GlassFish 2.1.1: behavior with applications containing identical context roots is undocumented (7002836)

Description

The Domain Administration Server (DAS) in versions of Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server prior to v2.1.1 did not allow multiple applications to be deployed using the same web context root, even if those applications were targeted for different Enterprise Server instances.

This behavior was changed in Enterprise Server v2.1.1, and the DAS now supports the deployment of applications using the same context root as long as those applications are deployed to different Enterprise Server instances. However, this new DAS support is not sufficiently documented.

Solution

Deploying a WAR Module in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 Application Deployment Guide states:

Web module context roots must be unique within a server instance.

While technically accurate, it is useful to add the following further clarification to this statement:

The DAS in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server versions v2.1.1 and later supports the deployment of multiple web applications using the same web context root as long as those applications are deployed to different Enterprise Server instances. Deploying multiple applications using the same context root within a single Enterprise Server instance will produce a DAS error.