Apparatus and method for selecting a web service in response to a request from a client device

• US 20040139151A1
• Filed: 12/17/2002
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Flurry, Gregory Alan, Holdsworth, Simon Antony James
• Granted Patent: US 7,188,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An apparatus and method for selecting a web service in response to a request from a client device are provided. With the apparatus and method of the present invention, when an a request is received from a client device for the invocation of a web services operation, the request is received in an off-ramp device coupled to an on-ramp device that provides an interface to web services. The off-ramp device verifies that the requested service is in a configuration file and then determines the selection scope of the desired service, as defined in the configuration file. Based on the selection scope of the desired service, the off-ramp can determine whether to perform discovery and selection of a service implementation (“request” seleciton scope), retrieve a service implementation from a session level cache (“session” selection scope), or retrieve a service implementation from an application level cache (“application” selection scope). If a service implementation corresponding to the requested service does not exist in the session or application level cache, the discovery and selection operations may be performed to identify a service implementation to handle the request and the service implementation may be stored in the appropriate cache.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for invoking a service operation, comprising:

receiving a request for a web service operation;

determining a selection scope associated with a web service for providing the web service operation;

retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope; and

providing the web service operation using the web service implementation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection scope is determined based on a portType of the web service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection scope is one of an application selection scope, a session selection scope and a request selection scope.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein if the selection scope is an application selection scope, retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope includes:

determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in an application level cache; and

retrieving the web service object from the application level cache if the web service object is in the application level cache.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the selection scope is an application selection scope, retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope includes:

determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in an application level cache; and

using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism to obtain a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the application level cache.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if the selection scope is a session selection scope, retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope includes:

determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a session level cache; and

retrieving the web service object from the session level cache if the web service object is in the session level cache.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein if the selection scope is a session selection scope, retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope includes:

determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a session level cache; and

using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism to obtain a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the session level cache.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope includes:

determining it a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a cache;

retrieving the web service object for the web service implementation from the cache if the web service object is in the cache; and

performing discovery and selection of a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the cache.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a selection scope associated with a web service for providing the web service operation includes:

identifying an element of a configuration file associated with a portType for the web service; and

identifying the selection scope in the element of the configuration file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection scope indicates that once a web service implementation is selected for a designated portType, all subsequent requests for web services supporting the designated portType make use of the selected web service implementation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection scope indicates that a web service implementation is selected for web service operation requests from a requester only once per session for a designated portType.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the web service operation using the web service implementation includes:

executing the web service operation using the web service implementation;

determining if the web service operation executed successfully; and

performing error recovery if the web service operation did not execute successfully.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein performing error recover includes selecting a new web service implementation using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism.

14. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for invoking a service operation, comprising:

first instructions for receiving a request for a web service operation;

second instructions for determining a selection scope associated with a web service for providing the web service operation;

third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope; and

fourth instructions for providing the web service operation using the web service implementation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selection scope is determined based on a portType of the web service.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selection scope is one of an application selection scope, a session selection scope and a request selection scope.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein if the selection scope is an application selection scope, the third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope include:

instructions for determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in an application level cache; and

instructions for retrieving the web service object from the application level cache if the web service object is in the application level cache.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein if the selection scope is an application selection scope, the third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope include:

instructions for determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in an application level cache; and

instructions for using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism to obtain a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the application level cache.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein if the selection scope is a session selection scope, the third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope include:

instructions for determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a session level cache; and

instructions for retrieving the web service object from the session level cache if the web service object is in the session level cache.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein if the selection scope is a session selection scope, the third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope include:

instructions for determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a session level cache; and

instructions for using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism to obtain a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the session level cache.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the third instructions for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope include:

instructions for determining if a web service object for the web service implementation exists in a cache;

instructions for retrieving the web service object for the web service implementation from the cache if the web service object is in the cache; and

instructions for performing discovery and selection of a web service implementation if the web service object is not in the cache.

22. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the second instructions for determining a selection scope associated with a web service for providing the web service operation include:

instructions for identifying an element of a configuration file associated with a portType for the web service; and

instructions for identifying the selection scope in the element of the configuration file.

23. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selection scope indicates that once a web service implementation is selected for a designated portType, all subsequent requests for web services supporting the designated portType make use of the selected web service implementation.

24. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selection scope indicates that a web service implementation is selected for web service operation requests from a requester only once per session for a designated portType.

25. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the fourth instructions for providing the web service operation using the web service implementation include:

instructions for executing the web service operation using the web service implementation;

instructions for determining if the web service operation executed successfully; and

instructions for performing error recovery if the web service operation did not execute successfully.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the instructions for performing error recover include instructions for selecting a new web service implementation using a discovery mechanism and selection mechanism.

27. An apparatus for invoking a service operation, comprising:

means for receiving a request for a web service operation;

means for determining a selection scope associated with a web service for providing the web service operation;

means for retrieving a web service implementation based on the selection scope; and

means for providing the web service operation using the web service implementation.