WS-I

WS-Security v1.1 approved

Joe Pruitt — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 19:47:00 GMT

Looks like the WSS group over at OASIS just approved WS-Security as an OASIS standard. Congrats all!

Here's a blurb from the press release:

Boston, MA, USA; 15 February 2006 -- OASIS, the international e-business standards consortium, today announced that its members have approved WS-Security version 1.1 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. Developed through an open process by the OASIS Web Services Security (WSS) Technical Committee, WS-Security delivers a technical foundation for implementing security functions such as integrity and confidentiality in messages implementing higher-level Web services applications.
Gartner analyst, Ray Wagner, advised, "Enterprises should adopt WS-Security formatting for all across-the-firewall Web service deployments, even in cases where no security needs have been identified. Gartner believes that WS-Security will be the standard for the majority of Web services, and committing to it now will allow enterprises to easily modify the security profile of deployed Web services in the future."

What I'm trying to wonder is who out there is actually making use of WS-Security, mainly in environments where multiple vendors tools are employed. Or are most deployments still using a single vendor implementation on both sides of the connection.

Do you feel OASIS and WS-I are making a difference. I am a member of both sets of working groups and can't always get a good view on those actually applying the standards outside from the vendors themselves.

-Joe

WS-I Plenary (Spring 2005)

Joe Pruitt — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:43:00 GMT

The Plenary (standards body way to say "group meeting") this Spring is at the Pacific Pallisades Hotel in Vancouver, BC

I'll be hanging out in the Basic Security Profile working group. If anyone out there is attending the conference, stop by and say hi...

Tuesday is going to be working group meetings and Wednesday is the Opening Session with a keynote by Anne Thomas Manes of the Burton Group. Her talk is titled "Interoperability Issues in the Real World".

I'll post more as the conference moves on...

-Joe

Pacific Palisades Hotel

New WS-I Advocates Program

Joe Pruitt — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:17:00 GMT

I've heard of this in the works for a while but now it's official. The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) has just announced a new entry level for membership. The Advocate level is a no-cost membership and enables the following benefits:

Advocate company name, logo, and testamonial quote posted on WS-I's website.
Advocate may post a special "WS-I Advocate" logo on their company's website.
Advocates receive a subscription to the WS-Insider, our newsletter published several times a year.

So if you have been thinking about getting involved with WS-I but haven't been able to justify the membership dues, this may work out well for you. Click here for the membership application. Oh, and make sure to put "Joe Pruitt, F5 Networks" in the "Referred to WS-I by" field.

-Joe

[Listening to: Piggies - The Beatles - The White Album (02:04)]

WS-I Fall Meeting Nov 2-5 : Night 1

Joe Pruitt — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 23:58:00 GMT

Tonight I sat in on the "State of WebServices" BoF run by Erik Johnson of Epicor Software.

Abstract
Web Services seems to be suffering real systemic issues beyond the normal disillusionment that emerges once the hype settles down. So, are customers and platform/tools providers even on the same page? Are the tools providers listening to customers and do customers know what they want?

Also, there is still serious disagreement about how to employ XML to connect systems and how the tools should support that effort. Some users want to build new systems directly (perhaps solely) on the Infoset and the WS-* stacks, others want to "hide" the XML within a remoting mechanism. There is also wide disagreement about the role of objects in representing Infosets.

Can Web Services interop be achieved in this environment? Is this going to be a situation with winners and losers? Are we moving toward multiple - perhaps non-interoperable profiles?

The BoF centered around whether Web Services have lived up to it's "Promise" and if it's losing steam. The general consensus is that Schema is important but is is becoming increasingly more complex and the reliance of tools to do the work is causing a longer term problem. Overall everyone agreed that things are moving in the right direction but also agreed that vendors need to cut down on the number of "drafts" that are produced and focus more on ratified specs that everyone can agree on.

[Listening to: Alien - Pennywise - Straight Ahead (04:07)]

WS-I Fall Meeting Nov 2-5 : Day 1

Joe Pruitt — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 21:10:00 GMT

After a red-eye flight on Monday night, I arrived this morning in Miami bright and early at 7:00AM (4:00AM Seattle time). I slept a bit on the plane but needless to say it was very restless. I got to the Hotel a bit after 8:00 and got checked into my room (the best feature being unlimited Wi-Fi). I mustered enough strengths (I've been suffering a bit recently from a slight flu that's been going) to head downstairs for the included breakfast (which I made by 15 minutes). Muffins, fruits and cereals just hit the spot.

