What is SOA

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What is SOA?
NAJIS Conference Santa Fe, NM October 17, 2007
Mark Perbix Justice Information Systems
Specialist SEARCH
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Learning Objectives

• What is architecture?
• Why do we need it?
• What does SOA mean?
• What does SOA look like?
• How do we implement SOA?

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What is Architecture?
An architecture is a framework that guides the
significant decisions involved in creating or
enhancing something that matters.
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Style of Design
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Styles As Shorthand

• Architectures tend to be complex
• Laypeople (buyers) and architects
  (builders/designers) need efficient, effective
  communication
• A style is a label for a set of decision outcomes
• A style is like an off-the-shelf architecture

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Styles of Information Sharing Architecture
Shared User Interface
Shared Database
File Transfer/Remote DB Access
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What is SOA?

• SOA is a style of information sharing
  architecture
• Distinguishing Features
• Keeps implementations separate (services)
• Autonomy standardize on the what, specialize
  on the how
• Formal, precise, but minimalist standards
• Open (non-proprietary) standards
• Share common services
• Reuse components
• The model is the software
• Separate integration logic from internal system
  logic

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SOA Principles/Goals

• Abstractness
• Autonomy
• Reusability
• Loose Coupling
• Statelessness

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SOA Style
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SOA is not just technology

• Enterprise Service Bus
• Message Bus
• Message Hub
• Data Hub
• Broker
• Switch
• Technology is an important component of an SOA
  approach but do not define SOA

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SOA is a complete package

• More than just technology
• Policies, Standards, Guidelines
• Agreements, Management Strategies
• Infrastructure Requirements
• that produce the distinguishing characteristics
  of the SOA style

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Incremental Adoption of SOA
Provisioning Models (shared services)
Location Independence (registry)
Controlled vocab
Repositories
SOAP
Agility
WS-
XML
Shared Message Transport
Separation of Business logic (intermediaries)
Event-driven architecture
Industry Standards
Standard messages (IEPDs)
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Summary

• Architecture is a framework to guide decisions
• Styles provide convenient labels for certain
  desirable outcomes
• Information sharing architecture guides decisions
  about integrating systems
• SOA is a style of information sharing
  architecture
• SOA is a set of principles, policies, standards,
  guidelines, agreements, and requirements for
  shared infrastructure