Coping with the Complexity of SOA Systems with Message Forensics

This paper introduces an approach to construct SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) systems using the so called a synchronous messaging network. An asynchronous messaging network (or simply messaging network) refers to an overlay network (over LAN, VPN, Internet, etc.) that allows exchanging well-formatted asynchronous messages (typically in XML) between the service providers and consumers in the system. The proposed approach aims at reducing the operation and maintenance cost of the system by using a messaging network enhanced with the capability to store, inspect and analyze selected portions of the exchanged messages under the strict control of security and privacy. Complexity makes any information system vulnerable to design flaws, operation error, and security problems. The proposed approach facilitates analyzing these problems associated with complex SOA systems through the message-store analysis. We consider that the application of computer forensics to the message store in SOA helps the system administrator to identify and fix various problems. The requirements for the messaging network for SOA systems are also presented.