This article addresses a couple of frequently asked questions from customers and partners:
- What's the difference between Sun Java System Application Server and Sun Java System Web Server and how do I decide which one to use for developing and deploying Web applications?
- How do the Platform Edition (PE), the Standard Edition (SE), and the Enterprise
Edition (EE) of Sun Java System Application Server differ from each other?
Note - Sun Java System Application Server, formerly known as Sun ONE
Application Server, is hereinafter called Application Server. Sun Java System Web
Server, formerly known as Sun ONE Web Server, is hereinafter called Web Server.
Following are the major sections:
Questions and Prescriptions
To quickly decide whether to use Application Server or Web Server, answer our questions and consider our solutions:
| Q: |
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Does your application use technologies beyond Java Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP), such as Enterprise JavaBeans, Connectors, Message-Driven Beans (MDBs), or Java APIs for XML-based Web services?
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| Rx: |
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If so, use any edition of Application Server 7 or 8 for now. Web Server will be compatible with numerous Java Web Services APIs with the 1.4 release of the Java Web Services Developer Pack, due out in June 2004.
|
| Q: |
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Does your application require high-availability support on the Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform?
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| Rx: |
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If so, use Application Server 7 EE or Application Server 7 EE 2004Q2. Application
Server EE 8 has not yet been released.
|
| Q: |
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Does your application require support of the J2EE 1.4 platform?
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| Rx: |
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If so, use any edition of Application Server 8. Currently, only PE is available. Application Server 7 supports the J2EE 1.3 platform only.
|
| Q: |
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Does your application require support of technologies that are not based on the J2EE platform, such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), ColdFusion, or Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)? Does it also require support of hardware Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) accelerators?
|
| Rx: |
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If so for either case, use Web Server. |
This section cites the major feature differences between the various editions of Application Server as well as between Application Server and Web Server.
Application Server
Application Server enables the development and deployment of Java Web services and J2EE applications. The following Q&Rx's will help you decide which version or edition suits your needs.
| Q: |
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Do you want to develop and deploy applications on an edition of Application Server for free?
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| Rx: |
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The PE releases of Application Server 7 and Application Server 8 are free for development and departmental-scale deployment. You can purchase support separately from Sun.
Value-added management and enterprise features are available in SE and EE.
|
| Q: |
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Do you need support of the J2EE 1.4 platform?
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| Rx: |
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If so, Application Server PE 8 is your answer. Application Server SE 8 and EE 8 are not yet released.
Application Server 8 is the first production-quality application server that's certified to be compatible with the J2EE 1.4 platform. That platform offers numerous features and enhancements for developing Web services, including the following:
- Connectors with bidirectional integration capability
- Standard deployment and management APIs
- Pluggable authorization service providers
- Standard expression language support for JSP technology
For details, see an interview with Mark Hapner, J2EE architect at Sun.
|
| Q: |
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Does your business require high availability?
|
| Rx: |
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If your service, application, or data must be highly available, use Application Server 7 EE. That release is bundled with Web Server, a software-based load balancer for cluster deployment, and HTTP session failover capability.
Application Server 7 EE 2004Q2, which will be available soon, is an enhanced version of Application Server 7 EE with new enterprise features: an improved load-balancer, Internet Inter-Object Request Broker Protocol (IIOP) failover capability, Java Messaging Services (JMS) failover and clustering, support for EJB technology and container failover, and numerous other enhancements. |
Web Server
Web Server is a secure and highly reliable product for developing practically all Web applications--whether they are based on J2EE technologies, such as Java Servlet and
JavaServer Pages; or non-J2EE technologies, such as Active Server Pages, PHP, ColdFusion, and Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
Furthermore, Web Server delivers superior performance in functioning as the front-end HTTP server for Application Server or other J2EE server products. For example, Web Server can handle static content and forward the rest of the traffic to Application Server for processing of dynamic content. Such a deployment configuration promises to raise the application's performance.
On the security side, Web Server is the candidate of choice for safeguarding critical data. In addition to extensive architecture and code reviews that eliminate potential vulnerabilities before release, Web Server is fully supported on the Trusted Solaris Operating System, which has won the Common Criteria Certification at the EAL4 level. Web Server's SSL libraries are validated to Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS)-140-1 Level 2. Furthermore, Web Server supports SSL for establishing encrypted and authenticated client-server transactions.
