This figure shows the runtime architecture of Oracle Web Services. The figure shows the Web Services client and the OC4J/Oracle9iAS Web Services server, with XML documents exchanging between the client and the Web Service.

The details for these components are shown in the boxes, and descriptions follow:

Client (Browser or Fat Client): The client uses SOAP and encodes and decodes XML documents using the SOAP binding to exchange SOAP RPC to send requests to a Web Service and to receive replies from the Web Service.

Web Service Implementation running in OC4J: the Web Services server includes the following components: OC4J, and other Oracle9iAS support. Under OC4J, a Web Service is handled using Apache to accept requests and send replies, and running Web Services under OC4J with a Servlet Entry Point for four types of implementations: Stateless Java classes, Stateful Java classes, Stateless Session EJBs, Stateless PL/SQL Stored Procedures or Functions. The Servlet Entry point uses the SOAP Binding and Encodes and Decodes the incoming/outgoing XML document containing the SOAP request/response.