Glossary: M

Message protocol
A well-defined format for the transfer of information over the Web. HTML and SOAP are examples of message protocols. The combination of a message protocol and a transport protocol (for example, SOAP over HTTP) together describe a mechanism for communication between two systems.

.NET
Microsoft's .NET platform is a set of libraries and frameworks that allow developers on Microsoft operating systems to quickly and easily create XML Web services.

Port
A number defining a communication channel used with TCP/IP. All transport protocols have a default port number associated with them—for example, HTTP typically runs on port 80, while FTP typically runs on port 21.

Request
The message sent by a client when it is attempting to retrieve the contents of a knowledge asset.

Response
The message returned to a client containing the knowledge asset.