The Zen of SOA 219
Alex Roussekov writes "The book "Zen of SOA" by Tom Termini introduces an original view to the challenging world of SOA. He refers to the Zen philosophy as a "therapeutic device" helping SOA practitioners to get rid of prejudices and opinions in order to apply a clear mind-set based on real-life experiences and the application of technology knowledge. Each chapter of the book is prefaced by Zen Truism that the author suggests to "revisit, reflect on it longer, and see if you are able to establish a truth from the narrative, as well as from your own experiences." In fact, the book is about a SOA Blueprint outlining a methodology for building a successful SOA strategy. The target audience is C-level Executives, IT Managers and Enterprise Architects undertaking or intending to undertake adoption of SOA throughout their organizations. I strongly recommend the book to all SOA practitioners involved in implementation of SOA." Read below for the rest of Alexander's review.
The Zen of SOA | |
author | Tom Termini |
pages | 112 |
publisher | BlueDog Ltd (November 21, 2008) |
rating | 9/10 |
reviewer | Alexander Roussekov |
ISBN | ISBN 978-0-615-24703-8 |
summary | provides a clear methodology to guide SOA implementations |
The author's vision is based on extensive experience in the SOA arena and he elegantly leads and prepares the reader for the introduction of his SOA Blueprint approach. I personally enjoyed reflecting on the Zen conundrums which stimulated me to focus and understand the content.
In Chapter 1 the author explains SOA as both Business and Technical Concept and the main challenges it tackles from different stakeholder perspectives. He also emphasizes some misconceptions and technology myths about Web Services and ESB which are key enablers but do not represent a holistic view of SOA.
Chapter 2 elaborates on using the SOA Best Practices as a critical success factor for maximizing an organization's potential and improving performance. The author recommends an Incremental Approach to the SOA Implementation. This is supported by a comprehensive Case Study with the US Federal Trade Commission client.
Chapter 3 gives a technology view of SOA. The author covers a number of SOA technology components, their capabilities and positioning within the SOA technology stack including Portal, ESB, Service Registry/Repository, Business Rules and Enterprise Search Engines.
In Chapter 4 — the concept of "Future-Proof" is defined by the author and his team as "architecting to be highly available, reliable, and easy to manage."
The future-proofing is an inherent quality factor with technological and cultural aspects which need to be achieved throughout the overall SOA Lifecycle. The author suggests that "a pilot, or proof-of-concept, presented in advance of implementation and deployment, can convincingly demonstrate the ability of the architecture to validate the business intent".
Chapter 5 presents the author's rationale for an incremental approach to SOA implementation. The main point is that the contemporary business dynamic creates a myriad of competitive pressures which impose significant risks, whereas an incremental approach shields the business from the SOA implementation demands and helps to accommodate the changes and utilize the benefits.
Chapter 6 "The SOA Blueprint" is the essence of the book. It is a "set of guidelines for the practical business deployment of services using SOA methods in a moderately sized, somewhat complex organization". The author has used the OASIS' reference models for SOA as a foundation framework. The Blueprint is also consistent with well defined and recognized methodologies such as TOGAF and Zachman. For example, the Blueprint artifacts fit well in the taxonomy of the Zachman Architectural Framework and they can be mapped to corresponding activities in the TOGAF ADM.
Chapter 7 provides practical guidance and recommendations related to the context of the SOA Blueprint. The author puts the focus on Standardization, Business Customer Perspective of Services, Risk Mitigation Strategy as well as technical aspects such as Data Integration, Service Orchestration, Security and Metadata.
Finally, Chapter 8 offers a checklist with a number of items required for the customization of the SOA Blueprint. The author provides both item definitions and procedural guidance.
Tom Termini shares deep expertise and knowledge gained by hard work on numerous SOA projects for government and private sector clients. His examples of real business value achieved can be traced in the case studies described in the book. Each case study is related to a particular SOA "koan" and comes with the description of the business context, approach, solution and the business benefits obtained as a result.
The Zen of SOA is a concise, readable and very well illustrated book which provides practical advice, guidance and immediate impetus for development of SOA Implementation Strategy, Vision, Roadmap.
You can purchase The Zen of SOA from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
SOA (Score:5, Informative)
SOA = Service Oriented Architecture, and is one of the big crazes in the tech world right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service-oriented_architecture [wikipedia.org]
because the article didn't seem to help with that.
