Data Services Architecture and Technologies

ADO.NET Data Services enables clients to query and update databases and other data sources via a service that hosts Atom feeds. Shown is the architecture of an Atom service (left) and clients built with Data Services technologies, and the developer-created components (shaded) of the service and clients.

To implement the service, the developer creates a data access layer that runs on a Windows server. The data access layer specifies which data in the data source will be visible in feeds and in what format, queries and updates the data source in response to client operations on feeds, and performs authorization and input data validation. Given the data access layer, Data Services generates a Windows Communication Foundation service that provides access to feeds over the Atom Publishing Protocol, which runs over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Microsoft’s IIS Web server hosts the Communication Foundation service, authenticates clients, handles HTTP communication, and encrypts and decrypts data exchanged with clients, among other tasks.