Systems and methods for managing web services via a framework of interfaces

• US 7,925,981 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2003
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Murray, Bryan P., Catania, Nicolas, Vambenepe, Guillaume N., Pourheidari, M. Homayoun
• Primary Examiner(s): LUU, LE HIEN
• Application Number:
  US10/438,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20040230674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,890 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 709/204, 717/101, 705/7, 719/328, 715/744, 715/735, 715/765
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for managing a Web service comprises a service managed object associated with the Web service. The service managed object includes an interface configured to represent management features for the service to a manager. The manager can access information regarding the Web service via the interface such as a list of conversations associated with the Web service, and the relationship of the service managed object to other managed objects.

Claims

1. A system for managing a Web service, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a service managed object executable on the computer processor, wherein;

the service managed object is associated with the Web service and includes at least one interface configured to allow a manager to access management features for the Web service; and

the at least one interface is configured to provide a list of conversations associated with the Web service.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one interface is further configured to provide information regarding an interface description for the at least one interface.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one interface is further configured to provide information regarding the relationship of the service managed object to other managed objects.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a conversation interface for at least one of the conversations, wherein the conversation interface provides:

information regarding other managed objects participating in the at least one conversation;

an identifier associated with the at least one conversation;

information regarding messages processed by the service;

identifiers for other services participating in the at least one conversation; and

the number of other services participating in the at least one conversation.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the conversation interface further provides information regarding the service that contains the at least one conversation.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the conversation interface further provides notification of at least one of the following events:

the at least one conversation received an incorrect message;

one of the participants in the at least one conversation is missing;

one of the remote participants in the at least one conversation sent an unexpected fault message; and

a fault occurred while processing a message for the at least one conversation.

7. The system of claim 4, further comprising a Web service execution environment (WSEE) interface comprising information regarding:

the configuration of the WSEE; and

other services that are executable in the WSEE.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one interface is configured to provide information regarding the response time of the service.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one interface is configured to allow a manager to control operation of the service.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the service managed object is configured to notify the manager of the operational status of the service.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the information is sent to the manager via a simple object access protocol (SOAP).

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface description that describes management capabilities available for the service via the at least one interface.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface description is formatted according to a Web services description language (WSDL).

14. A system capable of managing a Web service, comprising:

a computer processor configured to communicate with the service, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions operable to;

discover a managed object interface for the service;

discover capabilities for managing the service based on the managed object interface for the service;

discover a service interface for the service; and

discover additional capabilities for managing the service based on the service object interface.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions further operable to:

discover other managed objects related to the service based on the information in the managed object interface.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions further operable to receive information regarding at least one of the group of:

conversations associated with the service that are in progress;

the last requested message received by the service;

the last fault message returned from the service; and

the execution environment for the service.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions further operable to receive information regarding at least one of the group of:

the total number of messages the service has received since its creation;

the number of failed messages processed by the service;

the number of successful messages processed by the Web service;

the maximum amount of time that successful operational requests executed before returning a response;

the minimum amount of time that successful operational requests executed before returning a response;

the cumulative amount of time that successful operational requests have executed since the service started;

the maximum amount of time that failed operational requests executed before returning a response;

the minimum amount of time that failed operational requests executed before returning a response; and

the cumulative amount of time that failed operational requests have executed since the service started.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions further operable to receive information regarding at least one of the group of:

an operation to start the service;

an operation to restart the service; and

an operation to stop the service.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer processor includes executable instructions further operable to receive information regarding:

a value indicating the operational status of a resource associated with the service; and

an event indicating the a change in the operational status of the resource.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the computer processor further comprises instructions operable to determine the management capabilities for the service based on:

a first interface description that describes the managed object interface; and

a second interface description that describes the service object interface.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the first interface description and the second interface description are formatted according to a Web services description language (WSDL).

22. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer readable storage medium, comprising:

a service interface; and

a managed object interface associated with the service interface, wherein the service interface is configured to include information for managing a Web service, including information indicating conversations associated with the service that are in progress.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the service interface is further configured to include information regarding at least one of the group of:

the last requested message received by the service;

the last fault message returned from the service; and

the execution environment for the service.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the service interface is further configured to include information regarding at least one of the group of:

the total number of messages the service has received since its creation;

the number of failed messages processed by the service;

the number of successful messages processed by the Web service;

the maximum amount of time that successful operational requests executed before returning a response;

the minimum amount of time that successful operational requests executed before returning a response;

the cumulative amount of time that successful operational requests have executed since the service started;

the maximum amount of time that failed operational requests executed before returning a response;

the minimum amount of time that failed operational requests executed before returning a response; and

the cumulative amount of time that failed operational requests have executed since the service started.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, further comprising computer executable instructions operable to exchange messages via the simple object access protocol (SOAP).

26. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the service interface is further configured to include at least one of the group of:

an operation to start the service; and

an operation to stop the service.

27. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the service interface is further configured to include:

at least one of the group of;

a status value indicating the service'"'"'s underlying resource is in the process of transitioning from terminated to operational status; and

a status value indicating the service'"'"'s underlying resource is in the process of transitioning from operational to inactive; and

at least one of the group of;

an event indicating the service is starting;

an event indicating the service is stopping; and

an event indicating the service has stopped.

28. The computer program product of claim 22, further comprising a service interface description that describes the service interface.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the extension to the service interface exposes management information regarding a business transaction.

30. The computer program product of claim 22, further comprising:

an extension to the service object interface to expose additional service management capabilities for the service.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the service interface description is formatted according to a Web services description language (WSDL).

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the extension to the service interface is implemented by including another port type in an interface description for the extension.

33. A method for managing a service, comprising:

creating a service object representing the service, wherein the service object includes a management interface;

exposing management capabilities for the service via a description of the management interface; and

allowing a manager to subscribe to receive notification of events regarding the service.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

providing information regarding the service including;

information indicating conversations associated with the service;

messages processed by the service;

the execution environment for the service; and

the response time of the service.

35. The method of claim 33 further comprising:

allowing a manager to control operation of the service.

36. An apparatus for managing a service, comprising:

interface means for representing management capabilities for the service; and

description means for exposing a selection of the management capabilities for the service to a manager.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for allowing a manager to subscribe with the service object to receive notification of events regarding the service.

38. The apparatus of claim 37 further comprising:

means for providing information indicating conversations associated with the service;

means for providing information regarding messages processed by the service; and

means for providing information indicating the response time of the service.

39. The apparatus of claim 36 further comprising:

means for allowing a manager to operate the service.