A Framework for Measuring Performance in Service-Oriented Architecture

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is emerging as a promising approach for delivering applications by composing loosely coupled services. However, SOA has a performance problem due to the loosely coupled and heterogeneous nature of the approach. To practically and widely apply SOA in developing applications, performance problem has to be overcome. For this, it has to be measured how low the performance is and analyzed where and why the problem has occurred. Prerequisite for this is a definition of well-defined metrics for measuring service performance. Well-defined metric here means a metric that is precise and practical enough to effectively diagnose the cause of the performance problem. However, current works on service performance are not precise enough to be applied in effective diagnosis especially regarding the dynamism of SOA. Hence, in this paper, we first define a set of precise and practical metrics for measuring service performance. We then apply the metrics in Hotel Reservation Service and show the applicability and usefulness of the metrics.