Taking control of SOA Design-time and runtime SOA Governance

Applying Control to SOA

SOA Governance allows an organization to understand and control exactly how its SOA is being used.

High-level Benefits

Visibility
With SOA Governance in place, all Service usage is monitored and recorded. This allows Service Administrators to see which Services are being used, who is using the services, and what response times are being returned. This enhanced visibility allows root cause analysis of Service problems. When an SOA is not performing as expected, the Service-level monitoring allows a Service Administrator to pinpoint the particular Service which is not performing as required, causing knock-on effects on the SOA as a whole.

Control
SOA Governance involves applying policies to Services across a Service Oriented Architecture. These policies govern which clients can use the services. Without SOA Governance in place, an SOA risks becoming chaotic and insecure, with services being deployed "under the radar" without any kind of policies being applied to them.

Technical

SOA Governance can be divided into the two broad technical areas, Design-Time Governance and Runtime Governance.

Design-Time Governance
Design-Time governance is the process by which polices are applied to Web Services. Services are initially registered, so that administrators have access to a definitive list of deployed Services. After the service is registered, a policy is chosen and then applied to the Service. During Design-Time, the policy is also tested.

Runtime Governance
Runtime Governance is the active enforcement of the polices which were configured at Design-Time. Runtime Governance applies rules to XML data "in flight" on the network, using intermediaries. These intermediaries operate at both the network perimeter (XML Gateways) and inside the network. These runtime governance components monitor how the services are being used, providing visibility for IT operations staff.

Vordel Solution for SOA Governance

Design-Time Governance
Vordel's products include the market-leading "Policy Studio" for creating policies which are then applied to Web Services in an SOA.

Vordel's products integrate with Service Registries including WebMethods/SoftwareAG CentraSite.

The Vordel SOAPbox application tool allows for Service Policies to be tested at Design-Time, prior to being deployed.

Runtime Governance
Vordel's products include a variety of XML intermediaries, including the hardware-accelerated Vordel XML Gateway appliance and software intermediaries. This allows for full visibility and control to be applied over the network, not only at the perimeter.

In combination with Vordel Reporter users have access to the customizable web-based graphical reporting feature to generate reports for ongoing service-level analysis and the review of centralized audit logs.