Message Optimization Specifications

Message optimization is the process of transmitting web services messages in the most efficient manner. It is achieved in web services communication by encoding messages prior to transmission and then de-encoding them when they reach their final destination.

Figure 2–4 shows the specifications that were implemented to optimize communication between two web service endpoints.

Figure 2–4 Message Optimization Specifications

In addition to the Core XML specifications, optimization was implemented using the following specifications:

• SOAP: JAX Web Services currently supports the SOAP wire protocol. With SOAP implementations, client requests and web service responses are most often transmitted as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messages over HTTP to enable a completely interoperable exchange between clients and web services, all running on different platforms and at various locations on the Internet. HTTP is a familiar request-and response standard for sending messages over the Internet, and SOAP is an XML-based protocol that follows the HTTP request-and-response model. In SOAP 1.1, the SOAP portion of a transported message handles the following:

  • Defines an XML-based envelope to describe what is in the message and how to process the message.

  • Includes XML-based encoding rules to express instances of application-defined data types within the message.

  • Defines an XML-based convention for representing the request to the remote service and the resulting response.

    In SOAP 1.2 implementations, web service endpoint addresses can be included in the XML-based SOAP envelope, rather than in the transport header (for example in the HTTP transport header), thus enabling SOAP messages to be transport independent.

• Web Services Addressing: The Java APIs for W3C Web Services Addressing were first shipped with Java Web Services Developer’s Pack 2.0 (JWSDP 2.0). This specification defines a set of abstract properties and an XML Infoset representation that can be bound to a SOAP message so as to reference web services and to facilitate end-to-end addressing of endpoints in messages. A web service endpoint is an entity, processor, or resource that can be referenced and to which web services messages can be addressed. Endpoint references convey the information needed to address a web service endpoint. The specification defines two constructs: message addressing properties and endpoint references, that normalize the information typically provided by transport protocols and messaging systems in a way that is independent of any particular transport or messaging system. This is accomplished by defining XML tags for including web service addresses in the SOAP message, instead of the HTTP header. The implementation of these features enables messaging systems to support message transmission in a transport-neutral manner through networks that include processing nodes such as endpoint managers, firewalls, and gateways.

• Web Services Secure Conversation: This specification provides better message-level security and efficiency in multiple-message exchanges in a standardized way. It defines basic mechanisms on top of which secure messaging semantics can be defined for multiple-message exchanges and allows for contexts to be established and potentially more efficient keys or new key material to be exchanged, thereby increasing the overall performance and security of the subsequent exchanges.

• SOAP MTOM: The SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM), paired with the XML-binary Optimized Packaging (XOP), provides standard mechanisms for optimizing the transmission and/or wire format of SOAP messages by selectively encoding portions of the SOAP message, while still presenting an XML Infoset to the SOAP application. This mechanism enables the definition of a hop-by-hop contract between a SOAP node and the next SOAP node in the SOAP message path so as to facilitate the efficient pass-through of optimized data contained within headers or bodies of SOAP messages that are relayed by an intermediary. Further, it enables message optimization to be done in a binding independent way.