Discovery Service Specification

The Liberty ID-WSF Discovery Service Specification defines a framework that enables a client to locate the appropriate web service for retrieving, updating, or modifying a particular piece of identity data. Typically, there are one or more services on a network that allow entities to perform an action on identity data. To keep track of these services or to know which can be trusted, clients require access to a discovery service. A discovery service is an identity service that acts as a registry of resource offerings. A resource offering defines an association between a particular piece of identity data and the instance of a web service that provides access to the data. With access to the discovery service, the client is able to discover which web service must be contacted to then access the desired identity data. A common use case is when personal profile or calendar data is placed within a resource offering so that the data can be located by other entities. For more information, see the Liberty ID-WSF Discovery Service Specification.