Re: PROVREG and XML Protocol

[Noah_Mendelsohn@lotus.com]

Rick H Wesson writes:

>> I'd love to buse BXXP and 
>> I just can't find any
>> way to justify using SOAP.

Though I don't claim to be expert on BEEP, I have heard Marshall Rose give 
an intro or two.  I would suggest that the strength of protocols like BXXP 
is in the ability to manage things like multiplexing, conversations, etc. 
Like SOAP, it uses XML where applicable as a structuring mechanism, but 
mainly for its own purposes.

My impression is that  SOAP really picks up about where BEEP leaves off, 
to solve a different and higher level set of issues.  SOAP puts a lot of 
emphasis into managing the structure of an envelope, particularly so that 
extensions can be managed and processed appropriately over time. 
Furthermore, SOAP has as an explicit goal the ability to integrate with 
and leverage a broad range of XML-based middleware being developed in a 
variety of commercial and other settings.  My impression is that XML is 
more a tool for BEEP, than an explicit goal.

So, I think the reason to use SOAP is [a] if its ability to manage things 
like envelope structure and versioning (e.g. mustUnderstand) is useful, 
[b] if you value the ability to leverage what is expected to be quite 
ubiquitous tooling for SOAP, probably WSDL, and related offerings and/or 
[c] if you need to tell a story about how a single application level 
message (e.g. purchase order) will flow through BEEP, for example, into 
your organization, from there through MQSeries to your application, etc. 
SOAP attempts to model such integration.  Of course, if you want to model 
things as a simple form of RPC, for easier access from scripting languages 
etc., SOAP provides support for that, but does not require its use.

SOAP isn't the answer to all problems, but those are the reaons I would 
consider.  Many of us hope that there will emerge a truly first class 
binding for SOAP to run on top of BEEP.  I do think there is likely 
overlap between BEEP and SOAP in areas such as security, and it would be 
really good if the two approaches turned out to be compatible.  For 
example, it would be really nice if, when SOAP is mapped onto BEEP, the 
resulting security story looked sensible, rather than patchwork.  As you 
can see from other emails on dist-app, the protocols WG is trying hard to 
ensure that such mappings from SOAP are generally possible.  Of course, 
there is a lot of detail to be considered to make sure one has a really 
good solution, and not just a patchwork integration.

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Noah Mendelsohn                                    Voice: 1-617-693-4036
Lotus Development Corp.                            Fax: 1-617-693-8676
One Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
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