6 Chapter 2: Understanding the Web Services Provider
web service clients in the form of SOAP messages and passes them to the Integration Service. The Integration
Service works with the Repository Service to process the requests and sends the results to the Web Services
Hub. The Web Services Hub sends a response back to the web service client in the form of SOAP messages.
The Web Services Hub provides a Web Services Hub Console where you can manage web services and view and
download the WSDL files for the web services. You can use the WSDL files to create client applications to
access the web services.
The PowerCenter installation includes the Web Services Hub. After you install PowerCenter, use the
Administration Console to create a Web Services Hub and enable it as you would other application services in
the domain.
Batch Web Services
The Web Services Provider provides web service operations that you can use to run and monitor workflows and
access metadata information. The web service operations are collectively known as batch web services. Batch
web service operations can provide information about the objects in the repository associated with the Web
Services Hub or connect to the Integration Service to manage the execution of workflows and tasks or to get
information about the workflows and sessions.
Batch web services fall into the following categories:
♦ Data Integration web services. Use the Data Integration web services to connect to the Integration Service
and run or monitor PowerCenter workflows. Data Integration web services provide operations that allow
you to get details on the Integration Service, schedule and run workflows, start and stop tasks in a workflow,
or monitor and get statistics on sessions. For more information, see
“Data Integration Web Service
Operations” on page 25.
♦ Metadata web services. Metadata web services provide operations that retrieve metadata from PowerCenter
repositories. Use the Metadata web services to get information about repository objects such as folders,
workflows, and workflow tasks to help you run and monitor workflows in a repository. For more
information, see
“Metadata Web Service Operations” on page 23.
Real-time Web Services
When you start the Web Services Hub, no real-time web services are available. You create real-time web services
when you expose PowerCenter workflows as web services. You can create clients to run a web service workflow
and get the results of the workflow process. The web service takes a SOAP message request and produces a
SOAP message response.
You can create a service mapping to receive a message from a web service client, transform it, and write it to any
target that PowerCenter supports. You can also create a web service mapping with both a web service source and
target definition to receive a message request from a web service client, transform the data, and send the
response back to the web service client. The source and target definitions represent service operations. The
source defines the user request and the target defines the response.
After you create a mapping, you can create a web service workflow to run the process defined in the web service
mapping. A web service workflow is a workflow enabled as a web service. Configure the web service workflow,
and add sessions to the workflow. When you save the workflow, the Web Services Hub publishes the web service
on the Web Services Hub Console. The Integration Service can perform parallel processing of both request-
response and one-way services.
Web Services Provider Architecture
The Web Services Provider consists of the Web Services Hub and the batch and real-time web services hosted
by the Web Services Hub. The Web Services Hub works with the Integration Service and the Repository
Service to process web service requests.