Blog
Articles, tutorials, and field notes on identity, integration, API management, and application security — spanning nearly two decades of hands-on work.
Sample Stylesheet—Starting Point
I often have to go back and look up these details; so, I decided to post a standard starting point for a new stylesheet.
Protocol Transformations
Previously, I wrote a Wire Protocols post that outlined the common protocols that I’ve encountered when working with ESBs and SOA technology-especially DataPower. A primary function of an ESB is to provide the ability to convert service requests between these different protocols in a mostly…
What is a Web Service? What is a Service?
I have watched this debate unfold at every client site I have visited in the past few years. There are several angles to this question. From a technical stand point, a service is a program that takes some type of input, performs a task, and return some type of output. This is vague. It can describe…
Generating and Uploading a Shared Key (Symmetric Key) to DataPower Appliances
DataPower does not seem to provide a tool to generate a Shared Key that can be used with 3DES or AES algorithms. DataPower does provide a tool for generating X509 private keys, certificate requests, and self-signed certificates-in the Crypto Tools section-but we are concerned with Shared Keys…
Service Mediation vs. Service Orchestration
I’ve wanted to define this term for a while, but, someone beat me to it several years ago. I generally agree with what these guys have to say. These terms are still in use today at client sites where DataPower and the IBM SOA stack is being deployed. Service Mediation logic is the application of…
Data Transformations
In a previous post, I described the different types of Data Formats that are commonly used with ESBs, XML Gateways, and SOA. Converting from one format to another is a common task performed by an ESB or XML Gateway. One can make arguments either way about whether this functionality should exist in…
Data Formats
To follow up on the Wire Protocol post, the next logical step in our SOA exploration is Data Formats. A web service message’s Data Format describes how the data is organized in the message.
Wire Protocols
Like so much of our computer industry, the ecosystem around SOA has many acronyms, buzzwords, and phrases that are supposed to mean something. Likewise, this jargon may be poorly defined or ambiguous. The posts that I have made over the past few months are slowly building up a common vocabulary…
Recommended Reading Material for SOA
Following up on the recommended reading lists I’ve posted recently, this post contains a list of the books and specifications that I direct people to about SOA.
SOA Security Reading Material
At nearly every client site, I’m asked to put together a recommended reading list on a variety of subjects. Web Services security is generally among them. SO, I’m putting together a list of the links that usually make it on that list.
SOA Actors
When I am describing complex SOA or Web Service architectures, environments, and scenarios to clients, I often use the term “SOA Actors” to generically refer to components of such environments in the abstract. I will often do the same on Thinkmiddleware.com posts. Here, I define what I mean by this…