Alternative presentation layers for OGSA-DAI

Google Summer of Code 2010 ideas

Primary Mentor: Bartosz Dobrzelecki
Secondary Mentor: Ally Hume
Project: OGSA-DAI.

Background

Currently the web service based presentation layers for OGSA-DAI are derived from an outdated Axis 1.4 web service stack. This prevents us from taking advantage of performance optimizations and novel features being introduced in actively developed web service frameworks. The OGSA-DAI community will benefit from an updated SOAP based presentation layer.

Both of the current OGSA-DAI web service presentation layers are based on SOAP. Implementation of an alternative, lightweight presentation layer based on REST is highly desirable.

Project Goals

1. Develop a new Web Service presentation layer utilizing the CXF Framework.

• this should be relatively straightforward as it is a direct port of the existing presentation layer.

2. Design a RESTful presentation layer for OGSA-DAI.

• our current resource model should fit nicely with the REST philosophy, but it will require careful design to make it truly RESTful.

3. Implement a RESTful presentation layer for OGSA-DAI using CXF JAX-RS.

Project Description

Our benchmarks of how different web service frameworks handle binary data transfer show that the CXF Framework not only outperforms Axis stacks, but also seems to be much leaner. The goal of the first stage of the project is to develop a new presentation layer on top of CXF.

CXF also provides an implementation of the JAX-RS specification. A lightweight REST based presentation layer would not only improve OGSA-DAI performance but will also simplify creation of bespoke clients. Designing a sensible REST API, especially for the system of the size of OGSA-DAI, is not a simple process. Therefore before jumping into implementation of the REST presentation layer, we need to spend some time on careful design.

Project Requirements

Java, XML, Java Web Services, REST.