Does A Web Service Have To Be Registered?

Question

I'm learning about web services and most of the resources I've been reading talk about registering your web service once it's ready for use by others. Is registering a web service required to use the service?

For example, let's say I have a web application on a company intranet and I create another web service app that retrieves some sort of useful information to be displayed on this private intranet site. Would this new web service require being registered just so my web app can use it or can the web app simply interface directly to the new web service (following the WSDL file) without the need of some sort of UDDI registry?

Answer 1

You can certainly use the service without the UDDI registry.

I have created several Web Services and have immediately used them without registering them. Registration gives others confidence that your Web Service is legitimate and descriptions of how to interact with those services.

Imagine doing development where you have to register any Web Service before using it. Yikes!

Answer 2

No, not at all.

You are probably talking about API directories you may register your WS at. Like UDDI or what it’s named. Entirely optional.

Answer 3

Nobody uses UDDI anymore. It's an idea whose time has come and gone.

It was thought that there would be public registries of web services that everyone would use to find a web service to meet their needs. That never happened.

Answer 4

How could either the service or the app know whether or not the service was registered?

Furthermore, why would they care?