Web services are gaining acceptance as the prime technology used to
interconnect disparate applications and ease interoperability between
heterogeneous and autonomous systems both for internal and external
integration. The variation of contexts in which shared Web services could be
used and the resulting variation in functional and Quality of Service (QoS)
requirements motivate extending Web services management platforms with more
sophisticated control mechanisms to cater to differentiated service
offerings.
However, most Web services platforms are based on a best-effort model, which
treats all requests uniformly, without any type of service differentiation or
prioritization. This article explores the typical generic requirements for
differential QoS support in Web ser... (more)