A Model for Web Services Discovery With QoS
AModelforWebServicesDiscoveryWithQoS
SHUPINGRAN
CSIROMathematicalandInformationSciencesGPOBox664,Canberra,ACT2601,AustraliaShuping.Ran@csiro.au
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Webservicestechnologyhasgeneratedalotinterest,butitsadoptionratehasbeenslow.Thispaperdiscussesissuesrelatedtothisslowtakeupandarguesthatqualityofservicesisoneofthecontributingfactors.ThepaperproposesanewWebservicesdiscoverymodelinwhichthefunctionalandnon-functionalrequirements(i.e.qualityofservicesaretakenintoaccountfortheservicediscovery.TheproposedmodelshouldgiveWebservicesconsumerssomeconfidenceaboutthequalityofserviceofthediscoveredWebservices.
AdditionalKeyWordsandPhrases:Webservicesdiscovery,qualityofservices,UDDI,UDDIextension,tModel,model.
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1.INTRODUCTION
Webservicestechnologyisbecomingincreasinglypopularbecauseofitspotentialinmanyareas.ItisanewtypeofcomponentsthatcanbeinvokedovertheInternet.Thispresentsapromisingsolutionforaddressingplatforminteroperabilityproblemsfacedbysystemintegrators.TheflexibilityofthisnewcomponenttypealsofacilitatesservicecompositionusingexistingWebservices,promotingcomponentre-usewhichhasbeenadreamforthesoftwareengineeringindustry.Becauseofitspotentialforservicecomposition,agentresearchcommunityhasalsoexploreditforcomposingagent’sbehaviors[BuhlerandVidal2003,Mcilraithet.al.2001].
Webservicestechnologyisnowovertwoyearsold.Althoughithasalotofpotential,buttheadoptionratehasbeenveryslow.AccordingtoGartnerresearchpresentedatGartnerSymposiumITxpo2001[PlammerandAndrews2001],Webservicestechnology’srealtakeupisby2005.Therearemanyfactorsthatmaycontributetothisslowtakeup,suchasperceivedlackofsecurityandtransactionsupport[DuWaldtandTrees2002].AlthoughthereareemergingstandardsintheseareassuchasWS-Coordination[BEA,IBMandMicrosoft2002a],WS-Transaction[BEA,IBMandMicrosoft2002b],WS-Security[IBM,MicrosoftandVerisign2002]etc.,acoherentpicturewithfullsupportinalltheseareasisyettobeseen.AnotherveryimportantissueisthequalityoftheWebservices[DuWaldtandTrees2002,Rao2002,Borck2001].Atthepresenttime,UniversalDescription,DiscoveryandIntegrationofWebservices(UDDI[OASIS2002]basedlookupsforWebservicesarebasedonthefunctionalaspectsofthedesiredWebservices.Figure1presentsthispublish-find-bindmodel.WebservicestechnologyhasyettoaddressquestionssuchashowwillIknowtheWebservicewillmeetmyperformancerequirementssuchas2msresponsetime?WilltheWebservicebereliableformymission-criticalsystem’simplementation?Untilthesequestionshavebeenaddressed,itisunrealistictoexpectthatabusinesswouldwanttosearchforaWebservicebasedontheexpectedfunctionalrequirementsinanUDDIregistryand>>>>>
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invokethatservicewithouttheassuranceofknowingtheexpectedqualityofservicewouldbemetbeforehand.
Toaddresstheseproblems,thispaperproposesanewservicediscoverymodelwherequalityofserviceistakenasconstraintswhensearchingforWebservices.ThiswouldgivesomeconfidencetotheWebserviceconsumersaboutthequalityoftheservicetheyareabouttoinvoke.
UDDIRegistry
Find(RetrieveWSDLWebServiceConsumer
Request/Response
Register(PublishWSDLWebServiceProvider
Fig.1.CurrentWebservicespublish-find-bindmodel.
2.EXTENDINGUDDIMODEL2.1ANewModel
ThecurrentproposedWebservicespublishanddiscoverymodel(Figure1islargelyunregulatedbasedonUDDIregistries.48%oftheproductionUDDIregistry(tModelstestedonlyhaslinksthatareunusable.Thesepointerscontainmissing,brokenorinaccurateinformation[Clarke2001].Thisisoneexampleillustratingtheimportanceofaddressingqualityofservice(QoSissues.TheothershortcomingofthecurrentUDDImodelisthatitlimitstheservicediscoverytofunctionalrequirementsonly.ItisforeseeablethattheremaybemorethanoneWebservicesavailablethatcanmeetthefunctionalrequirementswithdifferentqualityofserviceattributes.Thereforetheabilityofincorporatingqualityofserviceintoservicediscoveryprocessbecomesveryimportant.ToovercometheseshortcomingsweproposeanewmodelshowninFigure2.Theproposedframeworkisaregulatedmodelthatcanco-existwiththecurrentde-regulatedUDDIregistries.Thecurrentde-regulatedregistriescanofferservicestopeopletowhomthequalityofserviceisnotimportant.Theregulatedregistriesbasedonthemodelpresentedherecanservetotheapplicationsneedingqualityofserviceassurance.Therearefourrolesinthisproposedmodel:Webservicesupplier,Webserviceconsumer,WebserviceQoScertifier,andthenewUDDIregistry.Asbefore,theWebserviceprovideroffersWebservicebypublishingtheserviceintotheregistry;theWebserviceconsumerneedstheWebserviceofferedbytheprovider;thenewUDDIregistryisarepositoryofregisteredWebserviceswithlookupfacilities;thenewcertifier’sroleistoverifyserviceprovider’sQoSclaimsdescribedbelow.TheproposednewregistrydiffersfromthecurrentUDDImodelbyhavinginformationaboutthefunctionaldescriptionoftheWebserviceaswellasitsassociatedqualityofserviceregisteredintherepository.LookupcouldbemadebyfunctionaldescriptionofthedesiredWebservice,withtherequiredqualityofserviceattributesaslookupconstraints.ThenewroleinthismodelistheWebserviceQoScertifierthatdoesnotexistintheoriginalUDDImodel.ThecertifierverifiestheclaimsofqualityofserviceforaWebservicebeforeitsregistration.ThedetailsofWebserviceregistration,discoveryandinvocationarediscussedbelow.
