In-Depth

What to look for in Web services management

In the move toward Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), most IT organizations are concentrating now on architecture and infrastructure, but not too far down the road the need to manage all the Web services created will become critical. Steve Garone, managing partner at The AlignIT Group LLC, Newton, Mass., said there are six requirements to keep in mind when evaluating WSM products:

1. A product must accomplish traditional systems management functions, either through its own features or through interoperability with systems management products.

2. It has to manage the environment at the level of individual services.

3. It must support all stages of the life cycle of the service. 

4. It must offer security, identity management, authentication, authorization, etc., either on its own or through integration with existing systems.

5. It must provide support for the monitoring of key business functions to help line-of-business managers understand the availability and use of services.

6. It must support from a management perspective all activities involved in assembling the end-product composite application.

Please see the following related stories: “SOA’s up” by Colleen Frye

“NetJets flies with Web service-free SOA” by Rich Seeley

About the Author

Colleen Frye is a freelance writer based in Bridgewater, Mass.