File+Data from Java to Perl & back again. (SOAP?)

[Tim M]

Hey,

I'm working on integrating two systems together. One of them is Java
based while the other one is perl based. I'm going to need the two
servers to be able to communicate with one another. They will have to
send parameter data and also binary files back and forth. These files
could be as small as a couple KB, or they could potentially be many
MB's. (20-50+)

I'm not sure what the best method would be to enable this
communication. I'm leaning towards SOAP, but I'm sceptical due to my
need to send large files. Everywhere I've read suggests SOAP is too
bulky to transfer files efficiently.
I believe straight XML is in the same boat too.

What do you think? Is SOAP still a possibility, or do I need some
other solution? Maybe SOAP for parameters & FTP for the file transfer?

All ideas and feedback is welcome!


Tim Mundy
Software Developer

The Babel Fish Corporation
Where the World comes to Communicate!!
www.babelfish.com

 

[Jon A. Cruz]

I'm not sure what the best method would be to enable this
communication. I'm leaning towards SOAP, but I'm sceptical due to my
need to send large files. Everywhere I've read suggests SOAP is too
bulky to transfer files efficiently.
I believe straight XML is in the same boat too.

What do you think? Is SOAP still a possibility, or do I need some
other solution? Maybe SOAP for parameters & FTP for the file transfer?

All ideas and feedback is welcome!

Well, you should probably turn your question around:

What would you gain from using SOAP?

 

[Jon A. Cruz]

The benefits to using SOAP would be:

-Simplicity (Too optimistic?)

I'd have to almost completely disagree with this one. SOAP might give
you many things, but simplicity is not really one of them.

-Standardized method would be ideal as we may want to integrate other
systems and even allow public integration with the Perl system.
(Basically we want to keep it flexible enough so we can integrate our
Perl system with another system written in any other language)

Might be ok. For text based systems. IIRC, even MS uses proprietary
binary protocols for their own use, and only uses SOAP for externals to
connect in.

-SOAP currently seems to be the most prominent method for servers to
communicate

Not really. It's perhaps the most 'buzzed' or 'pushed' or 'hyped'. If
that's what you mean by 'prominent'.

-Lack of other suitable methods that don't seem to be quick hacks

Depends on the needs.

Just skim the RFC's for a few protocols that are non-SOAP, but very well
suited for certain things.

What other standardized methods are used for production quality
systems in the corporate world? Are they supported by all mainstream
languages?

CORBA jumps right to mind.

Share your thoughts now, and the penny will be in the mail!

Well, what SOAP does give you is a way for any old system to generically
plug into any other, where you don't know beforehand what's going to be
going on or who's going to be talking to who. It's really not the best
server-server protocol.

So if ambiguity and ad-hoc connections are what you favor, then SOAP
seems pretty good.

If binary data, bandwidth and/or speed come into play, then it might not
be the thing.


If you have servers that do some things, and will mainly do those
things, then look at that. If not, and you want your servers to do
everything, then SOAP might be more appropriate.





OK. Time to come down off the soapbox and look at your problem:


Needs:

Send parameters
Send large binary files

I think the nebulous term "send parameter data" is a problem. It's a
little too vaugue to say.

Hmmm...

I hate to say it, but straight HTTP sounds like a fit.

At the least, then you won't have to base-64 all your binary data.
(Although personally I dislike HTTP for server-server communications)


Maybe WebDAV

Again, it's a little hard to say without details on your needs.