CICS compliance with Web services standards

CICS® complies with the supported Web services standards and specifications, in that it allows you to generate and deploy web services that are compliant.

Note that CICS does not enforce this compliance. For example, in the case of support for the WS-I Basic Profile 1.1 specification, CICS allows you to apply additional qualities of service to your web service that could break the interoperability outlined in this Profile.

Web Services Addressing 1.0

WS-Addressing is a specification that defines a transport-independent mechanism for passing messaging information between web services.

The WS-Addressing specification defines two constructs, message addressing properties and endpoint references, that normalize the information that is typically provided by transport protocols and messaging systems.

The specification is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a W3C recommendation in three parts:

You are recommended to follow these W3C specifications when using WS-Addressing with CICS.

For interoperability, CICS tolerates the W3C WS-Addressing submission specification only when the namespace is set to: http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2004/08/addressing.

The CICS API commands support MAPs and EPRs that follow the WS-Addressing recommendation specifications; however, the API commands do not support MAPs and EPRs that follow the WS-Addressing submission specification.

The addressing context maintains all the MAPs at the level of the recommendation specifications. If required, these MAPs can be converted to, or from, the submission specification level when they are applied to, or extracted from, the SOAP message.

Web Services Description Language Version 1.1 and 2.0

WSDL is an XML format for describing network services as a set of endpoints operating on messages containing either document-oriented or procedure-oriented information.
Stabilized feature: Web Services Description Language (WSDL) 2.0 in CICS is stabilized. Use WSDL 1.1 as the de facto standard for SOAP-based web services. See also Stabilization notices and discontinued functions.

The operations and messages are described abstractly, and then bound to a concrete network protocol and message format to define an endpoint. Related concrete end points are combined into abstract endpoints (services).

WSDL is extensible to allow the description of endpoints and their messages regardless of what message formats or network protocols are used to communicate. The WSDL 1.1 specification only defines bindings that describe how to use WSDL in conjunction with SOAP 1.1, HTTP GET and POST, and MIME.

WSDL 2.0 provides a model as well as an XML format for describing web services. It enables you to separate the description of the abstract functionality offered by a service from the concrete details of a service description, such as "how" and "where" that functionality is offered. It also describes extensions for Message Exchange Patterns, SOAP modules, and a language for describing such concrete details for SOAP 1.2 and HTTP. The WSDL 2.0 specification also resolves many technical issues and limitations that are present in WSDL 1.1.

The specification for WSDL 1.1 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as a W3C Note at WSDL Version 1.1.

The specification for WSDL 2.0 is published as a W3C recommendation at WSDL Version 2.0.

Web Services Trust Language

WS-Trust defines extensions that build on Web Services Security to provide a framework for requesting and issuing security tokens, and to broker trust relationships.

WS-Trust describes:
  1. Methods for issuing, renewing, and validating security tokens.
  2. Ways to establish, access the presence of, and broker trust relationships.

CICS supports only WS-Trust 1.2, which is the February 2005 version of the specification.

WS-I Basic Profile Version 1.1

WS-I BP 1.1 is a set of non-proprietary web services specifications, along with clarifications and amendments to those specifications, which together promote interoperability between different implementations of web services.

WS-I BP 1.1 is derived from Basic Profile Version 1.0 by incorporating its published errata and separating out the requirements that relate to the serialization of envelopes and their representation in messages. These requirements are now part of the Simple SOAP Binding Profile Version 1.0.

To summarize, the WS-I Basic Profile Version 1.0 has now been split into two separately published profiles. These are:
  • WS-I Basic Profile Version 1.1
  • WS-I Simple SOAP Binding Profile Version 1.0
Together, these two Profiles supersede the WS-I Basic Profile Version 1.0.

The reason for this separation is to enable the Basic Profile 1.1 to be composed with any profile that specifies envelope serialization, including the Simple SOAP Binding Profile 1.0.

The specification for WS-I BP 1.1 is published by the Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) at WS-I Basic Profile Version 1.1.