Web services can rapidly become quite complicated. However, Perl has a great implementation in SOAP::Lite. If you consult the documentation for the module, you'll find that there's many how-tos that will get you started with simple server and client implementations. As a general information site, W3Schools has a good bit of information. They also have good information on XML in general to help the SOAP information make more sense. When you get to Perl, there are several mods to choose from: XML::Simple XML::Twig XML::LibXML