WebSphere Application Server V6: Packaging and Architecture

With complete J2EE compatibility and integrated Web services support, Version 6.0 of WebSphere Application Server delivers high performance and a highly scalable transaction engine for dynamic and mission-critical e-business applications. The product, the cornerstone of the IBM WebSphere product family, forms the foundation for IBM's other middleware offerings. Leading-edge products such as WebSphere Commerce Server, WebSphere Process Server (formerly WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation), WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, and WebSphere Portal Server (to name just a few) are built on top of this powerful application server.

In Version 6, WebSphere Application Server supports the full Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4 programming model, including servlets, Java Server Pages (JSPs), Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), and Web services. WebSphere V6 also continues to support applications developed using the J2EE 1.2 and 1.3 specifications, making it easier to migrate applications deployed on WebSphere Application Server 4.x and 5.x. Figure 1-1 summarizes the standards support in WebSphere Application Server V6. (For complete documentation of the J2EE 1.4 specification, see the list of Web references in the Appendix.)

WebSphere V6 is supported on many platforms, including Windows (Windows 2000, 2003, and XP), Unix (AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris), and IBM's i5/OS (OS/400) operating system. For a complete list of supported platforms, see the Web references list in the Appendix. In this chapter, we look at how IBM packages the product in Version 6 and examine the architectures associated with each variation. Before concluding the chapter, we'll review some of the significant new features in V6, including administrative console improvements, high-availability features, and deployment and management enhancements. Chapter 2 gives you an overview of the installation and configuration process and provides an introduction to the rest of the book.

Packaging

IBM offers WebSphere Application Server V6 in the following packages:

* WebSphere Application Server V6 — Express — The Express package provides a fully functional, affordable, and easy-to-use Java application server and development environment. Unlike Version 5, the V6 Express package provides full J2EE support, including an Enterprise JavaBeans container.

* WebSphere Application Server V6 — In addition to the functionality supported by the Express runtime, the base application server product — what we call "the Base package" in this book — delivers high performance and a highly scalable transaction engine for dynamic e-business applications. The Base package provides the same functionality as the Express package, but an expanded license agreement supports the ability to federate (i.e., add) an application server node to a WebSphere Deployment Manager cell. (You'll learn more about WebSphere nodes and cells later in this chapter.)

* WebSphere Application Server V6 — Network Deployment — In addition to the functionality provided in the Base/Express package, the Network Deployment (ND) package delivers advanced deployment services, including clustering, edge-of-network services, Web services enhancements, and high availability for distributed configurations. Figure 1-2 illustrates the relationship among the Base, Express, and Network Deployment packages.

* WebSphere Application Server V6 — Extended Deployment — Installed on top of the Network Deployment package, the Extended Deployment (XD) package the Network Deployment package, the Extended Deployment (XD) package helps customers with multiple mission-critical and complex applications improve availability and performance by balancing and sharing the workload of multiple application server nodes and clusters to provide on- demand computing.

Base/Express Package Software

Figure 1-3 depicts the software products that come with the Express and Base versions of WebSphere Application Server. These two packages include essentially the same set of software (the development tool provided is the only difference). The Base/Express package includes the following software:

* Standalone application server node with support for multiple instances

* Application client

* IBM HTTP Server V6

* Web server plug-ins

* IBM Rational Web Developer (iRWD) V6 (with the Express package) or a trial version of IBM Rational Application Developer (iRAD) V6 (with the Base package)

* Application Server Toolkit (AST)

* DB2 Universal Database (DB2 UDB) Express Edition 8.2

It's important to understand that no functionality or feature differences exist between the Express and Base versions of WebSphere Application Server in the WebSphere V6 runtime. These packages are built of the same code base and therefore are identical in terms of features and functions. The difference between the two packages is simply a licensing issue. To be able to federate an application server node to a WebSphere cell, you must have a paper agreement; only the Base package permits use of this feature.

A license agreement also grants Base installations unlimited CPU use, while Express package users are limited to two CPUs.

Network Deployment Package Software

To the Base/Express package's support...