Mindreef Boosts WS-Security and SOA Testing

• By Kurt Mackie
• 01/21/08

Mindreef released a new version of its collaborative flagship server solution for testing service-oriented architectures (SOAs). SOAPscope Server 6.1 lets architects, developers, testers and support engineers collaborate in the creation of Web services and composite applications.

In addition, Mindreef has added three new role-based products -- for architects, developers and testers -- to help organizations test and maintain SOAs. The products are designed to meet an initial stage of SOA development that typically occurs before a collaboration server might be needed.

"We've found that in the earlier stages of an SOA, before it's enterprise wide, it starts in departments," explained Frank Grossman, Mindreef's cofounder and CTO. "These departments are getting more sophisticated about how they start out in a SOA. So we announced three desktop products that allow them to get going before they're in a need for a server for collaboration."

SOAPscope Architect 6.1 is designed to enable governance across an SOA. Architects can set policy rules and use industry-codified policies. The solution supports operations at design time, change time and run time, according to an announcement issued by the company.

SOAPscope Developer 6.1 simplifies XML use in an SOA. Developers can use it to spot problems and perform unit testing.

SOAPscope Tester 6.1 enables load testing and test automation. QA engineers can use it across the system lifecycle to identify bottlenecks and ensure quality.

All of these new products include ways to ensure compliance with OASIS WS-Security standards. The solutions can test SOAP messages that use "UsernameTokenProfile, X.509 Token Profile, signing and encryption," according to Mindreef's announcement. Various WS-Security configurations can be created and tested using Mindreef's solutions by setting up profiles.

"We've enhanced [the products] to make it very easy to do WS-Security testing," Grossman said. "In the past, we've had a lot of complaints where testers will spend hours and hours trying to get certificates right and tokens right. The WS-Security support we've put in makes it very easy to do that."

Mindreef's SOAPscope Server 6.1 product lets users create and test WS-Security profiles in "Service Space" containers. These containers can then be shared with other team members, enabling collaboration.

In essence, Mindreef hones in on the XML data in its solutions, testing SOAs through the use of pseudocode to ensure SOA quality.

"We really designed ourselves around the XML software layer, which is the data moving between the pieces and not trying to test specific implementations -- i.e., not getting down and checking if all lines of Java or PHP executed," Grossman explained. "When you start to put all of the pieces together in a distributed system, it becomes a very big challenge to make sure that you are testing the right pieces and that you are testing in environments that equivalent to what the product is going to be."

Mindreef's 6.1 products are all currently available for purchase or upgrade.