Many organizations and projects consider accessing data using SQL or perhaps ODBC without looking at alternatives. But there is now a real alternative to those technologies. It’s now possible to access your data using SOAP or REST based Web Services which can offer distinct advantages over SQL or ODBC.
It’s now possible to access data directly using REST or SOAP based services. These provide CRUD (Create Read Update Delete) services which allows the addition, reading, updating and deletion of data. This offers many advantages over traditional SQL access to the data some of which are listed here:
- The data will be delivered as XML thus avoiding any code page issues between platforms.
- Communication uses HTTP over TCP/IP so connectivity is direct and simpler to configure.
- HTTP over TCP/IP enables easier access to data across firewalls.
- It’s possible to use standard access and encryption technologies to ensure secure access to the data to authorised users only.
- Due to the standards used, there is no requirement for a software footprint for the data access on the accessing system.
Ultimately it’s really a case of the right tool for the job; how you wish to access the data will depend on what you are trying to achieve. You will find a longer discussion on this topic here which discusses this topic in more detail. The SOA Gateway provides a very simple way to enable access to your data using SOAP and REST based Web Services
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