This online tutorial guide for anyone wanting to start building Service-Oriented Architecture applications using powerful, free tools explains in detail how to build and deploy them by creating Web Services with PHP, combining them into SOAs with WS-BPEL using free ActiveBPEL Designer, and deploying composite WS-BPEL-based orchestrations to the open-source ActiveBPEL engine. Unlike many books on SOA, it is not focused on architecture, but discusses practical aspects of SOA and WS-BPEL development with many examples, showing you how to apply architecture in practice.

To gain a greater understanding of concept of SOA applications, BPEL processes and Java Business Integration (JBI) applications and to enable us to develop enterprise level SOA applications, we need to understand JBI in further depth, and how JBI components can be linked together. This article by Frank Jennings and David Salter shows how the JBI Service Engine is supported within the NetBeans Enterprise Pack.

The article discusses the following topics:

This book focuses on the SOA approach to integration of existing (legacy) applications and newly developed solutions, using modern technologies, particularly web services, XML, ESB, and BPEL. The book shows how to define SOA for integration, what integration patterns to use, which technologies to use, and how to best integrate existing applications with modern e-business solutions. It also shows how to develop web services and BPEL processes, and how to process and manage XML documents from the JEE and .NET platforms.

This SearchWebServices.com learning guide introduces you to BPEL. It includes articles, tips, expert advice, white papers and more that explain how BPEL fits into the world of Web services.

IBM has been an advocate of BPEL since the beginning, and IBM RedBooks have a number of books that discuss BPEL and various IBM tools and technologies. Most all can be downloaded, free of charge, in PDF format.

Please note that both the products and standards mentioned may have newer revisions. Please check both IBM product versions and BPEL standards versions.

Here are a few of the recent books you may find of interest: