WSO2 bringing Ruby to SOA

by Paul Krill

January 11, 2008 —

With open-source software being formally introduced Monday, WSO2 seeks to bridge
the Ruby programming language and the Ruby on Rails Web framework with the SOA
and Web services spaces.

The company is set to debut WSO2
WSF/Ruby (Web Services Framework for Ruby) 1.0, providing a Ruby extension to
support the Web Services WS-* stack. Ruby developers can incorporate security
and reliable messaging capabilities needed for trusted, enterprise-class SOAP-based
Web services, WSO2 said. But the product also supports the alternative REST
(Representational State Transfer) Web services.

"Ruby, as you know, has become a very popular language the last few years,
and what we are enabling is for Ruby to become part of an enterprise SOA architecture,"
WSO Chairman/CEO Sanjiva Weerawarana said.

While Ruby has been popular in the Web 2.0 realm, sometimes it needs to talk
to legacy architectures, he said. With the new framework, developers could build
a Web application using Ruby and then hook into enterprise infrastructures,
such as JMS (Java Message Service) queues. For example, a Web site might be
built with Ruby that then needs to link to an order fulfillment system based
on an IBM mainframe or minicomputer, Weerawarana said.

With the December
release of Ruby on Rails 2.0, the builders of Rails swapped out a SOAP library
and replaced it with REST capabilities. In doing this, David Heinemeier Hansson,
the founder of Rails, stressed that that SOAP and its attendant WS-* stack had
become too complex.

But Weerawarana stressed REST may not always be sufficient. "[The REST
preference] is a perfectly fine position to take if you don't need any kind
of these security and reliability infrastructure [capabilities]," he said.
WSO2's framework would replace the SOAP capabilities removed in Rails 2.0, he
said.

Weerawarana's stance was seconded by a user of the company's products, Stefan
Tilkov, CEO of infoQ, a consulting firm near Dusseldorf, Germany. While saying
he likes Rails because it picks and chooses technologies, such as opting for
REST over SOAP, Tilkov said businesses may not be ready to welcome Rails and
the lesser known REST Web services at the same time, he said.

"Sometimes, you have to decide whether you want to fight all of the possible
battles at once. Trying to introduce both Rails and [REST] at the same to a
company can really be a challenge," he said. WSO2 is providing WS-* and
SOAP capabilities for Rails, Tilkov stressed.

Still, Tilkov likes REST. "I'm a very big REST fan, and I [advocate] the
use of REST whenever I can," he said.

WSF/Ruby 1.0 binds WSO2's Web Services Framework for C into Ruby to provide
an extension based on three Apache projects. These include: Axis 2C, which is
a Web services runtime to support REST and SOA; Sandesha/C, supporting WS-Reliable
Messaging; and Rampart/C, for WS-Security capabilities.

Also, WSF/Ruby 1.0 uses Ruby on Rails as its deployment model for providing
services.

Client and service APIs are offered. Support is featured for SOAP 1.1 and SOAP
1.2. The software is interoperable with Microsoft .Net, the WS02 Web Services
Application Server, and other J2EE implementations. SOAP Message Transmission
Optimization and WS-Addressing capabilities are included as well.

Downloadable here,
WSF/Ruby 1.0 is offered under the Apache License 2.0. While it is free, WS02
does sell development and production services as well as training for it. Production
support prices start at US$2,000, while development support begins at $2,500
for 10 hours. Training costs $400 per day per person with a minimum of five
persons required.

WSO2's long-term strategy includes allowing scripting languages like Ruby,
Perl, and PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) to participate in an enterprise SOA.

InfoWorld