOA Platform Vision”
• December 7, 2004, Trends “Your Paths To Service-Oriented Architecture”
• June 18, 2004, Trends “The Big Strategic Impact Of Organic Business And Service-Oriented Architecture”
• August 13, 2004, Tech Choices “What Is An Enterprise Service Bus?”
• July 16, 2003, Planning Assumption “Service Orientation: Service-Based Design Is The High-Value Investment”
• October 27, 2003, Planning Assumption “Case Studies Show Incremental Path To Service-Oriented Architecture ”
• April 1, 2004, Best Practices “Nine Tips For SOA Implementation”
Randy Heffner
www.forrester.com
Thank you
Entire contents © 2005 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.