WCF Services - Choosing the Appropriate WCF Binding

Windows Communication Foundation is a programming model that enables us to develop and then expose our services in a variety of different ways. It means a single WCF service can be exposed with different wire formats and message protocols. Bindings in WCF actually define how to communicate with the service. So, binding specifies what communicate protocol as well as encoding method will be used. Optionally, it can specify other important factors like transactions, reliable sessions and security.

WCF comes with a number of built-in bindings that we can use to expose our service, but WCF is extensible so we can define our own custom bindings to fulfill specific needs.

In this article, we will keep our focus on learning about existing bindings available in WCF. But instead of explaining those bindings in general, we will try to understand these bindings with respect to some suitable scenarios in which it can be used. For understanding WCF Binding internals, another WCF article has these details.

Interoperability Scenario

If we are going to develop a WCF service that will be consumed by non-WCF client applications, then we can expose our service using BasicHttpBinding or WsHttpBinding. So, how do these two bindings differ from each other is explained as:

Note: For further details on Message Exchange Patterns, you can refer to my other article “WCF-Top 10 Interview Questions” which explains MEPs in details.

Single Computer Scenario

If our WCF service resides on a single computer, then netNamedPipeBinding will be the best choice.

Intranet/Cross Computers .NET Communication Scenario

If we need to communicate across computers with same .NET technology on intranet, then netTcpBinding or netPeerTcpBinding options are available. It’s basically the replacement or enhancement of earlier .NET Remoting technology.

Disconnected Queued Scenario

1. BasicHttpBinding is designed to replace ASMX Web services. It supports both HTTP and Secure HTTP. As far as encoding is concerned, it provides support for Text as well as MTOM encoding methods. BasicHttpBinding doesn’t support WS-* standards like WS-Addressing, WS-Security and WS-ReliableMessaging.
2. WsHttpBinding also supports interoperability. With this binding, the SOAP message is, by default, encrypted. It supports HTTP and HTTPS. In terms of encoding, it provides support for Text as well as MTOM encoding methods. It supports WS-* standards like WS-Addressing, WS-Security and WS-ReliableMessaging. By default, reliable sessions are disabled because it can cause a bit of performance overhead.
3. WsDualHttpBinding has all features of WsHttpBinding with addition that it supports Duplex MEP (Message Exchange Pattern). In this MEP, service can communicate with client via callback. It's basically a two way communication.
4. WsFederationHttpBinding is a specialized form of WS Binding that offers support for federated security.
5. NetNamedPipeBinding is secure and reliable binding on a single WCF computer across process communication. It provides support for binary encoding which is the best choice in this scenario and uses named pipes as transport for SOAP messages.
6. NetTcpBinding supports reliability, transactions and security. It also supports TCP protocol and binary as encoding method. We can say that it’s the most optimized or fastest binding because both client and service are on the same WCF technology.
7. NetPeerTcpBinding supports features as that of netTcpBinding but it provides secure binding for peer-to-peer environment with WCF Services.
8. NetMsmqBinding is required in a cross machine environment with secure and reliable queued communication. This uses MSMQ as transport.

Other WCF Service articles that might be of interest to you:

• WCF - Top 10 Interview Questions
• WCF Vs ASMX Web Services
• Understanding WCF Bindings and Channel Stack
• Simple Steps to enable tracing in WCF