Even better tool for testing Web Services (soapUI)

I know that awhile back I was extolling the virtues of tcpmon, but I've since stumbled upon an even better tool to use for testing web services - soapUI. Here is where to get it:

http://www.soapui.org

This is a open source tool from eviware that is licensed under the terms of version 2.1 of the GNU Lesser General Public License. There are several versions of the tool available on a few different platforms. It integrates with most major IDEs, including:

• Eclipse
• NetBeans
• Intellij

There is also a 'Pro' version that is vendor-supported (with enterprise users in mind). So far, I have only used the freely available eclipse plugin. It is a very handle little tool for creating, sending, and receiving SOAP messages. Here is what it looks like:



Its pretty simple to use - just point it at the WSDL file, and it will create a test SOAP request envelope that you can edit prior to sending. And then you can view the fill SOAP response (including the transmission details, if desired).

If you are looking for a tool to produce SOAP messages/responses, look no further...

Managing certificates with Java (the keystore is the key)

This is not a very difficult task, but I'm putting out here to mainly help me remember the syntax for the keytool utility (that comes with the JDK).

How to install a certificate:

1. Procure the desired certificate for installation into the keystore and copy it to the keystore installation location (see additional instructions at the end for details on how to do this from different browsers (if you don't already have the *.cer file).
   
   
2. Open a command window and navigate to the appropriate directory containing the keystore that you wish to modify (e.g. C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_10\jre\lib\security\cacerts is the default keystore).
   
   
3. Execute the following command to import the certificate (from the *.cer file) to the keystore:
   
   keytool -import -file newcertificate.cer -alias new-certificate-name -keystore keystore-name
   
   where:
   
   newcertificate.cer is the name of the certificate file
   new-certificate-name is the name used to store that certificate (doesn't really matter, just something descriptive)
   keystore-name is the name of the keystore being updated (e.g. cacerts).

How to view the certificates already installed in a keystore:

1. Execute the following command to list all of the certificates in the keystore:
   
   keytool -list

How to retrieve a certificate using your browser:

1. Navigate to the desired URL (using https://), then depending on your browser, there are several ways to retrieve the cert:
   
   IE
   Either click on the small padlock icon in the lower right corner, or select File | Properties | Certificates from the menu.
   
   
   
   Then, select Details | Copy To File, and it will launch a wizard to export the certificate to a file (I typically use Base-64 encoded X.509)
   
   
   
   Firefox
   Very similar process, but instead of clicking the padlock, you click the highlighted logo on the left side of the address bar.
   
   
   
   And then select More Information | Details | View Certificate | Export.
   
   
   

More clouds...

I recently stumbled upon a couple articles that I think do a pretty good job at providing some more clarity around 'cloud computing'.

Cloud computing service models by Dan Orlando (IBM developerWorks)

Cloud Computing - A Primer by T. Sridhar (Cisco Internet Protocol Journal)

These are not necessarily vendor-neutral, but do add some detail about common terms and characteristics to be aware of related to cloud computing. Things like:

• elasticity
• virtualization
• resiliency
  
• multi-tenancy
• cloudbursting

Another thing that was covered is the movement towards standardization (which seems to be slow at best). The goal here is to minimize the effect of vendor-lock in (which is not really a motivator for most vendors).

However, there seem to be a couple efforts underway that look promising:

• Open Virtualization Format
  
• Simple Cloud API