Re: [soa-rm-ra] what is a generalized SOA RA?

[Francis McCabe <frankmccabe@mac.com>]

I think that for any given application there are going to be elements  
which are 'infrastructural' in nature, and elements which are 'to the  
point'. What disappoints many managers is the ratio of the two: they  
would prefer not to invest in any infrastructure at all; however,  
professionals realize that the ratio is often 90% infrastructure to  
10% application specific.

With that in mind, it would not surprise me at all if there were large  
chunks of the Navy's version of SOA that are not really specific to  
the Navy at all (although their requirements may well drive the  
infrastructure to a v. large extent).

Something like this: the Navy requires security and provenance  
management (say); for good reasons. But anyone who also has similar  
requirements will have to solve similar problems: provenance for the  
Navy is not that different to provenance for the Citi group.

There will also be elements that are purely Navy (floating servers  
anyone?) that are not likely to be important to the Citi group (or  
MacDonalds).

Frank


On Nov 10, 2007, at 9:21 AM, Ken Laskey wrote:

> I got the following well-stated email from someone at MITRE and I  
> think the answer is something that needs to be at the beginning of  
> the RA document but which isn't clearly tackled.  We've bumped  
> around this issue before but never put it to bed.  Rather than just  
> answering myself, I'd like to see something definitive from this  
> group.
>
> Read on.
>
> Ken
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> Ken, I'm trying to understand what the OASIS Reference Architecture  
>> effort is all about.
>>
>> I understand the OASIS definition of a reference model as:  "A  
>> reference model is an abstract framework for understanding  
>> significant relationships among the entities of some environment  
>> that enables the development of specific reference or concrete  
>> architectures using consistent standards or specifications  
>> supporting that environment."
>>
>> We use the OASIS SOA Reference Model as the basis for our  
>> development of a reference architecture for the Navy's application  
>> of SOA in its afloat environment.  So, to paraphrase the OASIS RM,  
>> we are using the RM to enable the development of a specific  
>> reference architecture using consistent standards or specifications  
>> supporting that environment.
>>
>> So, the RM goes on to define, "A reference architecture is an  
>> architectural design pattern that indicates how an abstract set of  
>> mechanisms and relationships realizes a predetermined set of  
>> requirements."  It also states: "The concepts and relationships  
>> defined by the reference model are intended to be the basis for  
>> describing references architectures and patterns that will define  
>> more specific categories of SOA designs."
>>
>> As a result of all this, we understood a reference architecture to  
>> be specific to a domain or an environment or a specific category of  
>> SOA design.  It is "an architectural design pattern ...[for  
>> realizing] a predetermined set of requirements."  We have  
>> interpreted "Navy application of SOA in its afloat environment" as  
>> a "specific category of SOA design" with "a predetermined set of  
>> requirements."
>>
>> By these definitions, how could one build a completely generalized  
>> SOA Reference Architecture irrespective of a domain or an  
>> environment or a category of SOA design or a predetermined set of  
>> requirements?
>>
>> Thanx in advance for your explanation!
>>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ken Laskey
> MITRE Corporation, M/S H305      phone: 703-983-7934
> 7151 Colshire Drive                         fax:       703-983-1379
> McLean VA 22102-7508
>
>
>
>