what is difference between WSDL and SPML?

Question

Can somebody please tell me whether there is any difference between SPML and WSDL? Are they related to each other?

I have read things saying that WSDL is generic, used for any service, while SPML is only for provisioning services. I have tried googling for things but I am still not getting what is the exact difference between WSDL and SPML.

Thanks..

Answer 1

Here's a tutorial for WSDL to get you started.

http://www.w3schools.com/wsdl/default.asp

And a tutorial on SPML:

http://go4idm.blogspot.com/2008/03/spml-tutorial.html

From what I can gather, SPML deals with exchanging provisioning information, whereas WSDL is the language that describes a web service in detail, so that you can talk to it.

Answer 2

SPML is the Service Provisioning Markup Language. It's not really related to WSDL at all. SPML is a standard (promulgated by OASIS) that describes a protocol for interoperability of systems in relation to provisioning operations. In this case, provisioning is defined as:

"... the automation of all the steps required to manage (setup, amend and revoke) user or system access entitlements or data relative to electronically published services".

You can get more info on SPML (the standards docs, sample code, reference implementation) here: https://openspml.dev.java.net/

We use SPML as the bridge between Oracle Identity Manager and some of our custom systems, to provide automated, auditable, workflow driven management of users, access rights, etc.