A three-part specification for WS-Manageability has been released for public review by IBM, Computer Associates, and Talking Blocks. The specification has been provided as a submission to the OASIS Web Services Distributed Management Technical Committee (WSDM TC) and to the Web service community in general.

The Web Services Manageability: Concepts document clarifies the specification scope and "defines the role of the manager in the Web services architecture and provides practical information on manageability implementation patterns and discovery considerations."

The WS-Manageability Specification document introduces the "general concepts of a manageability model in terms of manageability topics, (identification, configuration, state, metrics, and relationships) and the aspects (properties, operations and events) used to define them. These abstract concepts apply to understanding and describing the manageability information and behavior of any IT resource, not just Web services. The authors use these concepts to organize an approach to Web services manageability. The manageability model for Web services endpoint is defined as concrete models in UML using the topics and aspects concepts, without implying any particular implementation or locus of implementation."

The WS-Manageability Representation document supplies the interface definitions "based on the model as WSDL 1.1 and GWSDL renderings. These definitions are meant to show how the topics and aspects concepts along with concrete models can influence the development of consistent Web services interfaces for accessing the manageability information of Web services. The interfaces illustrate how the manageability model for Web services can be divided into aspects of topics that apply to all manageable resources and aspects of topics that apply only to the manageability of Web service endpoints."

Bibliographic Information and Overview

• Web Services Manageability: Concepts (WS-Manageability). Version 1.0. September 10, 2003. By Mark Potts (Talking Blocks), Igor Sedukhin (Computer Associates), and Heather Kreger (IBM). With contributions by Ellen Stokes (IBM). Copyright (c) 2003 by International Business Machines Corporation, Computer Associates International, Inc., and Talking Blocks, Inc. 32 pages.

• Web Service Manageability: Specification (WS-Manageability). Version 1.0. September 10, 2003. By Mark Potts (Talking Blocks), Igor Sedukhin (Computer Associates), Heather Kreger (IBM), and Ellen Stokes (IBM). 56 pages.

• Web Service Manageability: Representation (WS-Manageability). Version 1.0. September 10, 2003. By Mark Potts (Talking Blocks), Igor Sedukhin (Computer Associates), Heather Kreger (IBM), and Ellen Stokes (IBM). 60 pages.

• The relevant WSDL and XML Schema (XSD) files have been made available in ZIP archive format. See the file listing for an overview.

Overview from Web Services Manageability Concepts

"As Web services become pervasive and critical to business operations, the task of managing Web services and implementations of the Web services architecture will be imperative to the success of business operations. Web services manageability is defined as a set of capabilities for discovering the existence, availability, health, performance, and usage, as well as the control and configuration of a Web service within the Web services architecture. This implies that Web services can be managed using Web services technologies. The importance of a standardized management model for Web services and the promise of Web services as a management integration technology has driven industry leaders in Web services and management technologies and applications to form a technical committee in OASIS called the Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) Technical Committee.

The WSDM TC is chartered to develop the specifications for defining how to use Web services to manage any IT resource -- the 'WSDM Management Using Web Services' specification. The TC is also charted to define the manageability model for a Web service as an IT resource and how to access that model using Web services -- the 'WSDM Management of Web Services' specification. WS-Manageability defines the later, the manageability model for a Web service and how to access that model using Web services. WS-Manageability does not provide a 'Management Using Web Services' specification. But it does provide insight, illustration, and input into how Management Using Web Services' should be developed to support Web services and Grid services communities through a concrete use case: Managing Web services.

WS-Manageability is composed of three documents, a concepts document, a normative specification, and renderings listing. In detail:

• The WS-Manageability: Concepts document outlines the scope and definitions for the specification. It provides an overview of Web services architecture and implications for management of that architecture. The Concepts document further defines the role of the manager in the Web services architecture and provides practical information on manageability implementation patterns and discovery considerations.

• The WS-Manageability: Specification document "begins by introducing the general concepts of a manageability model in terms of manageability topics, (identification, configuration, state, metrics, and relationships) and the aspects (properties, operations and events) used to define them. These abstract concepts apply to understanding and describing the manageability information and behavior of any IT resource, not just Web services. We use these concepts to organize our approach to Web services manageability.

  The manageability model for Web services endpoint is defined as concrete models in UML using the topics and aspects concepts, without implying any particular implementation or locus of implementation. Appropriate manageability interfaces are defined based on the UML manageability models. While some parts of this model may be useful for modeling the manageability of any IT resource, this specification is focused exclusively on the requirements of Web service endpoints and does not propose a complete generic resource manageability model. The WSDM 'Management Using Web Services' specification may incorporate these more generic models.

• The WS-Manageability: Representation document provides the interface definitions based on the model as WSDL 1.1 and GWSDL renderings. These definitions are meant to show how the topics and aspects concepts along with concrete models can influence the development of consistent Web services interfaces for accessing the manageability information of Web services. The interfaces illustrate how the manageability model for Web services can be divided into aspects of topics that apply to all manageable resources and aspects of topics that apply only to the manageability of Web service endpoints. The interfaces that may apply to all manageable resources may be incorporated into the 'WSDM Management Using Web Services' specification. The details of these WSDL interfaces specific to managing a Web service endpoint may change to remain consistent with the 'WSDM Management Using Web Services' specification when it is available.

  This specification depends on Web services as a distributed platform. There are several common functions which are required for management using Web services that are not specific to management and not yet available as standardized Web service technologies. Interim solutions have been proposed in this specification which will be replaced by suitable standards when they become available. It is not expected that the WSDM TC will continue specification of or standardization of the interim solutions.

  This specification defines the manageability model for Web services, and then uses Web services as a worked example' of how manageability interfaces in general, as well as Web services manageability interfaces, may be rendered based on one approach to management using Web services practices. [adapted from Web Services Manageability: Concepts (WS-Manageability)]

About the OASIS Web Services Distributed Management Technical Committee

The purpose of the TC is "to define web services management. This includes using web services architecture and technology to manage distributed resources. This TC will also develop the model of a web service as a manageable resource. This TC will collaborate with various evolving activities within other standards groups, including, but not limited to, DMTF (working with its technical work groups regarding relevant CIM Schema), GGF (on the OGSA common resource model and OGSI regarding infrastructure), and W3C (the web services architecture committee). It will also establish liaison relationships with other OASIS TCs, including the security TC and other management oriented TCs..."

Deliverables: Web Services Distributed Management (WSDM) V1.0 Specification, [to be completed circa] Jan 2004 . This includes WSDL described manageable resources and the XML Schema to complete those descriptions. This document will also define explicit manageability for the components of the Web Services Architecture (WSA) as defined by the W3C..." [adapted from the WSDM TC Charter]