If your application is currently using only Java Servlet or JSP technologies but will adopt other J2EE technologies, such as EJB, in the future, you can continue using Web Server meantime. The Web container in Web Server, Application Server 7, and Application Server 7 2004Q2 are derived from the same source, with added J2EE technology features in Application Server 7 and Application Server 7 2004Q2. This setup minimizes the differences between the two server products and accords compatibility when you switch to Application Server 7.x.
Remember: You can use Sun's Migration Tool for Application Server to move applications from Web Server or from other products (such as JBoss, WebSphere, and WebLogic) to any version of Application Server, including Application Server PE 8. Be sure to take advantage of this convenient, automated tool for a smooth transition.
Support of Technologies and Platforms at a Glance
TABLE 1 lists the technologies and platforms supported by Application Server
(releases 7 and 8) and Web Server.
TABLE 1: Technologies and Platforms Supported by Sun Java System Application Server and Sun Java System Web Server
| Non-J2EE technologies |
| ASP |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
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| CGI |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| ColdFusion |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| PHP |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| SHTML |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| WebDAV |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Java platform |
| J2EE platform |
|
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.3 |
1.4 |
| Web technologies |
| JavaServer Faces |
(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
| Java Servlets and JSP |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Web services |
| Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) |
(1) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Java API for XML-based Remote Procedure Calls (JAX-RPC) |
(1) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Java API for XML Messaging (JAXM) |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| Java APIs for XML Registries (JAXR) |
(1) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ) |
(1) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) Basic Profile |
(1) |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
| Operating systems |
| Solaris OS for SPARC platforms |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Solaris OS for x86 platforms |
X |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Trusted Solaris OS (SPARC and x86 platforms) |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sun Java Desktop System |
|
|
|
|
|
|
X |
| HP-UX |
X |
X |
|
|
(2) |
|
|
| IBM AIX |
X |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Microsoft Windows |
X |
X |
X |
|
X |
(2) |
X |
| Red Hat Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
X |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Databases |
| IBM DB2 |
(3) |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Microsoft SQL Server 2000 |
(3) |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Oracle |
(3) |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| PointBase |
(3) |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Sybase |
(3) |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
| Web servers |
| Sun Java System Web Server |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| Apache |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) |
|
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
| High availability |
| HTTP session persistence |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
| JMS connection failover |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
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| Load balancing and failover HTTP paths |
|
|
|
X |
|
X |
|
| Load balancing and failover Remote Method Invocation (RMI)-IIOP paths |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
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| Stateful session bean persistence |
|
|
|
|
|
X |
|
| Miscellaneous |
| Multiple instances per installation |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
| Remote administration |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Monitoring of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) |
X |
|
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
(1) This technology will be compatible with Java Web Services Developer
Pack 1.4, due out in June 2004.
(2) Support will be available within 90 days after initial release.
(3) Web Server functions with these databases. However, Sun provides no support beyond Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) technology and the bundled database drivers.
To recap:
- Sun Java System Web Server is a good choice for developing applications that are based on all major Web technologies, including JSP and Java Servlet technologies.
- Sun Java System Application Server supports J2EE applications. For development and departmental deployments, its PE version offers a production-quality J2EE container for free. The SE and EE versions provide additional features to accommodate large-scale deployments and to enable nonstop operations with high availability.
General FAQs:
Documentation:
Developer home:
Acknowledgment
Thanks to Pratik Parekh and John Shell at Sun for their invaluable input.
Tai-Wei (David) Lin, a member of technical staff in the Sun Java Enterprise System Adoption Group at Sun Microsystems, works with independent software vendors to develop and integrate applications with Sun Java Enterprise System products. He is also the author of Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB): A Primer and the creator of the video tutorial, Sun ONE Application Server 7, Standard Edition (SE) Tutorial AS-2: Deploying a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Application Using Sun ONE Studio 5.
Marina Sum is a staff writer for Sun Developer Network. She has been writing for Sun for 15
years, mostly in the technical arena.
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