BEA lets you use XML maps via WebLogic Workshop. These maps allow true loose coupling of Web services by mapping specific XML elements in SOAP requests to Java methods and parameters. This allows the underlying Web services code to be changed without requiring a change to clients. Changing our echoInt Web service from a DOC/LIT model to an RPC/ENC model required only a change in the properties of the JWS (Java Web Service). The other products we tested offer a similar approach, but their implementations represented a marked difference from Sun's offering, which generates a different set of code to support each model and therefore required that a new project be built.
BEA's management interface is extensive but falls short of Systinet's granularity in terms of Web services monitoring. The only product to come close to the level of sophistication offered by WebLogic in the general server-management arena was Novell, and even our winner fell short of providing the level of detail offered by BEA. Administrators accustomed to having complete control over every detail of their application-server configuration from a single, unified console will not be disappointed in BEA's offering. We'd still like to see more detail in all the products regarding Web services, as they present unique challenges in monitoring and management that are not easily covered by traditional J2EE management and monitoring mechanisms.
For example, a single endpoint may provide multiple messages, as does WeatherService with its WeatherByZipCode and getWeatherByCode. It's important to provide monitoring of not only the endpoint, but message-specific access information. Increasing the logging level in products from the default to Debug may provide this level of detail, but increasing the data being logged to such a level can degrade performance, and it means wading through information that may not be of interest to the administrator. Vendors need to address this issue and provide a means of monitoring Web services-specific information without degrading performance and without requiring a lot of extraneous information in the logs.
WebLogic 7.0 with WebLogic Workshop. For development, both products can be obtained free via a renewable 12-month subscription license. For deployment, WebLogic Server 7.0 is $10,000 per CPU. BEA Systems (800) 817-4BEA, (408) 570-8000. www.bea.com
Cape Clear CapeConnect 4 Server
Cape Clear's Web services platform consists of the CapeConnect 4 server and CapeStudio 4, an elegant IDE offering with a smorgasbord of options for developing all aspects of Web services. Included in the distribution were a Web services test client, XML and XSLT editors, and an integrated WSDL editor (also offered separately as a free download). Options on the server side are a bit more limited, with no integrated monitoring of Web services activity, as is offered by Novell and Systinet, and without a single, integrated console for managing distributed instances of CapeConnect. On its own, it's not enterprise-class, but if deployed into an existing corporate-class J2EE application server, the product should do just fine.
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