IBM Web Services Toolkit Supports WS-Security

IBM Delivers New Technology for Building Secure Web Services

New WS-Security Specification Now Available in IBM's Web Services Toolkit for Dynamic e-business (WSTK) 3.1

Somers, NY, USA. April 12, 2002.

IBM today announced new security features and functions in its Web Services Toolkit for dynamic e-business (WSTK) 3.1, now available for free, trial download on alphaWorks, (www.alphaWorks.ibm.com), the destination for IBM emerging technology.

These additions to the IBM WSTK provide an implementation of SOAP Security Token and Digital Signature components of the WS-Security specification. WS-Security is a new specification, co-developed by IBM and announced this week, to help companies build secure, broadly interoperable Web services applications. SOAP is an XML-based industry protocol for accessing Web services in a platform- and language-independent manner.

The SOAP Security Token indicates the message sender's properties - name, identity, credentials and capabilities - and is passed with SOAP messages, which helps identify the message sender to the Web service provider. This modular technology is useful to Web service providers when they need to support users with different authentication mechanisms. It also enables Web services providers to incorporate additional security features to their Web services applications over time.

"Security is a paramount issue for organizations that are planning to deploy Web services in mission critical applications, and IBM is committed to giving businesses early access to the technology necessary for building secure Web services," said Bob Sutor, director of e-business standards strategy, IBM. "IBM's WSTK 3.1 provides developers with the resources and tools to start to address end-to-end Web services security, thereby helping to drive application development and industry adoption."

Continuing IBM's commitment to open standards and cross-platform interoperability, the WSTK 3.1 functions are based on open specifications such as SOAP, WSDL, WS-Inspection and UDDI, and run on Linux, Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems. IBM offers the most comprehensive Web Services toolkit for Linux, the open source platform.

The WSTK 3.1 consolidates Web services-related technologies from various IBM development and research labs and provides an implementation based on non-proprietary interfaces that supports a variety of platforms. Other tools and technologies now available in WSTK 3.1 include:

Business Explorer for Web Services (BE4WS)

This XML-based UDDI exploring engine provides application developers with standard interfaces to perform complex searches in multiple UDDI directories using a single query request. This allows users to more efficiently retrieve information about businesses, their services and service interfaces from one or more UDDI registries. By aggregating results from multiple UDDI queries and processing the intersecting information from those searches, BE4WS can help speed the development of Web services applications.

Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Explorer

Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Explorer is a browser-based tool that generates an automatic user interface for helping users examine a WSDL document to understand, discover and invoke available Web services. WSDL is a protocol for a Web services to describe its capabilities. This will enable users who do not have a working knowledge of WSDL and XML Schema to easily make SOAP message requests to a Web service without having to write code. This thereby simplifies the Web service testing process.

Web Services Management

This management technology illustrates an approach to managing Web services by providing a Java Management Extensions (JMX) -based systems management interface. JMX is the Java standard for Management APIs. A JMX M-Bean Server that tracks Web services statistics -- such as the number of times the Web service is invoked, start/stop times, etc. -- is instantiated globally within the application server's Java Virtual Machine (JVM). This allows Web services statistics to be tracked across all installed Web applications. By using the Web services management technology, a systems administrator can gather Web services statistics to help manage their company's infrastructure and better understand how to distribute Web services applications across several machines.

Buyer-Seller Web Services Demo

The Buyer-Seller demo combines Web services and standardized business documents to show an end-to-end purchase of electronics components. It illustrates the use of Web services technologies in a simulated environment where a basic end-to-end business transaction is implemented. Users can view the business interactions between the various components in the demo through simple dashboards, or windows. The demo uses various aspects of Web Services components -- such as WSDL, WS-Inspection, UDDI, AXIS, etc. -- in a standards-based J2EE runtime environment.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM software offers the widest range of infrastructure software for all types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. The fastest way to get more information about IBM software is through the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com/software.

