SOAP is currently a leading protocol for communicating over loosly coupled systems independent of platform hardware and operating system. Since SOAP uses generic XML over HTTP, it is platform and network topology independent, allowing firewall tunneling and avoiding typical security problems. It is also easy to decode what is flowing over the wire, should it be necessary to troubleshoot problems.
Unfortunately, the SOAP specification is experiencing rapid evolution, and many different server and client implementation tools exist. Our implementation is very simple, yet effective and uses no 3rd party libraries or XML parsers, with the exception of the Jetty Web Server. The Jetty Web Server provides a simple, pure Java, embeddable web container that can serve as an endpoint or client, and is very easy to configure in multiple ways.
For details on our actual SOAP protocol syntax for call and return, reference the SOAP protocol document.
We use SOAP to communicate between the ECS and its master controller (the GUI). The ECS is architected to allow multiple ECS’s to run on a single machine and communicate with a controller (GUI or UiMgr) on the same or another host. This capability allows for incredible flexibility and scalability in a variety of deployment environments using disparate hardware and network technologies. Currently, the ECS and UiMgr must coexist on the same host and only a single ECS is allowed.