SOAP messages and Firewalls

Hi,

If a server within a firewall makes a synchronous RPC SOAP call to another system outside the firewall, then a port in the firewall needs to be opened by the administrator to allow this SOAP call out.

My question is, does another port need to be opened to allowed the SOAP response back in through the firewall to the server initiating the call?

thanks,

Jac

If I understand your situation correctly, the firewall keeps track of the outgoing request and allows the response to come back since it occurs on the same connection. The "server" has become a client in this scenario.

One reason that SOAP over HTTP connections is so popular is that port 80 will usually be open alredy for web browser client use.

Bill

thanks - that makes sense.

One way companies support backwards compatibility with web services is to have a url that specifies the version ie ../v1/.. or ../v2/.. etc

Does the above mean that if a company is supporting 3 versions of its web services software that it then has to open 3 holes in the firewall?

thanks,

Jac