Differences Between WCF And ASMX Services in .net

Differences:
The differences (conceptual) between WCF and ASMX Services can he highlighted by several items, but we will discuss the 2 largest.

Protocols Support for WCF Service
WCF

• HTTP
• TCP
• Named Pipes
• MSMQ
• Custom
• UDP

Protocols Support for ASMX Web Service)
ASMX:
HTTP only

Hosting:
ASMX: Can be hosted only with HttpRuntime in IIS
WCF: A WCF component can be hosted in any environment in .NET 3.0 such as a console application, Windows applications, of even IIS
WCF Servces can be hosted outside of a IIS web server

Ok we’re looked at the overall differences between ASMX Web Services and WCF Services, so now let look at some major advantages of a WCF service and an ASMX Web Service:

• Multiple Protocols:
  WCF can work across multiple protocols like HTTP,TCP, MSMQ, etc while ASMX services can use just one, HTTP
• Better Interoperability:
  WCF is interoperable with other systems, compared to .Net Remoting where the client and service have to be .Net.
• Logging:
  WCF has a built-in logging system. Simply changing the config file settings provides loging functionality. In ASMX the programmer as to write their own.
• Transactions:
WCF can create, and maintain, transactions like COM+
• Exeptions:
  In ASMX unhandled exceptions are returned to the client (browser, user, etc) as SOAP faults, which WCF does not return then as SOAP faults

Limitations of ASMX:

• An ASMX page doesnt vital information such as what type of security to use or how to deliver.
• ASMX is tightly coupled with the HTTP runtime, in face it’s so tight with it it’s dependant on IIS to host it.
• ASMX services are instantiated on a per-call basis only.
• ASMX does provide the way for interoperability but with that theres no guaranteed end-to-end security or even reliable communication (which is its job).

Advantages of WCF:

• Unlike ASMX WCF lets you chose the delivery tyoe and type of security, just a minor tweak to the config file is all thats needed.
• A WCF Service can be hosted by any Windows process, as long as it can host .NET Framework 3.0.
• WCF gives you the flexibility on how the service is instantiated such as Singleton, provate session, or per call (which is the only one ASMX offers).
• Not only is WCF interoperable but it also offers end-to-end reliability and security

One more think t