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Web services protocol stack
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<p>A web service protocol stack is a <a href="/facts/Protocol_stack/Btj9FtwJ">protocol stack</a> (a stack of computer networking <a href="/facts/Protocol_(computing)/5uady7cB">protocols</a>) that is used to define, locate, implement, and make <a href="/facts/Web_services/qxrwqB3D">Web services</a> interact with each other. A web service protocol stack typically stacks four protocols: </p> <ul><li>(Service) Transport Protocol: responsible for transporting messages between network applications and includes protocols such as <a href="/facts/HTTP/TWtvf7JD">HTTP</a>, <a href="/facts/SMTP/TeCRKDpJ">SMTP</a>, <a href="/facts/File_Transfer_Protocol/THuWgzfw">FTP</a>, as well as the more recent <a href="/facts/BEEP/X8XfqCGt">Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol</a> (BEEP).</li> <li>(XML) Messaging Protocol: responsible for encoding messages in a common <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a> format so that they can be understood at either end of a network connection. Currently, this area includes such protocols as <a href="/facts/XML-RPC/UleaeVRo">XML-RPC</a>, <a href="/facts/WS-Addressing/LQdkuBmd">WS-Addressing</a>, and <a href="/facts/SOAP_(protocol)/vXlAMnjp">SOAP</a>.</li> <li>(Service) Description Protocol: used for describing the public interface to a specific Web service. The <a href="/facts/Web_Services_Description_Language/tQPIot4A">WSDL</a> interface format is typically used for this purpose.</li> <li>(Service) Discovery Protocol: centralizes services into a common registry so that network Web services can publish their location and description, and makes it easy to discover what services are available on the network. <a href="/facts/Universal_Description_Discovery_and_Integration/I59oVM1h">Universal Description Discovery and Integration</a> (UDDI) was intended for this purpose, but it has not been widely adopted.</li></ul> <p>The protocol stack can also include a range of higher-level protocols such as <a href="/facts/Business_Process_Execution_Language/HUmdnJEb">Business Process Execution Language</a> (WS-BPEL) or <a href="/facts/WS-Security/T7v5kCJt">WS-Security</a> for security extensions. </p>