[MOBY-dev] Service deregistation *must* be fast: perhaps function call could precipitate prompt web agent visit?

[Mark Wilkinson]

I have said a few times that if you register a service with no 
SignatureURL it will remain in the registry until the agent removes it.  
This is how you should put temporary test services into the registry.  
Also, if you need to modify it more quickly, no problem - Services 
without a SignatureURL can be deregistered with the API call.

This should cover the scenario you are describing.

M


Frank Gibbons wrote:

> Martin, Mark,
>
> At 08:13 PM 9/22/2004, you wrote:
>
>> >4) I use this list to strongly express how I agree with the last 
>> Rebecca
>> >email about being still able to deregister a service by calling a
>> >deregister method even if the service has been registered with the
>> >signatureURL.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> Well, I strongly disagree with you :-)   Gosh, THAT has never happened
>> before!  ;-)
>>
>> You have to remember what the driving force was to create the RDF-based
>> deregistration!! The problem is that any kid with the ability to read an
>> API could have come in and desroyed our registry by deregistering all of
>> the services in it with a 5-line Perl script!  Authentication was just a
>> pain in the arse and totally impractical, so the only remaining solution
>> was to remove that functionality of MOBY Central and move the problem to
>> the service providers machine.  I am loathe to move away from that model
>> because in the last 18 months nobody has come up with a better 
>> solution!!
>>
>> If a better solution exists, then we can certainly revisit the issue...
>
>
> It seems to me that mostly people want rapid deregistration when 
> they're actively developing a service. Once it's all set up, the need 
> disappears. I have an idea, I don't know if it would be too much work, 
> or too impractical, but here it is anyway....
>
> What if different registries had the ability to set different 
> deregistration policies. The 'real' Moby Central could allow dereg 
> only by removing the RDF file, but the 'test' registry could allow 
> this too, while also allowing dereg requests by API calls. I have 
> absolutely NO idea how this might be implemented. But for me, I do my 
> development work in the test registry, and only when I'm happy with 
> things do I go ahead and put it up in the main registry.
>
> Just a thought. I really must side with Rebecca - how can I debug a 
> service if I have to wait days before the screwups I made in 
> registering it are fixed by moby central's agent crawling over to my 
> web page? Another idea might be that a function call causes the agent 
> to come and look for the RDF within a short period of time (two 
> minutes, say), and if it's gone the service is deregistered. I'm not 
> advocating that the function call be blocking, of course, that would 
> be impractical. It would always return quickly, and if there were 
> anything returned, it could only indicate that the service had 
> previously been registered, that the request had been received, and 
> perhaps some estimate of how long before the agent could come by and 
> check. There would be no indication of successful deregistration. That 
> would require a separate call (to some other routine - findService?) 
> after sufficient time had passed.
>
> -Frank
>
> PhD, Computational Biologist,
> Harvard Medical School BCMP/SGM-322, 250 Longwood Ave, Boston MA 
> 02115, USA.
> Tel: 617-432-3555       Fax: 617-432-3557       
> http://llama.med.harvard.edu/~fgibbons
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