HP Open Source JBoss-Based J2EE Application Server Middleware Stack

Stack Components

The JBoss-Based J2EE Application Server Middleware Stack contains the following components:

Apache Web Server

The Apache Web server is a mature open source Web server that has become the de facto standard due to its high adoption rate on the Internet.

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat (or Tomcat) is a J2EE servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) engine for developing and deploying Web applications. It also includes other features, such as an embedded Web server. A Tomcat container is embedded as part of the JBoss Application Server.

JBoss Enterprise Application Platform

The JBoss Enterprise Application Platform includes the JBoss Application Server for deploying, hosting, and clustering enterprise Java applications and web services. Some of the key features of the JBoss Application Server are as follows:

Highly Scalable: The JBoss Application Server offers full clustering of any Java object Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Plain Old Java objects (POJO).
Modular and Elegant Architecture: JBoss Application Server offers a unique architecture built on a microkernel-based design that leverages JMX extensions. The result is a lightweight component model that delivers advanced class-loading features and full lifecycle management.
Service-Oriented Architecture: Services can be added or removed based on the specific needs of the application. All services are neatly packaged and fully hot-deployable. You can also create and add your own services.
Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP): JBoss Application Server uses interceptors in the architecture that add to the flexibility of the architecture.
Performance: JBoss Application Server offers Improved performance and server utilization compared to other leading J2EE Application Servers.
Security: JBoss Application Server implements the standard J2EE Authentication and Authorization (JAAS) security model and also supports extended security models to provide support for context-sensitive authorization.

Hibernate

Hibernate is an object/relational persistence and query service for Java. Hibernate provides support for collections and object relations, and composite types. In addition to persisting objects, Hibernate provides a rich query language to retrieve objects from the database, and an efficient caching layer and Java Management Extensions (JMX) support. User-defined data types and composite primary keys give additional flexibility to support legacy applications.

mod_jk

The mod_jk module is commonly used to allow Tomcat to handle Java Servlet and JSP requests while Apache httpd handles requests for static and dynamic content implemented in PHP, Perl, or Python.

mod_ssl

The mod_ssl module provides a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) implementation that allows Web applications running within the Apache Web server to communicate securely with their respective clients. Communication can still occur over standard HTTP while running mod_ssl, if desired.

Perl

Practical Extraction and Report Language (Perl) has long been a popular text processing language. Recently, Perl has become popular for the development and deployment of Web applications.

PHP

PHP is a scripting language that can be embedded in HTML pages, allowing developers to add more dynamic content to their Web applications. Much of its syntax is similar to C and Java.

Python

Python is an object-oriented language that has a clean, straightforward syntax. Python can be extended to exploit facilities implemented in other programming languages, such as C and C++.

JDK

The Java Platform Standard Edition Development Kit (JDK) is a development platform for building Java-based applications and components.

J2EE Application Server Stack Test Environment

This section provides architecture, configuration, and information on the hardware environment for a J2EE Application Server stack. Figure 1 displays the logical architecture of the stack.

Figure 1 J2EE Application Server Stack Architecture

The configurations described in this blueprint are based on testing with the following software:

Table 1 Software Test Configuration

Software	Package Version	Package Name	Distributor	Web Link
Apache httpd	2.2.0-21.2	`apache2.2.0-21.2.x86_64.rpm`	Novell	Apache Software Foundation Web site
JBoss Application Server	4.2.0-1	`jboss-eap-4.2.0-1.ep1.1.zip`	JBoss	JBoss Web site
Apache Tomcat	6	Included in the JBoss Application Server Package	JBoss or Apache	Apache Tomcat Web site
Hibernate	3.2.1	Included in the JBoss Enterprise Application Server Platform	JBoss	Hibernate Web site
mod_ssl	2.2.0-21.2	Included in Apache	Novell	mod_ssl Web site
mod_jk	1.2.20	`tomcat-connectors-1.2.20-src.tar.gz`	Apache	mod_jk Web site
Perl	5.8.8-14.2	`perl-5.8.8-14.2.x86_64.rpm`	Novell	Perl Web site
PHP	5.1.2-29.5	`php-5.1.2-29.5.x86_64.rpm`	Novell	PHP Web site
Python	2.4.2-18.2	`python-2.4.2-18.2.x86_64.rpm`	Novell	Python Web site
Oracle JDBC Driver	10g Release 2 (10.2.0.2)	`ojdbc14.jar`	Oracle	Oracle Web site
MySQL JDBC Connectors	5.0.4	`mysql-connector-java-5.0.4.tar.gz`	MySQL	MySQL Web site
Sun JDK	1.5.0_10	`jdk-1_5_0_10-linux-amd64-rpm.bin`	Sun	Java Web site




	NOTE: The installation and configuration of the MySQL and Oracle databases are not covered in this blueprint. The MySQL and Oracle databases are installed on a separate HP ProLiant server with database files on Modular Smart Array (MSA) 1000 storage. All other software listed in Table 1 are installed on HP ProLiant server, as displayed in Figure 2.

Figure 2 J2EE Application Server Middleware Hardware Environment

Figure 2 shows a basic configuration consisting of multiple nodes of a JBoss cluster and an Apache Web Server as the load balancer. The key processes that occur are as follows:

Connection of the Apache Web Server and the Tomcat Web Container.
Connection of JBoss to a database, such as MySQL or Oracle, using a JDBC Driver.
Support from JBoss for log-in authentication using Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) with the Symas Connexitor Directory Services (CDS) Server.
Use of an additional, required OpenView Management Server to host HP OpenView Operations (OVO) for manageability through JBoss Smart Plug-Ins (SPI).

A checklist is available in “Appendix A: Checklist for Building a J2EE Application Server Middleware Stack” providing high-level guidelines for building the J2EE Application Server Middleware Stack.