Endpoint listeners and inbound ports: Entry points to the service integration bus
An endpoint listener is a web service-enabled entry point to one or more service integration buses. An endpoint listener carries requests and responses between web service clients and buses.
An endpoint
listener is the point (address) at which incoming SOAP messages
for a web service are received by a service integration bus. Each
endpoint
listener supports a particular binding. Endpoint listeners are supplied
with
WebSphere® Application Server for the following bindings:
- SOAP over HTTP.
- SOAP over JMS.
A request arrives at an endpoint listener. It is passed to an inbound port, at which point security and JAX-RPC handler lists can be applied, then sent on to the service destination. Responses follow the same path in reverse.
The endpoint listener acts as the ultimate receiver of a SOAP message. The resulting messages that pass across the service integration bus are not then SOAP messages, rather just the data and context that resulted from receiving the SOAP message.
You can set up separate endpoint listeners
for (for example) requests from your internal users and requests from
your
external users. Each endpoint listener is associated with a specific
server or cluster, a specific
set of service integration buses
and (through inbound ports) a specific set of web services. By restricting access to an
endpoint listener, you can give
different user groups access to different services. For example:
- To give users inside your organization access to the full range of internal and external services, you can make those services available through one endpoint listener.
- To give users outside your organization access to those internal services that you choose to publish externally, you can make those services also available through another endpoint listener.