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Overview of the sedex Webservice Proxy

This page briefly introduces the sedex Webservice Proxy and how to view the list of Web services it offers.

Purpose of the sedex Webservice Proxy

The sedex Webservice Proxy (WS-Proxy) is an add-on component of the sedex Client offering local access to defined remote Web services. For the business application it looks as if the sedex Webservice Proxy would offer the Web service. In fact, the sedex WS-Proxy is only an intermediary between the application and the actual Web service.

sedex Webservice Proxy

To establish a secure SSL/TLS connection to the actual Web service, the WS-Proxy uses the participant's sedex certificate. This allows the service provider to unambiguously identify the caller and to check whether this caller is authorized to use the service or not.

Provided Webservices

Automatic Provisioning of Webservice Definitions

The Web service definitions are automatically retrieved from the sedex Server by the sedex Client and updated regularly.

To ensure that the WS-Proxy still functions even if the sedex Server cannot be reached, the Web service definitions are cached locally by the sedex Client. This cache can be used for a maximum of one week. If the list of Webservice definitions cannot be updated for more than a week, the sedex Webservice Proxy stops its service with an error message in the log and the Webservice's response.

The information as to whether the Web service definitions can be updated and how long they are valid can be taken from the client’s monitoring page:

[…]
wsp-webservice-definitions-updated-at=2019-12-04T13:15:43
wsp-webservice-definitions-expires-at=2019-12-05T13:15:43
wsp-webservice-definitions-update-status=OK
wsp-webservice-definitions-update-info=Updated successfully
wsp-webservice-definitions-valid=true
[…]

List of provided Webservices

The list of Web services offered on a WS-Proxy differs from sedex participant to sedex participant and depends on the permissions (e.g. permitted message types) configured on the sedex Server for this participant.

The list of Webservices currently available for a specific client can be viewed via its monitoring page. The following excerpt shows four defined Web services:

[…]
wsp-webservice=/wsproxy/services/CheckSedexWebService  [protocols:http,https] [users:anonymous,authorized]
wsp-webservice=/wsproxy/services/PartnerServices  [protocols:https] [users:authorized]
wsp-webservice=/wsproxy/services/sedexExternalAuthorisationService [protocols:http,https] [users:anonymous,authorized]
wsp-webservice=/wsproxy/services/ZRWebserv/getNNSS  [protocols:https] [users:authorized]
[…]

The elements of a Web service definition are:

  • Local Path on the WS-Proxy - Specifies the path part of the URL of the Webservice. The complete URL of the Webservice is therefore derived from the protocol, host name, port, and this path as in the following example:

    https://myWsProxyHost:8443/wsproxy/services/CheckSedexWebService

  • Supported protocols - Specifies which protocols can be used to call the Webservice via WS-Proxy. Possible are http (unsecured) and https (secured).

  • Access control - Specifies whether the Web service can be called anonymously via WS-Proxy or exclusively with username and password. Possible are anonymous and authorized (see Users Administration for details).