CASM 17.4.2 - Webservices - AXIS vs. CXF - Availabilty of AXIS ++

[Peter Schmidt]

Hi,

in CA Service Management 17.4.2.0 Release Notes (broadcom.com) we found 

From 17.4 RU2, CA Service Catalog supports CXF based webservices, which helps the product to move away from AXIS based web services. AXIS based webservices are deprecated and they will eventually get removed in the future versions of CA Service Catalog. For more information, have a look at the Axis to CXF Migration guide.

I looked all over the documention and found that CXF based webservices seem to be  supported all over the CASM components.

- Is this correct?

- Is it planned to remove AXIS support from CASM and when yes when?

- What does it mean for:

--> Product-Integration (CASDM, SLCM, PAM, ...)?

--> PAM-Processes using SOAP via AXIS?

--> DO WSDLs change?

- What has to be done for changing from AXIS to CXF all over CASM?

 

Regards,

Peter

 

The priority of this CASE may change if AXIS wil be removed early

[Gregory Chavez]

Hello, @Peter Schmidt

It's great that you're diving into the details of CA Service Management (CASM) and exploring the transition from AXIS to CXF-based web services. Let's address your questions one by one:

CXF-Based Webservices in CASM:
Yes, your understanding is correct. Starting from CA Service Catalog 17.4 RU2, CXF-based webservices are supported. This transition helps move away from the older AXIS-based web services.
The deprecation of AXIS-based webservices means that they will eventually be removed in future versions of CA Service Catalog see here: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/business-management/ca-service-management/17-4/Release-Information/mydestinycard/ca-service-management-ru2-release-notes.html.

Impact on Product Integration and PAM Processes:
Product Integration (CASDM, SLCM, PAM, etc.):
If you have integrations with other CA products (such as CA Service Desk Manager, Service Level Management, or Process Automation Manager), you'll need to update those integrations to use CXF-based web services.
Review the documentation for each product to understand the migration steps specific to that integration.
PAM Processes Using SOAP via AXIS:
Any Process Automation Manager (PAM) processes that rely on SOAP-based communication via AXIS will need to be updated.
Update the endpoints in your PAM processes to use the new CXF-based URLs.
WSDL Changes:
Yes, the WSDLs (Web Services Description Language) will change. The WSDLs for CXF-based services will differ from the older AXIS-based ones.
You'll need to regenerate or update any client code (such as Java classes) that consumes these services based on the new WSDLs.
Migration Steps for Changing from AXIS to CXF:
Here are the general steps for transitioning from AXIS to CXF across CASM:
Review Documentation: Understand the specifics of the migration by referring to the Axis to CXF Migration guide.
Identify Integrations: List down all integrations (both internal and external) that rely on CASM web services.
Update Endpoints: Update the endpoints in your integrations to use the new CXF-based URLs.
Test Thoroughly: Test each integration thoroughly to ensure it works as expected.
Update PAM Processes: If you have PAM processes using AXIS-based SOAP calls, update them to use CXF-based endpoints.
Monitor and Maintain: Keep an eye on any changes in future CASM versions and adapt your integrations accordingly.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Best Regard,
Gregory Chavez

[Sebastian Nagy]

Hi Peter,

We tried to clone the AXIS based SOAP Web Services functionality into CXF based SOAP Web Services and we were mostly successful. 

It's very hard to provide a solution wide experience and impact, this will differ from case to case. I will try to concentrate on SDM CXF based SOAP Web Services since it is one of the most common one.

The only major functionality loss is attachments, there is a note here https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/business-management/ca-service-management/17-4/reference/ca-service-desk-manager-reference-commands/technical-reference/web-services-attachment-related-methods.html, about the fact that we has to drop DIME encapsulation in favor of MTOM.  This was because of AXIS2 and CXF dropping the support for DIME encapsulation.

Currently we don't have anything published about a hard deadline for removing AXIS based SOAP WebServices, but it will be coming. It's highly recommended to start moving your custom SOAP based web services to the CXF based endpoints and start testing. As a solution, CASM, we are almost complete with our client components to be moved to the new CXF based end points. We are working through each component. Depending on what methods your custom SoapWeb service client is using and what web service client library you are using, you might be able just to change the endpoint and everything to work, but it's hard to really generalize it.

In conclusion, your experience might vary based on the used methods. What @Gregory Chavez recommended is a very good overall recommendation, some phases might be more time consuming while others will be less time consuming.

My hope is that I was able to give you a better understanding of what to expect. If you encounter any trouble with the CXF based SOAP Web services, please go ahead and open an issue and we'll be more than happy to look closer into it and help you move forward and be ready for AXIS based SOAP web services removal,

Regards
Sebastian Nagy

[Peter Schmidt]

Hi Gregory and Sebastian,

many thanks for your replies.

Both have been very helpful and I have to define strategies with our customers how to step further.

For me it looks like a lot of work to be done (testing) to move o CXF.

Maybe we are lucky and all works easy but let's see what is coming up.

Regards,

Peter

[Sebastian Nagy]

Hi Peter,

I'm in total agreement with you, we had the choice to move from Axis1 based SOAP Web Services to Axis2 based SOAP Web Services or Axis1 based SOAP Web Services to CXF based SOAP Web Services. The impact to the consumers would have been the same, but we had to move from Axis1, hence we picked CXF as a framework to base our SOAP Web Services.

Regards,
Sebastian