Re: Axis2 vs CXF

by dkulp :: Rate this Message:

Hmm... this is kind of a loaded question... Since you're asking on the
cxf-user list, you'll obviously get responses that are slanted more
toward CXF.. :-)

Couple comments though....

> 1. Upgrade to Axis2, to have both JAX-RPC and JAX-WS support

I don't think this is true. Axis 2 doesn't support JAX-RPC and it's
JAX-WS support is not finished yet. (probably a month off or so, at
least) For people that require JAX-RPC, they'll probably need to
stay on Axis 1. I don't know if the Axis 2 folks plan to certify
JAX-WS standalone or not. The Geronimo folks are planning to to
certify with Axis 2 for JAX-WS/J2EE, but they have ALREADY certified
with CXF for JAX-WS/J2EE. CXF 2.0 is JAX-WS compliant today.

In any case, for most basic use cases, either Axis 2 or CXF should be
able to fit the bill. The differences are mostly in approach. Axis 2
tends to do things in a more "proprietary" way (proprietary APIs,
packaging, datamodels, deployment models, etc...) and then tries to bolt
on the standands more as an afterthought. The JAX-WS case is a good
example. CXF, on the other hand, promotes the standards based APIs as
the default. JAX-WS and JAXB are our preferred API's. There are
proprieatry API's that you may need to use for advanced things (and also
migration from XFire, etc...) but for most cases, stick with the
standards. We also tried to leverage other existing and popular
technology such as Spring a bit better.

The other point of note is that the CXF folks have worked closely with
the Apache Yoko folks to produce a CORBA binding for CXF. With Apache
CXF + Apache Yoko, you can actually use the standards based JAX-WS+JAXB
API's to communicate with CORBA services (and expose your JAX-WS+JAXB
services to CORBA clients). The CXF framework was designed to
support pluggable bindings like that. (Axis 2 may as well, I don't
really know)

From a pure "bullet list" of features, I don't think either one would
really win out. CXF supports some stuff Axis 2 doesn't and vice versa.
As Paul Brown said in his reply, you really need to evaluate everything
and see what "feels" best for your use case. I think the two major
things that set CXF apart would be it's support for standards (both the
WS-* standards as well as the Java programming model standards) and it's
flexibility in deployment models (in servlet engine, embeddable,
standalone, Spring, etc....).

Did that clarify anything or make it worse?

Dan

On Thursday 05 July 2007 12:08, Arkady Kasianski wrote:

> Thanks guys,
>
> I saw the comparison table on the XFIre site.... I have about 5 years
> experience of Web services development with Axis and Apache SOAP. My
> foundation team developed Web services framework on top of Axis (were
> added many new features such as async Web services with
> pooling/callbacks, conversational WS, binary encoded WS, various
> SOAP/WSDL tools, extended encoding subsystems, WS-* support - bundle
> together a number of Apache components into a single runtime, etc ..)
>
> We provide Web services infrstaructure for huge system and
> application...
>
> Looking ahead, we are on the junction now - where to go ?
>
> 1. Upgrade to Axis2, to have both JAX-RPC and JAX-WS support
> 2. Leave Apache Axis and move to Apache CXF
> 3. Leave open source arena, and be based only on a container (BEA,
> WAS) implementaiton-/we run onlu under JEE container/ Our services
> must be available through indirect invocation via ESB...
>
> Could you guys share your opinions, pros and cons?
>
> I will appreciate it very much
>
> ps - Please write me in English :-)
>
> -Cheers, Arkady
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sergey Beryozkin [mailto:sergey.beryozkin@...]
> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 6:39 PM
> To: cxf-user@...
> Subject: Re: Axis2 vs CXF
>
> This is a very helpful answer and the audience is much wider :-)
>
> Cheers, Sergey
>
> P.S. I guess we can also set up a russian speaking cxf-user list too
> where we can write away in russian :-). we can chat offline if there's
> any interest
>
> > OK, I can too :)
> >
> > There is only comparison axis and xfire
> > http://xfire.codehaus.org/Stack+Comparison
> >
> > PS XFire and Celtix merge
> > http://xfire.codehaus.org/XFire+and+Celtix+Merge
> >
> > Regards,
> > Alexey
> >
> > On 7/5/07, Sergey Beryozkin <sergey.beryozkin@...> wrote:
> >> I can understand this answer as I can read Russian :-) but please
> >> be aware there're many people here which can not read it, even
> >> though URLs are provided
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Sergey Beryozkin
> >> blog: http://sberyozkin.blogspot.com
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Alexey Zavizionov" <alexey.zavizionov@...>
> >> To: <cxf-user@...>
> >> Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 3:41 PM
> >> Subject: Re: Axis2 vs CXF
> >>
> >> > Есть только сравнения axis и xfire
> >> > http://xfire.codehaus.org/Stack+Comparison
> >> >
> >> > PS XFire и Celtix слияние
> >> > http://xfire.codehaus.org/XFire+and+Celtix+Merge
> >> >
> >> > Regards,
> >> > Alexey
> >> >
> >> > On 7/5/07, Arkady Kasianski <ArikKA@...> wrote:
> >> >> Hi everybody,
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> I have to choose between Axis 2 and CXF ....
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Could someone compare between both WS frameworks ?
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks in advance
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> -Arkady
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> This message and the information contained herein is proprietary
> >> >> and confidential and subject to the Amdocs policy statement, you
> >> >> may review at http://www.amdocs.com/email_disclaimer.asp
>
> ----------------------------
> IONA Technologies PLC (registered in Ireland)
> Registered Number: 171387
> Registered Address: The IONA Building, Shelbourne Road, Dublin 4,
> Ireland

--
J. Daniel Kulp
Principal Engineer
IONA
P: 781-902-8727 C: 508-380-7194
daniel.kulp@...
http://www.dankulp.com/blog

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