I found out that my morning session with the Basic Security Profile working group was cancelled due to a concurrent OASIS WSS call that the majority of the group had to sit in on so I headed back to my room to rest for an hour or so. I got a call from the kids at 10:30 while they were eating breakfast and quickly fell back asleep. Not sure if it was the plane ride, the lagging flu, or what but I didn't wake up until 1:30. I guess my body needed the rest.

I was able to make the afternoon sessions after lunch. The main content of the afternoon sessions was the Testing Tools (TT) assertion document review as well as a new proposal on Enhanced Logging for Security.

I'm now going to grab a bite of food before tonights BoF sessions on MTOM and The State of Web Services. I'm not sure which one I'm going to attend yet. Tomorrows post will highlight that talk.

If anyone out there is at the meeting, grab me and say hi.

[Listening to: Everytime I Look for You - Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants & Jacket (03:05)]

WS-I Fall Meeting Nov 2-5 (Miami)

Joe Pruitt — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 04:48:00 GMT

We'll it's that time of year again and I just plopped down my registration for the November WS-I Plenary in Miami. I'll more than likely be flying in on Tuesday afternoon and leaving Friday morning. So, if any of you out there happen to be at The Palms Hotel

please look me up and say hi. I'll be hanging out in the Security Profile Working Group during the session and at the bar after hours...

Case Studies, WS-I, etc...

Joe Pruitt — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 18:30:00 GMT

Forum activity has picked up in the last few days and that reminded me that I haven't posted anything here in a while. So, here's a good chance to catch up. First, we have been meeting with several analysts lately and believe we have a good story on the need for a controlling point at the network layer in a SOA deployment. We have several customers who are using us to deploy portals, prioritize and secure traffic, etc. What we really need are case studies that we can reference for article publication. If you are willing to share your solution utilizing iControl, please give Jeff Browning a ring (j.browning@f5.com). Secondly, the next WS-I Plenary is coming up soon (7/20-7/23 at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu). If anyone is going to be there, look me up and say hi. I'll be haning with the Security Profile working group. Lastly, We released the Early Access (EA) release of BIG-IP and the associated SDK a few weeks ago. If you are interested in participating in the review check it out at http://beta.f5.com. Specifically we are interested in reviews of the new interfaces. -Joe

WS-I Spring Meeting - Day 1

Joe Pruitt — Wed, 17 Mar 2004 06:01:00 GMT

I just arrived in Vancouver for the WS-I Plenary. The hotel they have us in is very cool. We're staying at the Pacific Palasades Hotel on Robson. I drove up from Seattle and was greeted with a wine reception hosted by the Hotel. Good local wine with some very unusual artwork to go along with it. Here's a quote from the artists statement sheet. Quote: The dresses hanging in this exhibition are made of latex -- a liquid material extracted from the rubber tree. 90% water, latex is the closest material to human skin that exists. hardwearing, it is resilient but temporal and when exposed to light oxygenates and ages rapidly. It is transient and ephemeral and it has a limited life. At sticker prices of ~$2500CAD I'm not too sure I'd personally invest in a limited life art dress... I'd love to talk to anyone who's purchased one and find out what they did with it. Tomorrow sessions start and we'll be talking Web Services Security Profiles. Cool stuff, if you are in to that kind of thing... -Joe

WS-I Spring Meeting Mar 16-19

Joe Pruitt — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 23:51:00 GMT

I just signed up for the Spring WS-I Plenary in Vancouver, BC. I'll be hanging out in the Basic Security Profile working group sessions. If anyone out there is planning on attending and wants to talk iControl, keep and eye out for me.

WS-I Fall Meeting Nov 11-14

Joe Pruitt — Sat, 08 Nov 2003 00:48:00 GMT

Next week I'm off to the WS-I Fall members meeting. This time we are meeting at Coronado Island right near downtown San Diego, CA. Hopefully the weather is better than it is up here in Seattle right now. Currently I'm working with the Security Profile group whose charter is to give guidance on how to implement security within Web Services so that it can be interoperable across multiple vendors implementations. If any of you are attending please look me up at the conference and we can chat about iControl and/or Web Services in general.