100 SOA Questions: Asked and Answered Review

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(More customer reviews)A couple of years ago, I jumped into the SOA world, as my client was sticking their toes into SOA. At the time I was completely new to SOA, and did a fair amount of reading and speaking with other practitioners. The contract ended up being cancelled after several months for unrelated reasons. My next client engagement was completely unrelated to SOA, so I ceased my activities in that area.
Fast forward to today - I find myself back with a client pursuing several services initiatives in their organization. "100 SOA Questions Asked and Answered" was the perfect "Re-introduction" to the topic. I wasn't looking for a book that spent dozens of pages introducing what SOA is and what its advantages are - I just wanted something that would allow me to re-familiarize myself with the issues involved.
The book is very straightforward and well-organized. It is clear that authors Holley and Arsanjani have great experience with multiple SOA implementations. I would recommend this book to anyone beginning an SOA implementation - it will quickly acquaint you with the lessons learned and issues to consider.

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Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology Review

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(More customer reviews)A surprising amount of the spending for information technology in virtually all organizations is spent on supporting, updating, integrating, or otherwise maintaining legacy systems. SOA is an attempt to define a generalized group of services oriented 'objects' (for lack of a better term) that have a well defined interface and output that is oriented to provide a business orjective.
Most books on SOA (do a search at Amazon) tend to be oriented around the web and the transfer of information between computers using various web protocols, especially SOAP and RSS. In essence these are putting the details before the concepts.
This is a book on the concepts, it is what we are trying to do with SOA more than the details of how to do it. It is more concerned with good business practices rather the details of implementation. It is particularly good at refraining from recommending any particular vendor or technology.
A question you have to ask yourself is, 'Is now the time?' The authors say yes, that despite the history of attempts like CORBA, COM/DCOM, etc. there is now enough industry momentum behind current techniques that it is clearly time for you to get started. This is one of those places where it is easy to predict the future, it is harder to get it right.
Still, I think the broad concepts brought out here will last, even if the details of the implementation do not. And these concepts is what this book is about.

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SOA Principles of Service Design Review

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(More customer reviews)Where do I start?
On the positive side. It is the only computer book I have read in years that is completely free of typing and grammatical errors.
On the negative:
Thomas Erls' previous book contains lots of valuable information about services. This book does not.
A good design book would have contained more.
Every time he starts to discuss something of depth, it is always beyond the scope of the book, contained in the companion Design Patterns book or in a book that he has yet to write, or he references another chapter containing a paragraph of clarification. The OOAD section is great, but that's not the topic of the book.
You know those articles where the text is great, but the diagrams confusing and innane. Well in this book, the diagrams are inane and so is their description. Take for example, page 327. There is a drawing of a stationary car and a moving car. The text reads "State refers to the general condition of something. A car that is moving is in a state of motion, whereas a car that is not moving is in a stationary state." What enlightenment. Another figure, Figure 8.10 ( I know it well ), is repeated 4 times on two pages, and at various other places, with only changes to the text. I can't help but feeling, that if I read all of the following books that this one promotes, I may get one book's worth of content.
I know that my review differs from the others. I have extensive experience in design ( although not SOA design ), and found most of what was discussed repetetive and obvious. Also I can't help but notice when I look at other reviewers' profiles, they have only ever reviewed one book, or at most two.
I will probably buy, or at least checkout the SOA patterns book ( referenced extensively in this one as published, but lost in book desert ). I hope it contains the content that this book should have contained.


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Service-Oriented Modeling (SOA): Service Analysis, Design, and Architecture Review

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(More customer reviews)I have purchased and read many SOA books and they have all fallen into one of 2 camps. They are usually either "HOW-TO" implement a SOAP/XML/WSDL based request response guides with the standard buzzwords of SOA Governance, WS-*Everything and the Kitchen Sink*, and of course a vague description of how an Enterprise Service Bus magically does away with years a poorly implemented legacy systems. This is the first SOA book that I have read that did not waste my time with page after page trivial XML examples but actually presented an entire working formal language(extended or inspired by the UML component model I believe) to describe your existing environment("As-Is") and future-state architecture in everday terms understandable by business users and application developers. I'll admit when I read that the approach is both 'Holistic' and 'Anthropomorphic' I felt like I was being marketed some Ginko-Biloba pseudo mysticism but as I read through I understood that this is an approach to SOA, probably the first, to actually make the the underlying services and consolidation of services visible and tanglible in the way an architect builds a scale model of a proposed structure to provide an in depth understanding of the project to those who are unable to turn equations into 3D structures in there heads(which is most of us). The authors crowning achievement, in my opinon, is the realization that everything (Legacy System, Schedule Batch Job, Business Apporval Process, Business Rules, Storage) must be treated as 'Services' is a quantum leap for SOA that moves the concept of SOA from a vague buzzword to a concrete deliverable, tangible item.

