How do Web Services handle so many requests?

[pittsburghjoe]

I'm learning about SOA and the fun that goes with it ..Polling, SOAP, Remoting and I'm
curious how your average "service" provider can handle a constant bombardment of requests?

Does WSDL have something built in to prevent server overload?

What happens when someone is constantly Polling a Web Service to get close to Real-Time data? Would they block their hosts IP?

[Jeff Wheeler]

If there is a need for real-time data, push-style transmission would be preferable. If the load was significant enough, the provider of the service would probably provide some sort of subscription, like that.

Comet is similar, but many types of non-HTTP connections are very well designed for this purpose.

[pittsburghjoe]

In the case of a subscription
Is a user name and password passed to WSDL before the client can receive data/service?
Does that user name and password have to be sent to the service provider every time it polls?
Whats preventing someone from sniffing your WSDL request and stealing your authentication and causing a big "Hit" bill

[Jeff Wheeler]

Most all of that depends on the specific API implementation…

[pittsburghjoe]

Thanks for your snippets of wisdom Jeff.
Could I ask you to take a peek at a question I posted in the AS3 forum a couple days ago?
Web Service API that supports AMF Remoting? (http://www.kirupa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304958)

[Jeff Wheeler]

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m probably the best person to answer it, because I don’t know any AS. :-/