Service-Oriented Architecture Repository (SOA Repository)

What Does Service-Oriented Architecture Repository (SOA Repository) Mean?

A service-oriented architecture repository (SOA repository) is a specific resource, often a database, that holds data and metadata for a service-oriented architecture registry. An SOA repository helps to serve the purposes of the greater service-oriented architecture, which are related to building software programs that can operate in a broader collaborative system. Programmers design interfaces and other aspects of programs so that single applications can communicate and share information, with the intent to enable a much more efficient IT architecture for an enterprise. The service-oriented architecture repository is part of an arrangement to store critical information about the service-oriented architecture as a whole.

The terms service-oriented architecture repository and service-oriented architecture registry may often be used interchangeably, which makes more detailed inspection of a single SOA resource vital to understanding how that resource is used and supported within its greater context.

Techopedia Explains Service-Oriented Architecture Repository (SOA Repository)

Within the broader definition of an SOA repository, some experts point out that the actual makeup of this resource changes according to the design of the greater service-oriented architecture. The discussion of how the typical SOA repository relates to a typical SOA registry has not produced an entirely clear set of descriptions of either resource, although the SOA registry is seen as more of an index than an actual storage location. Much of the debate on how to characterize a service-oriented architecture repository revolves around the word metadata and the possible use of pointers or references with an SOA repository. Other experts point out that an SOA repository effectively acts as a secure storage facility, just like other kinds of "repositories" and that a repository is, essentially, a database.