Re:The Zen of First Post (Score:5, Informative)
SOA means Service Oriented Architecture if anyone other than me loses track of the acronym generation machine occasionally. ;-)
don't ask a spark-E (Score:2, Informative)
SOA == Safe Operating Area
Don't toast those MOSFETs
Sheldon
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Eh Sonny? (Score:3, Informative)
They began in management when the Japanese corporation seemed to be getting everything right.
Re:SOA (Score:3, Informative)
Still not understanding the "republicans" tag attached to this article. Is there another architecture that's better suited to democrats? What should libertarians and greens use?
I think people are just randomly tagging articles "democrats" or "republicans". Not sure that there is any rhyme or reason to which tag ends up on which article, other than just whichever tag was applied by more people.
Wait a few more minutes and the tag will go away as it gets replaced by ones that actually mean something for the article.
Re:32 dollars for 112 pages double spaced (Score:1, Informative)
STD's have a Zen now? (Score:1, Informative)
REST Please! (Score:5, Informative)
As someone who thought SOA would be a good thing (meaning SOAP and XML) I can say without a doubt it sucks.
I am working on IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) (Electronic medical records sharing) and I hate it. We are constantly dealing with the same stupid problems time and time again: XML mismatches.
Please, anyone developing for the cloud or SOA use REST [wikipedia.org] aka WOA [zdnet.com] (Web oriented architecture).
The difference is simple: Rather than use SOAP for everything, you match it to the usual HTTP paradigms (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, with sensible URLs and HTTP headers).
The elimination of XML eliminates so many issues you will not believe. The best that I can tell is XML is a document, this document can be versioned, while HTTP is a protocol. You therefore eliminate a layer that has to be maintained.
For instance, the PirateBay uses REST-like inerface:
GET http://thepiratebay/browse/603 [thepiratebay] gives you the
whereas with SOAP you'd need to agree on a transaction name, XML schema, paramters. Then someone will decide that you need to support base64 encoded file uploads and downloads, so that'll have to go in the schema too. With REST you just use the standard HTTP headers...
Friends don't let friends develop SOAP.
Re:The Zen of First Post (Score:5, Informative)
I thought it was Start Of Authority.
State Of the Art
Sarbanes-Oxley Act
State Of Alaska (you betcha)
seksueel overdraagbare aandoening (Dutch: sexually transmitted disease)
Sega of America
Re:REST Please! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The Zen of First Post (Score:4, Informative)
SOA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Soa or SOA can stand for:
* Safe operating area, conditions for a semiconductor to work reliably
* Service-Oriented Architecture, programming paradigm that separates functions into distinct units, or services which developers make accessible over a network in order that users can combine and reuse them in the production of business applications
* Secondary Organic Aerosol, a kind of atmospheric aerosols formed from reactions of organic compounds with oxidants.
* Semiconductor optical amplifier, an optical amplifier which use a semiconductor to provide the gain medium
* State of the art, the highest level of development
* Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, the time interval between the onset of a first stimulus and the onset of a second stimulus
* Super Output Area, a geographical unit in the United Kingdom used mainly for statistical analysis
[edit] Society and Institutes
* School of the Americas, a US Army training facility subsequently officially known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
* School of the Arts, a common name for fine arts schools
* Society of Ancients, an international society based in the UK
[edit] in Information Technology
* Search oriented architecture, the use of search engine technology as the main integration component in an information system
* Service-oriented architecture, a computer systems architectural style for creating and using business processes, packaged as services
* Start of Authority, a record type in the Domain Name System
[edit] in accounting and business
* Sarbanes-Oxley Act, officially titled the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002
* Society of Actuaries, one of the two main professional societies of actuaries in the United States
* Statement of Affairs, an enumeration of financial situation prepared typically by a company or individual considering insolvency or bankruptcy
[edit] in entertainment
* Sons of Anarchy, a 2008 American television program
* The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, a MMORPG set in Tolkien's Middle-earth.
* Siege of Avalon, a 2000 computer role-playing game
* Skies of Arcadia, a console game for the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo Gamecube
* Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, a 2000 computer role-playing game
* Soldiers of Allah, an Islamic rap group
* State of Alert, a hardcore punk group
* Sons of Azrael, a death metal group
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.