Understanding the deploy directory

[vk101]

I'd like to get a better understanding of the actual files within the deploy directory, so that (among other reasons, of course) I can delete unnecessary files/folders to decrease startup time and memory consumption.

Is there any place that lists what each of the files that I see there actually do? That way I can know what to safely delete without creating any problems that may pop up later because of it?

Right now, the only thing I know is that if I am using EJB3, JSF, and Seam, I can delete all the *-ds.xml files except for the one I am using in my application. I also know, of course, that the deployed application itself must remain. But that's all I know.

But I see a lot of folders, XML files, and a couple of RAR files...how can I learn about what these do?

There's also an issue of dependencies...for example, if I guess that the jbossweb-tomcat55.sar folder is for JBoss Web and I delete it, how do I know that some other functionality (like JSPs/Servlets) doesn't depend on it somewhere down the road?

Where might I find such info? I truly hope it has been documented. Thanks!

[weston.price]

Best place to start with something like this is the Slimming JBoss page on the Wiki:

http://wiki.jboss.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=JBossASTuningSliming

Also, the JBossAS documentation gives a fairly decent explanation of the deployment directory.

http://docs.jboss.org/jbossas/jboss4guide/r5/html/ch01.html#d0e523

The book JBoss 4.0 The Offical Guide provides a bit more in depth treatment of this subject as well.

[vk101]

Thanks, those are really useful links.

I'm assuming that if you need to add a particular service, you do the opposite of what's specified in the Slimming wiki for removing it?

The reason I ask is because I'm missing my web-console, and I'd like to have it. According to that wiki, I'm guessing that I'd need to add server/slim/deploy/management/web-console.war.

Couple of issues:

1) Let's say I get my hands on the web-console.war by downloading it from somewhere, or getting a fellow developer to send it over...

My concern is that there might be compatibility issues, so how can I get the version of web-console.war that is compatible with my current installation of JBoss? (Or is this not an issue because it's just a WAR file and therefore able to be dropped into any JBoss version's deploy dir?) Is this really a concern?

Also, I don't see the web-console.war file anywhere in my JBOSS_HOME installation at all, so I can't copy-paste it from within my current installation into the deploy dir...

2) If I do get the web-console.war file, must it go under /deploy/management, or can it simply go under /deploy? What's the difference - is it just a way for organizing deployable archives, or is there some meaning to subdirectories of /deploy?

Does hot deploy work for any deployable archive under /deploy or any of its subdirectories?

3) With regards to JBoss 4.0 The Official Guide, I noticed that it was published in 2005/04/20...a year and a half ago for a product that evolves as quickly as JBoss. Is it still a relevant read, or is it mostly obsolete? (i.e. Read at your own risk!)

Or will is be relevant at least until JBoss 5.0 is released?