The SOAP protocol is used for message exchange between Web Services. But SOAP defines very basic semantics for message headers. It does not always define meaning to the header. Hence to extend SOAP, WS-* protocols specifications have been developed with semantics which can then be reused in various application scenarios.
WS -* protocols are a set of protocols (means standards and specifications) that helps us to implement certain needs and behaviors of a service. These protocols describe how to exchange messages in a secure, transactional, and reliable way by using the headers in the SOAP message. WCF can implement the WS -* protocols by using WsHttpBinding. This binding makes use of some of the WS -* protocols and adds the needed behaviors, such as transactional message calls, reliability, discovery, and addressing.
