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The discovery process is how clients lookup
services that providers have published
into a directory. There are many
vehicles available for performing this function.
One extreme is to simply have the client hard
coded to know where a service is. While this is arguably not really
discovery, it is nonetheless a viable possibility in some situations.
For instance, if the directory for most methods is itself a remote
service, the client needs to know how to find that directory and
hard coding (or placing in a parameter file) may be the only option.
Still, for most service requests, hard coding should not be used
as a discovery vehicle. After all, a major goal of web
services is to create loose
coupling, and hard coding service locations does not help.
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Another possibility is that a service provider
may also supply its own directory. This has the advantage of keeping
the provider independent of third parties.
Finally, a directory may be given by a separate
provider, perhaps even a public provider on the Internet.
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