SOAP without an attachment is inappropriate for sending large amounts of binary data, because the XML requires it to be converted to Base64, which is inefficient.
With an attachment, SOAP over http has the overhead of the protocol, which is not as fast as ftp, for instance. I have used DIME attachments in Axis 1.1. They worked fine up to some limit, 2gb or so as I recall; 2 ^ 31 or 32. Betsy -----Original Message----- From: Rodrigo Ruiz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 2:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Is SOAP appropriate for large data transmission Hi all, I usually read in this forum that web services and SOAP are not appropriate for large data transmission, but I have never read about any good technical reasons behind these sentences. Most of the issues I have seen in this matter are related to the SOAP stack implementation, rather than to SOAP itself: - Progress bar for file download: You can split the download in smaller chunks and transmit them using several calls. It should be possible to modify the attachments implementation of SOAP and add the logic for asynchronous status notification, so it is technically possible to track the progress of attachments download/upload. - SOAP XML overhead: In fact, the overhead of a SOAP envelope containing just a reference to the attachment part is more important for small attachments than for large ones. Just one or two kilobytes of XML are not too much when you are trying to transfer an 8GB stream. - Partial/broken transmissions: Again, if the attachments implementation is able to track the progress of a download, it may be possible to resume it after a transmission error. We would just need to be able to specify the range we are interested in, just like with old plain HTML. Could somebody shed some light on the reasons that make SOAP inappropriate for this task? Regards, Rodrigo Ruiz -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- GRIDSYSTEMS Rodrigo Ruiz Aguayo Parc Bit - Son Espanyol 07120 Palma de Mallorca mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baleares - España Tel:+34-971435085 Fax:+34-971435082 http://www.gridsystems.com ------------------------------------------------------------------- -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.2/372 - Release Date: 21/06/2006 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
