Enterprise Soa: Service-Oriented Architecture Best Practices

by Dirk Slama, Karl Banke, Dirk Krafzig

Book Overview

Enterprise SOABy delivering SAP s next-generation applications based on a Services-Oriented Architecture, SAP is at the forefront of making Web services work for the enterprise. The Enterprise... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0131465759
• ISBN13: 9780131465756
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

No nonsense, practical advice

Frankly, I thought SOA was just a bunch of marketing hype until I read this book. The authors begin by clearly explaining of the kinds of problems SOA is trying to solve, and how other architectures tried and failed (or partially succeeded) to solve these problems. In fact, you don't get a definition of SOA until chapter 4, which is a good thing. The advice and strategies are well-reasoned and practical. The organizational roadmap seems to be unique among SOA books, and is clearly derived from experience. The case studies highlight the kinds of tradeoffs each organization had to deal with, along with lessons learned. Finally, I found this book to be very readable and interesting.

Honest and insightfull

This is a great introduction to SOA. The authors focus on the fundamentals of SOA, displaying both wisdom and honesty as they discuss the structure of an SOA, its essential and optional elements, strategies for SOA introduction (from technical and organizational points of view), SOA oriented project management techniques, success (and failure stories), etc. The book is refreshing in the way that it avoids the vendor induced hysteria associated with new technologies choosing instead to calmly and objectively discuss the fundamental forces driving SOA adoption: federation, heterogeneity, agility, reuse. Additionally, the authors display a healthy dose of independence as they discuss the merits and lack thereof of over-hyped technologies such as Enterprise Service Buses and BEPL systems. This is clearly a book written by people who have actually built SOAs, as opposed to sit on WS-* committees or implement SOA related junkware.

For Real World, and education

One of the previous reviewers said " I could get everything I needed from a few beers with a few Technicians". As a consultant, he demonstrated his focus was strictly a technologist and not someone with any responsibility to develop a working plan, and explain it to the owners of the business. This book is invaluable to business architects, systems design architects, and others who have to discuss complex challanges and develop working business plans for technology without endangering their company by going down a Rat Hole of technology for technologists. For that alone, the book is worth 10 times it's price. No, it is not a "Geek Book". IT is a real world IT manager and IT architect book as a guideline. And the business planning and business culture changes that SOA affects are clearly outlined in this text in a way that even a novice can understand. And what is who will really find this book valuable. Not self styled experts on coding and Coding practices, but business and IT professionals who have to work in the large scale enterprises of today. Excellent book JJM

Perfect starting point

This is the first book on SOA i came across that provides deep and very helpful insights in architectural, organizational and management aspects as well as concise hands-on guidelines to handle most common problems regarding a SOA implementation without digging deep into soon-to-be-outdated matters as current technology and programming language issues. It is a valuable source for everyone interested in SOA, from software developers looking for a starting point into this matter or looking for the big picture, to project managers in search for advice how to cope with challenges SOA puts on software development projects --- and it is based on the authors practical experience from many large scale projects, illustrating given guidelines with real world case studies. Definitely worth reading.

Actionable Architectural Guidance

Too many "SOA" books are either API documents or high-level hand waving. You can tell that this book is based on actual project experience. The authors manage to give actionable guidance and explain their reasoning well without diving into too many technology details. If you are interested in the "A" of "SOA", you will like this book.