Method and apparatus for metadata driven web service mediation

Abstract

A mechanism lets a service consumer add mediation metadata in a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message and lets a service provider perform server side mediation based on the pre-defined mediation metadata. A client side mediation engine is plugged into a client SOAP engine. When the client side mediation engine receives a request message from the client SOAP engine, metadata is attached to a message header of a SOAP message and returned to the client SOAP engine. A server side mediation engine is plugged the server side mediation engine receives a SOAP message from the server SOAP engine, metadata is mapped with an appropriate adaptor and returned to the server SOAP engine.

1 . A method of attaching mediation metadata in a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a client side mediation engine;    plugging the client side mediation engine into a client SOAP engine;    receiving by the client side mediation engine a request message from the client SOAP engine;    attaching metadata to a message header of a SOAP message; and    returning the SOAP message to the client SOAP engine.    
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the SOAP message is mediated based on the metadata in the SOAP message further comprising the steps of: 
 providing a server side mediation engine;    plugging the server side mediation engine into a server SOAP engine;    receiving by the server side mediation engine a SOAP message from the server SOAP engine;    mapping metadata with an appropriate adaptor; and    returning the SOAP message to the server SOAP engine.    
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 2 , further comprising the steps of: 
 implementing one or more adaptors; and    constructing metadata specific to each of said one of more adaptors for use by said one or more adaptors.    
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising the steps of: 
 implementing a transformation adaptor; and    constructing transformation metadata for use by said transformation adaptor.    
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising the steps of: 
 implementing a filtering adaptor; and    constructing filtering data for use by said filtering adaptor.    
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising the steps of: 
 implementing a security adaptor; and    constructing security metadata for use by said security adaptor.    
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising the step of managing said one or more mediation adaptors.  
   
   
       8 . An apparatus for inserting mediation metadata into a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message based on an existing Web Service client engine, said apparatus comprising: 
 a client side mediation engine plugged into a client SOAP engine; and    a mediation policy accessed by said client side mediation engine, and when the client side mediation engine receives a request message from the client SOAP engine, the client side mediation engine attaches metadata to a message header of a SOAP message and returns the SOAP message to the client SOAP engine.    
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein a SOAP message is mediated based on an existing Web Service engine, the apparatus further comprising: 
 a server side mediation engine plugged into a server SOAP engine; and    one or more adaptors accessed by said server side mediation engine, and when a SOAP message is received by the server side mediation engine from the server SOAP engine, said server side mediation engine maps metadata in the SOAP message with an appropriate adaptor and returns the SOAP message to the server SOAP engine.    
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , further comprising an adaptor management service for managing said one or more adaptors.  
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein one of said one or more adaptors is a transformation adaptor which performs a SOAP body transformation based on transformation metadata.  
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein one of said one or more adaptors is a filtering adaptor which filters a SOAP response based on filtering metadata.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein one of said one or more adaptors is a security adapter which applies a customized security policy to the SOAP message based on security metadata.