RE: [soa-rm] Types of Services (RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer")

From
Chiusano Joseph <>
Date
2005-04-11T16:04:08+00:00
ID
Thread
RE: [soa-rm] Types of Services (RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer")
<Quote>

But doesn't this 
leave open an SOA being just a form of OO?  

</Quote>

Sort of, due to SOA's "componentized" nature. 
However, objects are generally abstracted several layers below SOA in that 
regard. One stack that you'll see semi-often (particularly from IBM) is the 
following:

 

     SOA

-------------

 Components

-------------------

   Objects

 

Joe (not at the bottom of the stack:)

 

Joseph Chiusano

Booz Allen Hamilton
Visit 
us online@ http://www.boozallen.com

From: Christopher Bashioum 
[mailto:]
Sent: Mon 4/11/2005 11:36 
AM
To: 'Matthew MacKenzie'
Cc: 

Subject: RE: [soa-rm] Types of Services 
(RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer")

But doesn't this leave open an SOA being just a form of 
OO?  Would a C++ library be an SOA?  Could you elaborate on your use 
case- maybe that will help me understand better.  In particular, i'm 
wondering about the "automatically perform" portion.  This may be a 
difficult area, because we don't want to get too concrete, but at the same 
time we shouldn't try to be so abstract that anything goes.  

 

Maybe we can put in a placeholder for the message or bus 
mechanism, and see if it can drop out of the RM later or if it begins to show 
itself as an essential part of the RM (at which time we can decide what to call 
it).

  

  
  From: Matthew MacKenzie 
  [mailto:] 
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 11:27 
  AM
To: Christopher Bashioum
Cc: 
  
Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Types of Services 
  (RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer")

  

A service is merely something that performs some task(s) on behalf 
  of / for a consumer. Defining the mechanics of how the service knows what or 
  when to do is, to me, not in scope for SOA-RM.

I envision services 
  residing within an SOA that automatically perform services on behalf of a 
  dynamic set of consumers based on their own determination of the requirement 
  for a service to be rendered. I want this kind of use case to be recognized 
  within the reference model without needing to explicitly spell it 
  out.

-Matt

On 11-Apr-05, at 7:27 AM, Christopher Bashioum 
  wrote:

  Ken and Joe,
 
do all services have a 2-way 
    communication mechanism, or is it possible to have a service that just 
    consumes messages (or just sends messages)?  The reason I 
    am asking, is that it looks like all the interactions mentioned 
    so far involve a request and a response, but I am wondering about 
    the idea of events or 
    broadcasts. 
 
 

From: Ken Laskey 
    [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 12:34 
    AM
To: Chiusano Joseph
Cc: Christopher Bashioum; 
    
Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Types of 
    Services (RE: [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer")

Let me 
    suggest the following:

A data resource is a source of content. 
    It accepts a request and returns a value or set of values in response. The 
    return can be an entity (such as a particular schema), an attribute of an 
    entity (such as when the schema was last modified), or any numerical or 
    textual value or set of values. The content can be static objects stored in 
    some repository or dynamically generated through the use of a processing 
    resource. Data about a missile that is stored in a database is content. The 
    weather forecast for tomorrow is content generated from a weather 
    simulation. In a net-centric environment, the requester does not know the 
    format from which the response is retrieved or how it is generated.

A 
    processing resource is one that accepts a task and return a status 
    indicating the extent to which the task was completed and information on how 
    the state of entities changed as a result of the processing. One or more 
    processing resources may be invoked as part of a process of submitting a 
    query and being returned a response. From the standpoint of a user (either 
    human or machine), it is unimportant what combination of data and processing 
    resources are invoked as long as the request is satisfied.

Services 
    interact with (i.e. use, invoke, access, ...) these 
    resources.

Ken

On Apr 10, 2005, at 2:00 PM, Chiusano Joseph 
    wrote:

I wonder if the roles a service can play - or, perhaps one 
    can say, the
general types of services that can exist - have any bearing 
    on our RM at
all, in an indirect way.

Put in simple terms, one may 
    say that there are - in general - 3
overarching "types" of services. 
    These correspond to 3 of the layers of
the general "integration stack" 
    (data, application, and process):

(1) Data-Oriented Service: Primary 
    role is to accept and process data,
or provide data based upon a 
    request.

Two general types:

(a) Data Processor*: Accepts as 
    input a set of data, processes that
data, and (optionally) sends a 
    response. The response may simply be an
acknowledgement, or another set 
    of data to be processed by the service
requester**.

Ex: Simple 
    form acceptance service, such as a loan application form
service acting 
    on behalf of multiple banks (routes to proper bank and
sends back 
    acknowledgement to form submitter)

(b) Data Provider: Provides 
    streaming data, or a set of data upon
request.

