Web Services Metadata Exchange (WS-MetadataExchange) defines three request-response message pairs to retrieve three types of metadata: one retrieves the WS-Policy (new window) associated with the receiving endpoint or with a given target namespace, another retrieves either the WSDL (new window) associated with the receiving endpoint or with a given target namespace, and a third retrieves the XML Schema (new window) with a given target namespace. Together these messages allow incremental retrieval of a Web service's metadata.
Organizations: BEA, IBM, Microsoft, and SAP
More information: WS-MetadataExchange page on the Microsoft website (new window)
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More on the general topic: Service

