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.
Using
the wsadmin tool, you can also create an endpoint listener
configuration for your own endpoint listener, rather than for one
of the listeners that is supplied with WebSphere Application Server.
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, 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.