The document discusses the WS Protocol Workshop Process, which aims to apply software testing practices to web services specifications to promote interoperability. Workshops provide a way for interested parties to review, test, and validate specifications early in the development process. This helps identify and address problems before wide implementation. There are feedback workshops to gather comments, and interoperability workshops where implementations are tested against each other. The goal is community involvement in specification development and proven interoperability of implementations.

1. WS Protocol Workshop Process The path to interoperable Web Services specifications Jorgen Thelin, Microsoft Corporation

2. Workshops – The Path to Interoperable Specs Purpose: Applying software testing practices to Web Services specs Provide review, testing and validation of WS-* specifications earlier in the spec development cycle Goal: INTEROPERABLE SPECS Find and fix problems in the specs before they are widely implemented and adopted Gather feedback from implementers, vendors and other interested parties on spec interoperability and usability problems Demonstrate and test of the interoperability achievable using the spec(s) Result: Community consultation and involvement in the spec development process Proven interoperability among spec implementations

3. Workshops - Attendance Open to EVERYONE Anyone who signs a feedback agreement can: Attend feedback or interop workshop Post to workshop mailing lists For example Spec authors Companies with known interest in the spec Authors of competing specs, if they wish Researchers / University staff

4. Types of Workshop Feedback Workshop Gather comments from implementers and interested parties Equivalent to: Code review / walkthrough Interop Workshop Exercise spec implementations Equivalent to: System / integration testing for software

5. Specification State Transitions Interop Draft Author Draft Move to standards org for ratification Workshop Pipeline Spec States Published Consultation Draft Interop Draft Interop Scenarios Feedback Workshops Interop Workshops

6. Compare With: Software Development State Transitions WIP Code External Release Review / Test Pipeline Software States Committed Code Test Cases Code Review System and Integration Testing Internal Milestone Release

7. Feedback Workshop Details Audience: all interested parties Just sign the feedback agreement Goal: Gathering feedback on published drafts Format - 1-day event Presentations for half a day Feedback discussion for half a day Deliverables Feedback to spec authors Suggestions for future interop scenarios

8. Interop Workshop Details Audience: spec implementers Sign the feedback agreement and bring your own implementation Goal: Achieving interoperability between implementations Format - 2-day event Round-table interoperability lab - 1 room, many implementations Hands-on peer-to-peer testing - BYO Laptop Test cases created in advance – included in invite pack Deliverables Feedback to spec authors on implementability of spec(s) Broad levels of interoperability between implementations Suggestions for future interop scenarios (If possible) Live endpoints from ongoing testing

9. Workshop Tracks WS-Discovery, Device Profile for WS Devices WS-Eventing Eventing WS-Coordination, WS-AtomicTransaction, WS-BusinessActivity Transactions WS-Addressing, WS-Policy, WS-PolicyAttachment Infrastructure / Metadata WS-Security, WS-Trust, WS-SecureConversation, WS-SecurityPolicy, Security Kerberos Binding, WS-Federation, WS-Federation Active and Passive Client Profiles Security WS-ReliableMessaging Reliable Messaging Specs Track

10. Workshop History Feedback Workshops Policy + Security (Trust) – Feb 2003 Policy + Security (Trust) – March 2003 Reliable Messaging – July 2003 Security (Federation) – Nov 2003 Eventing – Feb 2004 Transactions – Mar 2004 WS-Discovery – May 2004 Interop Workshops Reliable Messaging – Oct 2003 Security (Secure Conv and Trust) – Nov 2003 Security (Federation Passive Profile) – March 2004 Eventing – Apr 2004 Reliable Messaging – May 2004

11. Why the incremental approach? Rome wasn’t built in a day Neither was the Internet, or any major IT infrastructure! Specs take time to settle in and usage experiences develop Building the higher layers of the architecture can point out changes required in lower levels For example: HTML didn’t jump straight to v4.0 – it took time to see what worked and what didn’t

12. Workshops – More Info Workshops Home Page on MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/webservices/community/workshops/ Workshops Home Page on IBM developerWorks http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/offers/WS-Specworkshops/

13. Workshops – More Info Workshops Home Page on MSDN http:// msdn.microsoft.com /webservices/community/workshops/

14. Ways to get involved Visit Workshop web pages for more info Join the workshop discussion groups on Yahoo WS-RM-Workshops WS-Security-Workshops WS-TX-Workshops WS-Eventing-Workshops WS-Discovery-Workshops Come to future Feedback and/or Interop Workshops and give us your input