When you deploy a virtual service to webMethods Mediator, CentraSite combines the actions from all of the run-time policies that apply to the virtual service and generates what is called the effective policy for the virtual service. For example, let's say your virtual service is within the scope of two run-time policies: one policy that performs a logging action and another policy that performs a security action. When you deploy the virtual service, CentraSite automatically combines the two policies into one effective policy. The effective policy, which contains both the logging action and the security action, is the policy that CentraSite actually deploys to the Mediator with the virtual service.

When CentraSite generates the effective policy, it validates the resulting action list to ensure that it contains no conflicting or incompatible actions. If the list contains conflicts or inconsistencies, CentraSite resolves them according to policy resolution rules. For detailed information about the order and dependencies CentraSite uses in evaluating actions, see Run-Time Governance with CentraSite.

For example, an action list can include only one Identify Consumer action. If the resulting action list contains multiple Identify Consumer actions, CentraSite resolves the conflict by including only one of the actions (selected according to a set of internal rules) in the effective policy and omitting the others.

The effective policy that CentraSite produces for a virtual service is contained in an object called a virtual service definition (VSD). The VSD is given to Mediator when you deploy the virtual service. After you deploy a virtual service, you can view its VSD (and, thus, examine the effective policy that CentraSite generated for it) from CentraSite Control or from the Mediator user interface.