Guiset directed comparative study of free and open source web services platform
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Date
2013
Authors
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The aim of GUISET (Grid-based Utility Infrastructure for SMME Enabling Technology)
architecture is to provide and deliver e-services to Small Medium and Micro Enterprises
(SMMEs), who are most of the time resource-constrained, by taking advantage of transitions
and technological developments toward Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) within the
software industry. Web Services (WS) is one of such technology that has received widespread
adoption within SOA for implementing services. However, the acceptance of Web Services has
been facilitated by implementation of core WS-Standards into enterprise application
development platforms and tools within both the proprietary and Open Source Communities.
Although, for the target group of GUISET, namely the SMMEs, the Open Source platforms seem
a natural choice as proprietary tools are often expensive and are out of their reach. However,
even within the open source communities there are many platforms with different
characteristics and features. A major challenge is how to choose the appropriate platform that
is suitable for GUISET services scenario. One question that is crucial to addressing this challenge
(especially within the context of GUISET) is: can a comparative study of existing WS
development platforms be used in recommending one for GUISET services? This is the central
goal of this research. Our aim was to test the performance of a few leading open source WS
platforms with the aim of determining their suitability for developing GUISET services under an
e-commerce scenario and thereby use this to recommend an open source WS platform for
GUISET services.
In addressing and answering the question, three web services platforms were selected based
on some specified criteria for evaluation, namely Axis2, CXF and Metro. The evaluation was
performed theoretically and experimentally. Theoretically, the evaluation presents some
quality attributes of the selected platform and experimentally, the evaluation presents their
runtimes based on marshalling, unmarshalling and round trip times. The result shows that
Metro performs better than either Axis2 or CXF. Metro is therefore the recommended platform
but highlights on the potential of Axis2 and CXF were given in cases where they might be
beneficial.
Description
dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science Department of Computer Science, in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013.
Keywords
Grid-based Utility Infrastructure for SMME Enabling Technology, GUISET, e-Services, Open Source, Web Services