OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging

OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging
Title	OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging
Status	Published
Organization	OASIS
Domain	Web services
First published	2004

OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging OASIS Web Services Reliable Messaging is a specification developed to ensure dependable message exchange for Microsoft Corporation, IBM, BEA Systems, Sun Microsystems, and other participants in distributed systems such as those used by United States Department of Defense, European Commission, and multinational corporations. It defines protocol elements enabling assured delivery between endpoints in environments integrating Apache Software Foundation projects, Oracle Corporation middleware, Red Hat platforms, and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. The specification interoperates with standards from World Wide Web Consortium, Internet Engineering Task Force, and industry consortia including OASIS itself and aligns with enterprise patterns used by SAP SE and Salesforce.

Overview

The specification provides a framework for reliable SOAP/HTTP or SOAP-over-transport messaging between endpoint implementations produced by vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, TIBCO Software, and open source projects like Apache Axis and Apache CXF. It supplies protocol artifacts—sequence identifiers, message identifiers, acknowledgements, retransmission requests—used by runtime infrastructures developed by BEA Systems engineers and architects working with Sun Microsystems technologies. Implementers integrate the protocol with service registries like UDDI and management systems used by Accenture and Deloitte for enterprise deployments across cloud networks run by Google LLC and Amazon Web Services.

History and Standardization

Work on the specification began in OASIS technical committees comprising contributors from Microsoft Corporation, IBM, BEA Systems, and Sun Microsystems, following interoperability needs observed in deployments by Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase. The effort paralleled related initiatives at the World Wide Web Consortium and referenced transport-layer work at the Internet Engineering Task Force, integrating lessons from protocols used by Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks in carrier-grade messaging. The specification matured through committee drafts, public review, and ballot processes within OASIS before publication, mirroring standardization workflows used by ISO and IEEE for other communications protocols.

Protocol Architecture and Concepts

The protocol models reliable exchanges using constructs familiar to engineers from Microsoft and IBM enterprise messaging: sequences, acknowledgements, durable storage, and retransmission. Endpoint roles are documented for implementations by Oracle, Red Hat, and open source frameworks such as Apache CXF and Apache Axis2, which map sequence state to local persistence stores similar to designs in Eclipse Foundation projects. Message identifiers, sequence identifiers, and acknowledgement mechanisms are specified for use over transports including HTTP, SMTP, and message buses like Apache Kafka and RabbitMQ when bridged by adapters produced by TIBCO Software or MuleSoft.

Message Delivery Guarantees and Quality of Service

The specification defines delivery assurances—AtLeastOnce, AtMostOnce, and ExactlyOnce semantics—implemented in enterprise products from IBM and Microsoft and tested in proofs-of-concept by Accenture and Capgemini. Quality of service mechanisms describe retransmission timers, acknowledgement windows, and sequence termination procedures that administrators at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley use to tune throughput and latency. Integration patterns with transactional coordinators from Oracle Corporation and Red Hat enable linking reliable messaging to distributed transactions as seen in deployments at Citigroup and Barclays.

Implementations and Interoperability

Multiple commercial and open source stacks implemented the specification, including solutions from IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, TIBCO Software, and projects such as Apache Axis, Apache CXF, and WSO2. Interoperability events brought together engineers from IBM Research, Microsoft Research, Sun Microsystems Laboratories, and vendors represented at industry demonstrations hosted alongside conferences like Interop, Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, and Open Group events. Testing harnesses used by vendors paralleled methods employed by European Telecommunications Standards Institute and automotive suppliers such as Bosch for conformance verification.

Security, Reliability Extensions, and Compliance Testing

Security considerations require coordination with specifications and efforts led by OASIS and the World Wide Web Consortium for message-level security and XML signature work realized by RSA Security engineers and projects like Apache Santuario. Implementations often combine the specification with WS-Security profiles adopted by Microsoft and IBM and with transport security from IETF protocols such as TLS managed by OpenSSL or GnuTLS. Reliability extensions and conformance testing suites were developed by vendor consortia including IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle; independent labs and integrators like SGS and TÜV Rheinland performed interoperability and compliance testing similar to processes used for ISO certification.

Category:Web services standards