Managing Web Services › CA SDM REST API › REST and SOAP

REST and SOAP

CA SDM provides REST and SOAP web services APIs. The audience for the REST API is a UI client whereas the audience for the SOAP API is a program. REST services are about resources (manipulating objects, changing object states, exchanging representations, and using nouns rather than verbs). SOAP services are about services (calling methods, using verbs, and doing actions).

REST provides the following advantages over SOAP:

• REST is lightweight, HTTP-based, and stateless (for scalability).
• REST supports client bookmarking and caching.
• REST maintains data contract loosely.
• REST is easily consumed by front-end technologies such as WEB 2.0 and AJAX.
• REST supports XML and JSON data formats.
• REST improves performance.