Web service providers and policy configuration sharing
A WAS service provider can share its current policy configuration through its Web Service Description Language (WSDL). The policy configuration is in standard WSDL WS-PolicyAttachment format so that it can be shared with other clients, service registries, or services that support the Web Services Policy (WS-Policy) specification. We can make the policy configuration of a JAX-WS service endpoint available to share in two ways:
- Include the policy configuration of the service provider in the WSDL. The WSDL is then available to publish, or to obtain using an HTTP Get request.
- Enable the Web Services Metadata Exchange (WS-MetadataExchange) protocol so that the policy configuration of the service provider is included in the WSDL and is available to a WS-MetadataExchange GetMetadata request. An advantage of using the WS-MetadataExchange protocol is that we can apply message-level security to WS-MetadataExchange GetMetadata requests by using a suitable system policy set.
The policy configuration in the WSDL is in the standard WS-PolicyAttachments format. Any WS-Policy attachments that were in the WSDL previously are removed. Note that policy configuration information becomes available in the WSDL to publish, but it is not available if we just view the WSDL document using the admin console. Also, policy configuration information is not available in WSDL that is published remotely by using an administrative agent.
If the service provider application uses multipart WSDL, all the WSDL must be local to the Web service application.
See about multipart WSDL, see the topic about WSDL.
By default, the policy configuration of the service provider is not included in the WSDL. To include the policy configuration of the service provider in the WSDL, and specify how it is shared, we can use the admin console or wsadmin commands.
Application developers can specify that a service provider shares its policy configuration, and how it is shared, using Rational Application Developer tools when a Web service is generated.
See the Rational Application Developer documentation.
Transport policy information is not included in the policy configuration because transport policies such as HTTP, SSL, and JMS cannot be expressed in WS-PolicyAttachment format.
Bootstrap policy information, for example, the policy to access a WS-Trust service, can be included in the policy configuration if the bootstrap policy is expressed in WS-PolicyAttachment format.
Configure a service provider to share its policy configuration at application or service level. The policy configuration that is represented by the policy sets attached to any lower levels will also be shared. Policy sets that are attached at lower levels override the policy set configuration attached at a higher level.
When an application is deployed in a cell and you publish WSDL using the admin console, the WSDL contains the policy set configuration of the dmgr of the cell. If we change any policy sets, the changes do not affect the configuration of the dmgr until that configuration is refreshed, for example when the dmgr restarts, or when a scripting command refreshes the policy set configuration of the dmgr.
Troubleshooting policy configuration sharing
A service provider might not be able to share its policy configuration because the configuration cannot be expressed in the standard WS-PolicyAttachments format. One reason might be because multiple incompatible policies are defined for a particular attach point. Another reason might be because there is not enough binding information to generate the standard policy. Policy configuration might include bootstrap policy, for example, the policy to access a WS-Trust service, so the bootstrap policy must also be expressed in WS-PolicyAttachments format. If the policy configuration cannot be shared, an error that describes the problem is written to the service provider error log, and the following policy is attached to the WSDL of the service provider:
<wsp:Policy> <wsp:ExactlyOne> </wsp:ExactlyOne> </wsp:Policy>This policy notifies the client that there is no acceptable policy configuration for the service. Other aspects of the WSDL are unaffected.
Related concepts
WSDL
Related tasks
Set a service provider to share its policy configuration
Publishing WSDL files
View WSDL document
Set security for a WS-MetadataExchange request
Refreshing policy set configurations using scripting
Learn about WS-Policy
Related
Policy sharing settings