System and method for configuration-driven deployment

1. A computer enabled method for exposing distributed transaction services as web services, comprising:

receiving a web services description request for a distributed transaction service from a client, wherein the distributed transaction service is associated with a metadata repository that stores a description of the distributed transaction service in a distributed transaction specific format;

generating a web service description in a general web service format for the distributed transaction service based on the description of the distributed transaction service stored in the metadata repository;

providing the web service description to the client, wherein the web service description is used to generate a client side stub-code that allows the client to access the distributed transaction service as a web service;

exporting the distributed transaction service to the client as a web service;

using a service architecture configuration file to generate the web service description, wherein the service architecture configuration file configures a service component that provides a gateway to a distributed transaction infrastructure, wherein both the service component and the distributed transaction infrastructure operate to access the metadata repository; and

allowing the service architecture configuration file to define at least one of:

deployment information for exporting distributed transaction services as web services including: a set of distributed transaction service lists and service policy definitions;

system level parameters for secure sockets layer (SSL) setup and thread pool; and

multiple service architecture gateway instances that support failover.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

validating the service architecture configuration file by a Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema or a service architecture component.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

allowing the web service description of the distributed transaction service to contain information about one or more server instances that reside on a service component that provides a gateway to a distributed transaction infrastructure.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

providing additional services through a plug-in mechanism, wherein the plug-in mechanism allows usage of data types not defined within the distributed transaction service.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

dynamically configuring the web service.

6. A computer enabled system for exposing distributed transaction services as web services, comprising:

a web service message engine to convert between web service messages in a general web service format and distributed transaction data structures in a distributed transaction specific format;

a metadata repository that stores a description of a distributed transaction service in the distributed transaction specific format;

a web service description component, running on one or more processors, to generate a web service description for the distributed transaction service in the general web service format based on the description of the distributed transaction service stored in the metadata repository, upon receiving a web services description request for the distributed transaction service from a client, wherein the web service description is used to generate a client side stub-code that allows the client to access the distributed transaction service as a web service,

wherein the distributed transaction service is provided to the client as a web service, once a web service invocation request is received from the client;

a service architecture configure file that is used to generate the web service description for the distributed transaction service, wherein the service architecture configuration file configures a service component that provides a gateway to a distributed transaction infrastructure, wherein both the service component and the distributed transaction infrastructure operate to access the metadata repository; and

wherein the service architecture configuration file operates to define at least one of:

deployment information for exporting distributed transaction services as web services including a set of distributed transaction service lists and service policy definitions;

system level parameters for secure sockets layer (SSL) setup and thread pool; and

multiple service architecture gateway instances that support failover.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the service architecture configuration file is validated by a Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema or a service architecture component.

8. The system according to claim 6 , further comprising:

a plug-in mechanism that is dynamically loaded, wherein the plug-in mechanism allows usage of data types not defined within the distributed transaction service.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the web service description component exposes distributed transaction services based on a set of mapping rules.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein:

the set of mapping rules includes:

basic mapping rules;

abstract message definition rules;

abstract definition rules;

SOAP/HTTP binding rules; and

web service policy attachment rules.

11. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the web service description component uses a web service description generator to generate a web service description of the distributed transaction services upon receiving request from a client.

12. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the web service description component

automatically generates a newest version of the web service description of the distributed transaction service;

maintains the newest version of the web service description of the distributed transaction service; and

makes the newest version of the web service description of the distributed transaction service downloadable from an uniform resource locator (URL).

13. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the metadata repository contains a service list corresponding to one or more operations in the web service description of the distributed transaction service.

14. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon that when executed cause a system to:

receive a web services description request for a distributed transaction service from a client, wherein the distributed transaction service is associated with a metadata repository that stores a description of the distributed transaction service in a distributed transaction specific format;

generate a web service description in a general web service format for the distributed transaction service based on the description of the distributed transaction service stored in the metadata repository;

provide the web service description to the client, wherein the web service description is used to generate a client side stub-code that allows the client to access the distributed transaction service as a web service;

export the distributed transaction service to the client as a web service;

use a service architecture configuration file to generate the web service description, wherein the service architecture configuration file configures a service component that provides a gateway to a distributed transaction infrastructure, wherein both the service component and the distributed transaction infrastructure operate to access the metadata repository; and

allow the service architecture configuration file to define at least one of:

deployment information for exporting distributed transaction services as web services including: a set of distributed transaction service lists and service policy definitions;

system level parameters for secure sockets layer (SSL) setup and thread pool; and

multiple service architecture gateway instances that support failover.

15. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the distributed transaction specific format describes one or more distributed transaction typed buffers that are used to hold transactional data in a distributed transaction infrastructure.

16. The system according to claim 6 , wherein:

the web service description component supports a configuration dynamic reloading mechanism that update the web service description when service contract information stored in the metadata repository changes.