Overview of SAS BI Web Services

Deciding Between .NET and Java

Installation and Administration Differences

What operating environment are you using?
- SAS BI Web Services for .NET can be installed only in the following operating environments:
  - Windows XP
  - Windows 2003
  - Windows Vista Business
  - Windows Vista Ultimate
  - Windows Vista Enterprise
  - Windows Server 2008
- SAS BI Web Services for Java can be installed in any operating environment that is supported by SAS middle tier components.
How do you want to administer the Web services?
- SAS BI Web Services for .NET are administered by using IIS.
- SAS BI Web Services for Java are administered by using JBoss, BEA WebLogic, or IBM WebSphere. If you install SAS BI Web Services for Java, then you also need to have a Java Virtual Machine for an application server.
Which Web service stack do you want to use? (A stack is the engine that performs SOAP processing.)
- SAS BI Web Services for .NET use the .NET Web service stack (Web Services Enhancements 3.0). The .NET stack supports Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) attachments.
- SAS BI Web Services for Java use the Apache Axis2 Web service stack. This stack supports both MTOM attachments and SOAP Messages with Attachments (SwA). If your service uses attachments and your client is .NET, then use MTOM, which is enabled by default.

SAS BI Web Services for .NET and SAS BI Web Services for Java also differ in the way they handle logging and configuration. SAS BI Web Services for .NET use .NET logging, and SAS BI Web Services for Java use SAS Foundation Services for logging. For more information about configuring Web services, see the SAS Intelligence Platform: Web Application Administration Guide.

Client Differences

Web service clients cannot generally identify differences between SAS BI Web Services for .NET and SAS BI Web Services for Java. If the client conforms to the usage rules for Web services, then the client should be able to use either platform.

One difference for the Web service client is how the path is returned for the name of the stored process (DataSourceName). SAS BI Web Services for Java return a fully qualified path. SAS BI Web Services for .NET return a simple path. In both cases, you get the name of the stored process to invoke by using the Discover method of the same Web service.

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