What is SOA ?
Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an evolution of distributed
computing based on the request/reply design paradigm for
synchronous and asynchronous applications. An application's
business logic or individual functions are modularized and
presented as services for consumer/client applications. What's key
to these services is their loosely coupled nature; i.e., the service
interface is independent of the implementation. Application
developers or system integrators can build applications by
composing one or more services without knowing the services'
underlying implementations.
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SOA BUSINESS BENEFITS COST
• Decreased cost
– Reduces TCO and increase ROI on evolving systems
– Add value to core investments by leveraging existing assets
– New systems can be built faster for less money because existing services
can be more easily reused
– Built for flexibility
– Long term value of interoperability
SOA BUSINESS BENEFITS PRODUCTIVITY
• Increased employee productivity
– Unlock data
– Built on existing skills
– Consolidate Duplicate Functionality
SOA BUSINESS BENEFITS PARTNERSHIP
• Built for partnerships
– Standards based
– Business relationships expressed via service interactions
– Integration is driven by what is needed, not what is technically possible.
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Requirements for SLA
A service level agreement is an agreement between the provider of a service
and their customer that defines the set of Quality of Service (QoS)
guarantees and the obligations of the parties.
Metrics like processing time, messages per hour, rejected transaction counts
and queries per day are common examples of defined service levels which
may be measured either at end-points, or by an intermediary.
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Role of an SLA
1. The SLA manages customer expectations; by supplying a clear and unambiguous
description of the service problems may be avoided. The customer has a clear view
of costs, the availability of reports, and the scale of any associated penalties.
2. SLAs with a standard format support product differentiation and aid consumer
choice, this is particularly relevant in a dynamic market place.
3. SLAs aid in the attraction of new customers and the retention of existing customers
4. As an advert: an SLA is indicative of a supplier’s confidence in their ability to
deliver, and may be used as part of the discovery and selection method together as a
mechanism for establishing trust between providers and consumers.
5. Helps consumers evaluate their contracted service.
6. The SLA may aggregate risk for the consumer, service providers may incorporate
the services of other providers in their product offerings. The principle supplier will
in that case have subordinate SLAs with the subcontractors, and will have to make
appropriate assumptions regarding the degree of risk they are happy to assume in
guaranteeing the composite service.
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What elements are included in your SOA Service-Level Agreements?
Quality
Database Actions
Synchronization of data structures
Average total customer transaction time
Infrastructure Load
Ownership
Other linked processes/services
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Requirement of Research
Discovering performance issues, determining the precise type and location of a problem as it occurs, and
resolving problems fast regardless of their source and before customers notice performance fall-off,
before SLA s are violated — to do all this takes a new kind of application performance management tool
designed for SOA environments.
Such a tool must be capable of
Monitoring the end-to-end response-times of SOA application transactions,
Maintaining a deep understanding of SOA application performance beyond the limits of the
application itself to determine why an SOA app isn’t performing and how that performance
lapse affects shared components, services, etc.,
Mapping dependencies and facilitating visibility into individual SOA application transactions as
well as the app’s associated components, services, and connections,
Ensuring SLA compliance via real-time 24x7 visibility into SOA app performance, including
proactive warning of a slowdown or outage, and
Reporting historically on individual application, services, components, connection behaviors
and errors for capacity planning and to spot problem patterns.