XML transport question

[John Evdemon]

Michele,

Here is some info that might help you:

1. If two application vendor want to transfer XML documents to each other, is there a standard transport that is used?  When I say transport, I mean web server communication using http protocol, etc.

The systems I have worked on use HTTP or HTTPS.  XML is really nothing more than a specially formatted file.  It could theoretically be transported using any networking protocol (e.g. IP, IPX, etc.).


2. If web server is the transport, how do most vendors handle the authentication with the web server?  Do they write their own client to authenticate with the web server or are there software available for that?

Use digital certificates on both the server (to authenticate the server to the client) and the client (to enable client authentication/non-repudiation).  This is by far, the easiest and most secure (although it significantly increases the processing load on the server).  There are alternatives (such as Basic Authentication - userid/password), but they tend to be less secure. 

Hope this helps!

John Evdemon
XML Solutions
http://www.xmls.com


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