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NewUDDIRegistry
Find(RetrieveWSDLandCertifiedQoS
WebServiceConsumer
Request/Response
Register(PublishWSDLandCertifiedQoSWebServiceSupplier
VerifyQoS
WebServiceQoSCertifier
CertifyQoS
Fig.2.AnewWebservicesregistrationanddiscoverymodel.
2.2WebServicesRegistrationUnderNewModel
Intheproposedmodel,aWebserviceproviderneedstosupplyinformationaboutthecompany,thefunctionalaspectsoftheprovidedserviceasrequestedbythecurrentUDDIregistry,aswellastosupplyqualityofserviceinformationrelatedtotheproposedWebservice.Theclaimedqualityofserviceneedstobecertifiedandregisteredintherepository.
TheWebserviceproviderfirstneedstocommunicateitsQoSclaimtotheWebserviceQoScertifier.Thecertifiercheckstheclaimsandeithercertifiesordowngradetheclaim.Theoutcomeissentbacktotheproviderwithcertificationidentificationinformation.Thisinformationisalsoregisteredinthecertifier’srepositoryidentifiedbyacertificationId.ThecertifierprovidesasetofWebservicesforanyinterestedpartiestoaccessitsrepositoryaboutQoSclaimsforverificationpurposes.AftertheQoScertificationbeenissuedbythecertifier,thesupplierthenregisterswiththeUDDIregistrywithbothfunctionaldescriptionoftheserviceanditsassociatedcertifiedqualityofserviceinformation.TheUDDIregistrycommunicateswiththecertifiertochecktheexistenceofthecertification.Aftersuccessfulchecking,theregistrythenregisterstheserviceinitsrepository.
>>>>>2.3WebServiceDiscoveryandInvocationUnderNewModel
AconsumerofaWebservicehascertainfunctionalandqualityofservicerequirements,suchas“responsetimenotgreaterthan2mswithcostlessthan$100perinvocation”.TheconsumersearchestheUDDIregistryforaWebservicewiththerequiredfunctionalityasusual;theycanalsoaddconstraintstothesearchoperation.Onetypeofconstraintistherequiredqualityofservice.IfthereweremultipleWebservicesintheUDDIregistrywithsimilarfunctionalities,thenthequalityofservicerequirementwouldenforceafinersearch.ThesearchwouldreturnaWebservicethatofferstherequiredfunctionalitywiththedesiredsetofqualityofservice.IfthereisnoWebservicewiththesequalities,feedbackisgiventotheconsumer.Theconsumercanthenreducetheirqualityofserviceconstraintsorconsideringtrade-offsbetweenthedesiredqualitiesofservice.OnceaWebserviceisfound,theWSDLandthecertifiedQoSinformationisretrievedbytheconsumer.TheconsumercanverifytheQoSclaimswiththecertifier©ACM2003
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usingthecertificationId.Oncetheconsumerishappywiththeirfindings,theycaninvoketheWebserviceaspercurrentmodel.
3.EXTENDINGUDDIDATASTRUCTURE>>>>>>>>>
businessEntity:Informationaboutthepartywhopublishinformationaboutafamilyofservices
publisherAssertion:Informationabouta
relationshipbetweentwoparties,assertedbyoneorbothfingerprints
businessService:Descriptiveinformationaboutaparticularservice
qualityInformation:Descriptionofqualityofserviceinformationaboutaparticularservice
bindingTemplate:Technicalinformationaboutaserviceentrypointandconstructionspecsfingerprints
tModel:Descriptionofspecificationforservicesortaxonomies.Basisfortechnicalfingerprints
Fig.3.UDDIdatastructuretypesincludingthenewproposedqualityinformationdatatype.
TheinformationthatmakesupanexistingUDDIregistrationconsistsoffivedatastructuretypes[UDDICommittee2002]:businessEntity,businessService,bindingTemplate,publisherAssertionandtModel.Thesearepresentedasun-shadedboxesinFigure3.ThesefivetypesmakeupthecompleteamountofinformationprovidedwithinthecurrentUDDIservicedescriptionframework.EachoftheseXMLstructurescontainsanumberofdatafieldsthatserveeitherabusinessortechnicaldescriptivepurpose.[UDDICommittee2002]explainseachofthesestructuresandthemeaningandplacementofeachfield.ThesestructuresaredefinedintheUDDIVersion2.0APIschema.Theschemadefinesapproximately25requestsand15responses,eachofwhichcontainthesestructures,referencestothesestructures,orsummaryversionsof