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


Hi Frank, et al,

1. I prefer reliable to safe.

2. I think the bullet in question about legacy systems refers to not 
impacting purposes, rather than systems. However, I think the idea of 
repurposing legacy systems deserves to be considered.

3. An exchange of messages does not necessarily mean messaging. It 
can certainly imply it, though and I don't mind that enough to agree 
to eliminating it. I think we need to make sure that our own 
familiarity with IT doesn't push us into interpreting words only in 
those familiar terms.

4. Yes.

Cheers,
Rex





At 10:43 AM -0800 11/12/07, Francis McCabe wrote:
>Ken
>  Overall I like it. With a couple of minor quibbles and additions:
>
>1. I think (and have always done so) that the primary goal of SOA is 
>to enable safe and effective action across ownership boundaries. I 
>am aware that the rest of the committee does not like the term 
>'safe', but 'assurance' seems mealy mouthed to m; still I can live 
>with assured. To me, this counts as the overarching requirement.
>
>2. We never discussed the issue of ensuring that legacy systems are 
>'unimpacted'. I think that that may be a worthy goal, but I suspect 
>that, in practice, there are bound to be impacts on such systems. I 
>would prefer more positive language, along the lines of enabling 
>legacy systems to be used in new potentially previously unplanned 
>applications and situations.
>
>3. Putting messaging up front like this does not seem right. 
>Messaging is a requirement for our version of SOA; but is not itself 
>a requirement that SOA is intended to address!
>
>4. I would fold the governance and mediation into a single bullet, 
>and maybe separate out management.
>
>Frank
>
>
>
>On Nov 12, 2007, at 9:55 AM, Ken Laskey wrote:
>
>>Frank, Danny, Rex, and everyone else,
>>
>>I looked at the email traffic and then went back to the beginning 
>>of the RA draft.  In an effort to get to the point quicker and 
>>answer the MITRE questions, I'm submitting the attached edits (some 
>>wordsmithing and the added section 1.x.) for your consideration.  
>>(The Word doc tracks changes; the following paste just shows the 
>>net results.)  This would also serve as the response to the MITRE 
>>question.
>>
>>1 Introduction
>>
>>Service Oriented Architecture is an architectural paradigm that has 
>>gained significant attention within the information technology (IT) 
>>and business communities. The OASIS Reference Model for SOA 
>>provides a common language for understanding the important features 
>>of SOA but does not address the issues involved in constructing, 
>>using, or owning a SOA-based system. This document focuses on these 
>>aspects of SOA.
>>
>>
>>
>>1.1 What is a Reference Architecture
>>
>>A reference architecture models the abstract architectural elements 
>>in the domain independent of the technologies, protocols, and 
>>products that are used to implement the domain. It differs from a 
>>Reference Model in that a Reference Model describes the important 
>>concepts and relationships in the domain focusing on what 
>>distinguishes the elements of the domain; a Reference Architecture 
>>elaborates further on the model to show a more complete picture 
>>that includes what is involved in realizing the modeled entities. 
>>While still remaining abstract, a reference architecture is more 
>>concrete than a Reference Model in that it identifies and provides 
>>a high level description of architectural components and artifacts.
>>
>>
>>
>>1.x What is this Reference Architecture
>>
>>The SOA Reference Model defines reference architecture as "an 
>>architectural design pattern that indicates how an abstract set of 
>>mechanisms and relationships realizes a predetermined set of 
>>requirements." It is possible to define Reference Architectures at 
>>many levels of detail or abstraction, and for many different 
>>purposes. In fact, the reference architecture for one domain may 
>>represent a further specialization of another reference 
>>architecture, with additional requirements over those for which the 
>>more general reference architecture was defined.
>>
>>
>>
>>While requirements for this reference architecture are discussed in 
>>Section 2, an overview of those requirements specifies a SOA for 
>>which:
>>
>>
>>
>>	* Resources are distributed across ownership boundaries, e.g. 
>>there is not a single entity that can exercise control over all 
>>identified SOA services;
>>	* Resources have been developed for purposes other than 
>>inclusion in a particular implementation following this reference 
>>architecture, and the use of those resources in such an 
>>implementation must not negatively impact those initial purposes;
>>	* Infrastructure must be in place to enable communications 
>>through the exchange of messages and with reliability appropriate 
>>for the users and purposes for which the SOA implementation is used;
>>	* Security, governance, and management must be effective but 
>>consistent with multiple ownership boundaries;
>>	* Appropriate mediation must be available to enable 
>>coordinated use of independently developed resources;
>>	* [other overarching assumptions/requirements?]
>>
>>
>>Below, we talk about such an environment as a SOA ecosystem. 
>>Informally, our goal in this Reference Architecture is to show how 
>>Service Oriented Architecture fits into the life of users and 
>>stakeholders in a SOA ecosystem, how SOA-based systems may be 
>>realized effectively, and what is involved in owning such a 
>>SOA-based system. We believe that this approach will serve two 
>>purposes: ensuring that the true value of a SOA meeting the stated 
>>requirements can be realized using appropriate technology, and 
>>permitting the audience to focus on the important issues without 
>>becoming over-burdened with the details of a particular 
>>implementation technology.
>>
>>
>>
>>1.2 Service Oriented Architecture - An Ecosystems perspective
>>
>>Many systems cannot be understood by a simple decomposition into 
>>parts and subsystems. There are...
>>
>>
>>Note, the RA we are writing would be relevant to the Navy SOA but 
>>the Navy one will likely have more requirements, e.g.  for 
>>supporting disconnected ops.  This is an example of the Navy RA 
>>being a further specialization of a more general one.
>>
>>Ken
>>
>><this RA.doc>
>>
>>On Nov 10, 2007, at 5:21 PM, Francis McCabe wrote:
>>
>>>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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Ken Laskey
>>MITRE Corporation, M/S H305     phone:  703-983-7934
>>7515 Colshire Drive                        fax:        703-983-1379
>>McLean VA 22102-7508
>>
>
>
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-- 
Rex Brooks
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison
Berkeley, CA 94702
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