Ex's: RSS news feed 
    (streaming data), stock quote (set of data upon
request - given stock 
    ticker symbol)

*need better term - using this for illustration 
    purposes only
**using term "requester" for now since we have not 
    established our
perferred term

(2) Application-Oriented Service 
    (aka "Function-Oriented Service"):
Primary role is to accept a command 
    and carry out processing based on
that command, in a singular fashion 
    (i.e. does not invoke other
services).

Ex's: Inventory 
    verification service (accepts item #, responds with
whether or not it is 
    in inventory), shipment cost calculation service

(3) Process-Oriented 
    Service: Similar to Application-Oriented Service,
but invokes other 
    services in carrying out its processing (i.e. it
embodies the definition 
    of an overarching process).

Ex: Order processing service (checks 
    customer credit, checks inventory,
does shipment cost calculation, 
    etc.)

Thoughts?

Joe

Joseph Chiusano
Booz Allen 
    Hamilton
Visit us online@ 
    http://www.boozallen.com

-----Original Message-----
From: 
    Christopher Bashioum [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 
    07, 2005 12:49 PM
To: 
Subject: RE: 
    [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer"

When we talk about service 
    consumer vs. provider in this
sense, I think we need to separate the 
    "static" entity from
the dynamic role that said entity plays. A given 
    entity can
be both service provider (in which case it publishes 
    it's
service description) and service consumer (in which case it
binds 
    to another service provider in order to accomplish its
own 
    service).

So...to re-word your statement a little: An entity that 
    binds
with a service is playing the role of service 
    consumer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vikas Deolaliker 
    [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 12:21 
    PM
To: 'Frank McCabe'; 
Subject: RE: 
    [soa-rm] Definition of "Service Consumer"

Using the 
    publish/find/bind framework of SOA...

The entity that publishes is 
    certainly not the consumer. The
entity that
finds may or may not be 
    the consumer but the entity that
binds is certainly
the 
    consumer.

So an entity that "binds" with a service would be the 
    closest
to a service
consumer.

Vikas

-----Original 
    Message-----
From: Frank McCabe 
    [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 9:00 
    AM
To: 
Subject: Re: [soa-rm] Definition of 
    "Service Consumer"

There is a distinction between the software 
    *entity*
(agent/component/J2EE bean/.../) that interacts with 
    a
service in order
to achieve some goal, and the person or persons for 
    whom that
interaction is taking place.

The reason that this 
    distinction is important is similar to the
distinction between a service 
    interface and the service itself:
accessing your bank account from an ATM 
    or on-line will use different
interfaces but ultimately all use the same 
    service.

Here is an example of why its important: the 
    appropriate
business logic
to apply to a service request will depend 
    on many factors:
the means by
which the request was delivered, the 
    request itself and the
person (or
persons) for whom the request was 
    made. This last aspect is
completely
independent of mode of requesting 
    and is purely business/application
specific.

Incidentally, the 
    above definition: "an agent that interacts with a
service in order to 
    achieve a goal" seems to be a reasonable
definition
of a service 
    requester.

On Apr 7, 2005, at 7:23 AM, Gregory A. Kohring 
    wrote:

Matthew,

OK, here a fewer other choices which might 
    be deemed more
"respectful"...

Service Consumer:

1) 
    End-user of a service.

2) An agent which, acting on behalf of its 
    owner, uses a service.

3) An entity which utilizes a 
    service

4) An entity which consumes the product or information 
    produced by a
service.

Note all of these definitions depend 
    upon the definition of the
term "service". Have we agreed on this 
    already? Perhaps we should
start there first...

-- 
    Greg

Matthew MacKenzie wrote:

I think services deserve 
    respect, lets try not to exploit them :-)
Gregory A. Kohring 
    wrote:

Thomas,

Perhaps one should use a somewhat broader 
    definition
which captures

the human user as well:

Service 
    Consumer: An entity which exploits a service.

-- 
    Greg

Thomas Erl wrote:

Now that we've decided on the 
    term "service consumer" it may be
useful to formally define it. The term 
    "consumer" is used by the
WS-I Basic Profile wherein it is simply defined 
    as
"Software that

invokes an 
    instance."

Thomas

--

======================================================================

G.A. 
    Kohring
C&C Research Laboratories, NEC Europe 
    Ltd.

======================================================================

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ken 
    Laskey
MITRE Corporation, M/S H305 phone: 703-883-7934
7515 Colshire 
    Drive fax: 703-883-1379
McLean VA 
22102-7508