3 Protocol Details

The following sections describe the behavior of the IMDA protocol extension. As an extension to WS-Transfer [WXFR], the IMDA extensions follow the same client-server model, in which a client sends a SOAP message containing a request (either a Get, Put, Create, or Delete operation) to the server, and the server responds with a SOAP message containing the response (or a SOAP fault, if an error occurred during server processing).

In the following sections, the IMDA extensions are grouped by the two WS-Transfer WSDL port types to which they apply: the Resource port type (on which Get, Put, and Delete operations are processed) and the ResourceFactory port type (in which Create operations are processed). Prior to discussing the operation-specific behaviors associated with each port type, a common server processing section is included that contains protocol details common to all operations on all port types.

The client side of this protocol is simply a pass-through. That is, no additional timers or other state is required on the client side of this protocol. Calls made by the higher-layer protocol or application are passed directly to the transport, and the results returned by the transport are passed directly back to the higher-layer protocol or application.