A Web service uses Internet protocols to provide a service. It is an XML-based protocol transported over SOAP, or a service whose instances and data objects are addressable via URIs.
Access Manager consists of several elements that comprise Web services:
Web Service Framework: Manages all Web services. The framework defines SOAP header blocks and processing rules that enable identity services to be invoked via SOAP requests and responses.
Web Service Provider: An entity that provides data via a Web service. In Access Manager, Web service providers host Web service profiles, such as the Employee Profile, Credential Profile, Personal Profile, and so on.
Web Service Consumer: An entity that uses a Web service to access data. Web service consumers discover resources at the Web service provider, and then retrieve or update information about a user, or on behalf of a user. Resource discovery among trusted partners is necessary because a user might have many kinds of identities (employee, spouse, parent, member of a group), as well as several identity providers (employers or other commercial Web sites).
Discovery Service: The service assigned to an identity provider that enables a Web Service Consumer to determine which Web service provider provides the required resource.
LDAP Attribute Mapping: Access Manager’s solution for mapping Liberty attributes with established LDAP attributes.
This section describes the following topics:
For additional resources about the Liberty Alliance specifications, visit the Liberty Alliance Specification page.