Contact

Angela Lee
IBM
Tel: 212-756-2954
Email: a1lee@us.ibm.com

Source: http://www-916.ibm.com/press/prnews.nsf/jan/23630183EF70B36885256B990065E7FB.

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: "Web Services Security Specification (WS-Security)" and the news item "IBM Web Services Toolkit Supports the WS-Security Specification."

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These additions to the IBM WSTK provide an implementation of SOAP Security Token and Digital Signature components of the WS-Security specification. WS-Security is a new specification, co-developed by IBM and announced this week, to help companies build secure, broadly interoperable Web services applications. SOAP is an XML-based industry protocol for accessing Web services in a platform- and language-independent manner. The SOAP Security Token indicates the message sender's properties - name, identity, credentials and capabilities - and is passed with SOAP messages, which helps identify the message sender to the Web service provider. This modular technology is useful to Web service providers when they need to support users with different authentication mechanisms. It also enables Web services providers to incorporate additional security features to their Web services applications over time. "Security is a paramount issue for organizations that are planning to deploy Web services in mission critical applications, and IBM is committed to giving businesses early access to the technology necessary for building secure Web services," said Bob Sutor, director of e-business standards strategy, IBM. "IBM's WSTK 3.1 provides developers with the resources and tools to start to address end-to-end Web services security, thereby helping to drive application development and industry adoption." Continuing IBM's commitment to open standards and cross-platform interoperability, the WSTK 3.1 functions are based on open specifications such as SOAP, WSDL, WS-Inspection and UDDI, and run on Linux, Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems. IBM offers the most comprehensive Web Services toolkit for Linux, the open source platform. The WSTK 3.1 consolidates Web services-related technologies from various IBM development and research labs and provides an implementation based on non-proprietary interfaces that supports a variety of platforms. Other tools and technologies now available in WSTK 3.1 include: Business Explorer for Web Services (BE4WS) This XML-based UDDI exploring engine provides application developers with standard interfaces to perform complex searches in multiple UDDI directories using a single query request. This allows users to more efficiently retrieve information about businesses, their services and service interfaces from one or more UDDI registries. By aggregating results from multiple UDDI queries and processing the intersecting information from those searches, BE4WS can help speed the development of Web services applications. Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Explorer Web Services Description Language (WSDL) Explorer is a browser-based tool that generates an automatic user interface for helping users examine a WSDL document to understand, discover and invoke available Web services. WSDL is a protocol for a Web services to describe its capabilities. This will enable users who do not have a working knowledge of WSDL and XML Schema to easily make SOAP message requests to a Web service without having to write code. This thereby simplifies the Web service testing process. Web Services Management This management technology illustrates an approach to managing Web services by providing a Java Management Extensions (JMX) -based systems management interface. JMX is the Java standard for Management APIs. A JMX M-Bean Server that tracks Web services statistics -- such as the number of times the Web service is invoked, start/stop times, etc. -- is instantiated globally within the application server's Java Virtual Machine (JVM). This allows Web services statistics to be tracked across all installed Web applications. By using the Web services management technology, a systems administrator can gather Web services statistics to help manage their company's infrastructure and better understand how to distribute Web services applications across several machines. Buyer-Seller Web Services Demo The Buyer-Seller demo combines Web services and standardized business documents to show an end-to-end purchase of electronics components. It illustrates the use of Web services technologies in a simulated environment where a basic end-to-end business transaction is implemented. Users can view the business interactions between the various components in the demo through simple dashboards, or windows. The demo uses various aspects of Web Services components -- such as WSDL, WS-Inspection, UDDI, AXIS, etc. -- in a standards-based J2EE runtime environment. About IBM IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM software offers the widest range of infrastructure software for all types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. The fastest way to get more information about IBM software is through the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com/software. Contact Angela Lee IBM Tel: 212-756-2954 Email: a1lee@us.ibm.com Source: http://www-916.ibm.com/press/prnews.nsf/jan/23630183EF70B36885256B990065E7FB. Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See: "Web Services Security Specification (WS-Security)" and the news item "IBM Web Services Toolkit Supports the WS-Security Specification."