2 Replies Latest reply on Jul 4, 2005 7:13 AM by clairecostello

    Why Application Server?

    vz10b4

      Hi!

      Okey I go directly to the source and ask the experts.

      Recently I became involved in a discussion at work about when to use and when not to use an application server.

      Background:

      We will migrate an card authorization system that today is based on a very obsolete technique. So we want to migrate this system to RHEL 3 and MySql. The servers will be written in C and Java. Business logic in Java and high performance, security and comm servers in C.

      We choosed that all Java servers will be triggered by a C deamon and run just like any other service on the system. The Java servers will mainly communicate with MySql to retrive data so the logic within the app can decide on how the answer should be built.

      One example for a Java server is the Black List Control Server which decides if the the card has expired or is blockt in the black list. All the data reside in MySql. A quite simple server and the most of them is as simple as this example.

      If all servers that is written in java is quite simple and straight forward why should I then use an application server. We will not have any web interface to the system or any other graphical.

      So does anyone here see the need for an application server?

      I would be really gratefull for constructive answers cause I may have missed the point here.

      Best Regards
      Fredrik Lindstrom

        • 1. Re: Why Application Server?
          monga

          Hi.
          You have mentioned that the data are stored in mysql. You are going to write a java program that will retrieve/manipulate the data. One reason for why you can use application server is to take advantage of some of the features of applications server such as connection pooling.
          Of course you can implement connection pooling of your own but it consumes time.
          If you use CMP feature, then it can help you in reducing the development time.
          But in my opinion the most important feature of any application server is scalabity in terms of number of users connected concurrently. If in your application the requirement of scalability is too high then I would suggest you to go for application server.




          • 2. Re: Why Application Server?
            clairecostello

            I think one of the best advantages of using an App Server like JBoss is the J2EE CMP functionality. Once you understand how CMP works, it cuts out the data access layer you would normally write in business apps as SQL code can get quite involved at the best of times.

            Claire.