Web service specifications

There are a variety of specifications associated with web services. These specifications are in varying degrees of maturity and are maintained or supported by various standards bodies and entities. Specifications may complement, overlap, and compete with each other. Web service specifications are occasionally referred to collectively as "WS-*", though there is not a single managed set of specifications that this consistently refers to, nor a recognized owning body across them all. The reference term "WS-*" is more of a general nod to the fact that many specifications are named with "WS-" as their prefix. This page includes many of the specifications that might be considered a part of "WS-*".

Web Service Standards Listings

These sites contain documents and links about the different Web Services standards identified on this page.

• IBM's Web Services Standards Page
  Microsoft's Web Services Standards Page
  World Wide Web Consortium's Web Services Activity
  innoQ's WS-Standards Poster
  OASIS Standards and Other Approved Work
  XML CoverPages

Directory access

• Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0)
  ebXML
  WSFL
  WS-Policy
  WS-PolicyAssertions
  WS-PolicyAttachment
  WS-Policy Framework
  WS-SecurityPolicy
  WS-Discovery
  WS-Inspection

Service Description (Metadata)

• Web Services Description Language (WSDL) from the W3C
  Web Services Semantics (WSDL-S)
  XINS provides a POX-style Web service specification format
  WS-MetadataExchange
  WS-Resource Framework (WSRF)

Messaging and Function Calls

• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
  SOAP with Attachments
  SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism
  SOAP-over-UDP
  XML-RPC (XML-based Remote Procedure Call)
  WS-Eventing
  WS-Addressing
  WS-Routing (specification superseded by WS-Addressing)
  WS-Referral (specification superseded by WS-Addressing)
  MTOM
  WS-Enumeration
  WS-Transfer

Web Services Interoperability organization (WS-I) Specifications

These specifications provide additional information to improve interoperability between vendor implementations.

• WS-I Basic Profile
  WS-I Basic Security Profile
  Simple Soap Binding Profile

Business Process Specifications

• WS-BPEL
  WS-CDL WS Choreography Definition Language is an XML-based language that describes peer-to-peer collaborations of Web Services participants.

Security Specifications

• XML Signature
  XML Encryption
  XML Key Management (XKMS)
  WS-Security
  WS-SecureConversation
  WS-SecurityPolicy
  WS-Trust
  WS-Federation
  WS-Federation Active Requestor Profile
  WS-Federation Passive Requestor Profile
  Web Services Security Kerberos Binding
  Web Single Sign-On Interoperability Profile
  Web Single Sign-On Metadata Exchange Protocol
  Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) (used for the exchange of authentication and authorisation information)
  XACML (may be used to describe authorization policies)

Reliable Messaging Specifications

• WS-ReliableMessaging
  WS-Reliability

Transaction Specifications

• WS-Coordination
  WS-Transaction
  WS-AtomicTransaction
  WS-BusinessActivity

Publish-subscribe Messaging Specifications

• WS-Notification defines a standard Web services approach to notification using a topic-based publish/subscribe pattern. It is a family of documents including three normative specifications:
  • WS-BaseNotification
    WS-BrokeredNotification
    WS-Topics
• WS-Eventing

Basic XML Specifications

• XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
  Namespaces in XML
  XML Schema
  XPath
  XML Information Set
  JAXB a Java specification; Java-XML Binding API
  XInclude
  XML Pointer

Management Specifications

• WS-Management / WS-Manageability
  WS-Management Catalog
  WS-ResourceTransfer

Draft Specifications

• WS-CAF Web Services Composite Application Framework
  WS-CDL Web Services Choreography Description Language. It is W3C specification that describes peer-to-peer collaborations of parties by defining, from a global viewpoint, their common and complementary observable behavior; where ordered message exchanges result in accomplishing a common business goal.
  WSDM Web Services Distributed Management
  WS-Provisioning Describes the APIs and Schemas necessary to facilitate interoperability between provisioning systems in a consistent manner using Web services

Other

• Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS)
  Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP)

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