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Answers to your most pressing SOA development questionsHow do we start with service modeling? How do we analyze services for better reusability? Who should be involved? How do we create the best architecture model for our organization? This must-read for all enterprise leaders gives you all the answers and tools needed to develop a sound service-oriented architecture in your organization.Praise for Service-Oriented ModelingService Analysis, Design, and Architecture"Michael Bell has done it again with a book that will be remembered as a key facilitator of the global shift to Service-Oriented Architecture. . . . With this book, Michael Bell provides that foundation and more-an essential bible for the next generation of enterprise IT."-Eric Pulier, Executive Chairman, SOA Software"Michael Bell's insightful book provides common language and techniques for business and technology organizations to take advantage of the SOA paradigm. By focusing modeling techniques on the business problem, Bell provides a way for professionals to work throughout the life cycle to create reusable and enduring services."-Mike Zbranak, CIO, Chase Card Services"This book will become an imperative business and technology service-oriented modeling recipe for any manager, architect, modeler, analyst, and developer in today's software development industry."-Jeff Schneider, CEO, MomentumSI"'Innovative' and 'groundbreaking' are words that best describe Michael Bell's Service-Oriented Modeling. It depicts a true service modeling approach that elegantly closes a clear and critical service modeling gap in the SOA industry. This holistic book ties these concepts together using real-world examples across a service life cycle that transitions services from ideas and concepts into production assets that deliver business value. A must-read for business and technical SOA practitioners."-Eric A. Marks, CEO, AgilePath Corporation"As hot as SOA is today, many business and technology professionals still find it challenging to mind the gap between their disparate methodologies and objectives. Herein Michael Bell speaks clearly to both camps in straightforward language, outlining disciplines each can use to communicate effectively and advance the realization of corporate aims. This book is a bible for all who seek to drive business/technology into the future."-Mark Edward Goodrich, Director, Investing Product Management, Reuters Media"This book takes senior IT architects and systems designers into the depths of modeling for SOA, with a fresh new perspective on tools, terminology, and how to turn the theory into practice. His full life-cycle approach balances process, control, and accountability to align all the participants in the delivery pipeline-clearing the road for successful SOA business solutions."-Phil Gilligan, Chief Technology Officer, EBS

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SOA Modeling Patterns for Service Oriented Discovery and Analysis Review

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(More customer reviews)- Sometimes you wonder what you can get for a price that you pay for less than a full tank of gas!
- This book is a clear milestone in software modeling and architecture. I think that this is the next generation. Its value is tremendous to business and IT and especially to analysis, discovery, and modeling of software assets in the space of software development in general, SOA, and Cloud Computing.
- I think that it offers a very important direction and process to establishing services. But the services here are described as holistic software assets such as components, business processes, databases, Web services, applications, and any other software modules you may consider as executables. Interesting!
- In the analysis space, the presented concepts are innovative and can help you to establish a personal strategy as well as an organizational one.
- The patterns are not only design patterns. They are also process patterns, which are important to running projects and analysis patterns that can help you analyze a solution, a design, an architecture, a project direction, or even an enterprise strategy.
- I like the modeling section. Easy to understand and can be used by analysts, architects, managers, developers, and obviously modelers. Note this:
o Contextual analysis and modeling: Generalization, Specification, Expansion, and Contraction
o Structural analysis and modeling: Generalization, Specification, Expansion, and Contraction
- I highly recommend this book. It provides me with tools to see the big picture and helps with hands on low level implementation, such as coding, design, and more.


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Learn the essential tools for developing a sound service-oriented architecture

SOA Modeling Patterns for Service-Oriented Discovery and Analysis introduces a universal, easy-to-use, and nimble SOA modeling language to facilitate the service identification and examination life cycle stage. This business and technological vocabulary will benefit your service development endeavors and foster organizational software asset reuse and consolidation, and reduction of expenditure.
Whether you are a developer, business architect, technical architect, modeler, business analyst, team leader, or manager, this essential guide-introducing an elaborate set of more than 100 patterns and anti-patterns-will help you successfully discover and analyze services, and model a superior solution for your project,.
Explores how to discover services
Explains how to analyze services for construction and production
How to assess service feasibility for deployment
How to employ the SOA modeling language during the service identification and examination process
How to utilize the SOA modeling patterns and anti-patterns for service discovery and analysis

Focusing on the Service-Oriented Discovery and Analysis Life Cycle Stage, this book will help you acquire a broad SOA Modeling knowledge base and leverage that to increase efficiency and productivity in the workplace.

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