What is SOA?

Introduction to SOA

SOA is a style of software design. In the SOA concept, services are provided from externally to other components as application components through a communication protocol over a network. The basic principle of SOA does not depend upon technologies, products, and vendors. Wikipedia defines SOA as “Service-oriented architecture,” a software design style where services are provided to the other components by application components through a communication protocol over a network.

The basic principle of service-oriented architecture is independent of vendors, products, and technologies. A service is a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely and acted upon and updated independently, such as retrieving a credit card statement online.” It is interesting to know that SOA was initially known as Service-Based Architecture.

There are four basic properties if we go through one of the definitions of:

• It is self-contained.
• A service in SOA may depend on other SOA services.
• Consumers do not have any knowledge of what’s happening in the process.
• It is typically wrapped so as to represent a business activity.

Understanding

Web services promote an associate degree atmosphere for systems that are loosely coupled and practical. Many of the ideas for net services come back from an abstract design referred to as service-oriented design (SOA). SOA configures entities (services, registries, contracts, and proxies) to maximize loose coupling and recycle. This material describes these entities abstractly associate degree in their configuration.

Although you may most likely use net services to implement your service-oriented design, this chapter explains SOA without much reference to selected implementation technology. In later chapters, this is done so that you’ll see the areas within which net services deliver some good aspects of a real SOA and alternative areas within which Web services fall short. Although the net services area unit is an honest beginning toward service-oriented design, this chapter can discuss what a totally enforced SOA entails.

What can you do with SOA?

There are several things that can be done with SOA:

1. Making a Reliable Service 

It could be used to make a reliable service.

It could be used to make a reliable service which contains the following features:

• Improved information flow.
• Ability to expose internal functionality.
• Organizational flexibility.

2. Making Reusable Service

One of the main use of SOA is to make a reusable service. Therefore, SOA concepts could be easily used and implemented to make a service that is not limited to a single component but could be used in multiple components.

3. Configuration Flexibility

It is highly flexible and could be easily configured as per our needs.

4. For Developing new Function Combinations

It could be used for developing new functions combinations rapidly as per need or requirement.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Given below are the advantages and disadvantages mentioned:

Advantages:

• Maintenance is Easy: Editing and updating any service implemented under SOA architecture is easy. You don’t need to update your system. A third party maintains the service, and any amendment in this service won’t have an effect on your system. In most cases, the previous API work because it is functioning before.
• Quality of Code Improved: As services run freelance of our system, they have their own variety of code; therefore, our code is prevented from redundancy. Also, our code becomes error-free.
• Platform Independence: Services communicate with alternative applications through a common language, which implies it’s freelance of the platform on which that application is running. Services can provide API in different languages, e.g. PHP, JavaScript, etc.
• Scalable: If any service obtains several users, it is often simply scalable by attaching additional servers. This will create service out there all time to the users.
• Reliable: Services square measure typically tiny size as compared to the full-fledged application. So it’s easier to correct and check the freelance services.
• Same Directory Structure: Services have an equivalent directory structure so customers can access the service information from an equivalent directory on every occasion. If any service has modified its location, then the additional directory remains the same. This is very helpful for consumers.
• Independent of Other Services: Services generated using SOA principles are independent of each other. So services are often utilized by multiple applications at an equivalent time.

Disadvantages:

• High Bandwidth Server: Therefore, net service sends and receives messages and knowledge often times, so it simply reaches high requests per day. So it involves a high-speed server with plenty of information measures to run an internet service.
• Extra Overload: In SOA, all inputs square measure its validity before it’s sent to the service. If you are victimization multiple services, then it’ll overload your system with further computation.
• High Cost: It is expensive in terms of human resources, development, and technology.

Why Should we Use SOA?

This has multiple advantages, as we have discussed earlier in this article. We can use it for making reliable, better, injectable and reusable services.

Why do we Need SOA?

It could be used for solving various business needs:

• For Developing Independent Services: It is required if our business need is to develop multiple services which are independent of each other. However, these services can still communicate with each other.
• To Expose Data: Exposing the functionality of the software as a service is easier to implement if we are using SOA.
• To Develop Reusable Service: If our requirement is to develop a reusable service, then SOA is perfect for this. It could be used to make independent, reliable and reusable services.

How will this Technology Help in your Career Growth?

This is one of the most used technology. Almost every business logic have requirements that require some or the other way input from SOA. Hence it is not wrong to say that SOA will be demanded a large number of different business requirements.

Conclusion

It is a multi-purpose concept for designing different injectable services. These services could act externally to other components as application components through a communication protocol over a network. The basic principle of SOA does not depend upon technologies, products, and vendors. However, it requires a good amount of practice so that it could be used in the most efficient requirements.

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