Services are self-describing application modules that provide access to business logic and data in re-usable networked software components. A service can be as simple as a credit check process involving a single request-reply operation. A service can also be a complicated business process comprised of multiple services accessing a variety of systems using multiple service types. In Sybase SOA products, services are stored in Web Services Description Language (WSDL) files. All endpoints are modeled as services by using WSDL documents.
Services are developed, deployed, versioned, and managed as discreet units. They must be well defined, self-contained, and independent of the context or state of other services. These services can be published either to the Web or internally so that the business logic and data can be shared. The services can be reused without changes. For internally published services, a new service can be derived by using parts of the published service and adding new logic or data.
When you are searching for a service to re-use or from which to derive another service, you must be sure that you know the business logic of the service, any data associated with the service, and any dependencies, for example, on other services.
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