Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 Release Notes

Chapter 2 About Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server

Enterprise Server is a Java EE 5 platform-compatible server for the development and deployment of Java EE applications and Java technology-based web services in large-scale production environments.

What's New in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1

The following new features were introduced in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1.

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server Features

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 includes the following features:

Hardware and Software Requirements

This section lists the requirements that must be met before installing Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server.

Supported Platforms

The following table lists the operating systems with which the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 is compatible. All supported operating systems are 32-bit unless indicated otherwise. 64-bit JDK is only supported on 64-bit supported operating systems.


Note –

The table lists the minimum required version of each supported operating system. Service pack updates to the minimum required version are also supported.


Table 2–1 Supported Operating Systems

Operating System 

Minimum Memory 

Recommended Memory 

Minimum Disk Space 

Recommended Disk Space 

JVM 

Sun Solaris 9, 10 (SPARC) 

Solaris 9, 10 (x86) 

512 MB 

512 MB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit Sun Solaris 10 (SPARC, x86) 

512 MB 

512 MB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Update 1, 4.0, and 5.x  

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x 

512 MB  

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SP1, SP2 are also supported) 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SP1 is also supported) 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

Ubuntu Linux 8.04, Hardy Release 

Supported only as a developer platform. 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

AIX 5.2, 5.3, 6.1 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit AIX 6.1 

512 MB 

1 GB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

JDK 1.6.0 SR6 

Windows 2000 SP4+ 

Advanced Server SP4+ 

Windows Server 2003, 2008 

Windows XP Pro SP3 

Windows Vista 

Windows 2008 

1 GB 

2 GB 

500 MB free 

1 GB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

64–bit Windows 2008 R2 

1 GB 

2 GB 

500 MB free 

1 GB free 

JDK 1.6.0_20 

Windows 7 

Supported only as a developer platform 

1 GB 

2 GB 

500 MB free 

1 GB free 

J2SE 5.0 

Java SE 6 

Macintosh OS 10.4, 10.5 (Intel, Power) 

Supported only as a developer platform. 

512 MB 

512 MB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

Java SE 5 

OpenSolaris 

Evaluation support only 

512 MB 

512 MB 

250 MB free 

500 MB free 

Java SE 5 

Java SE 6 

On UNIX, you can check your operating system version using the uname command. Disk space can be checked using the df command.


Note –
  1. The Enterprise Server enterprise profile is not supported on any 64–bit platform.

  2. Its recommended that you use the NTFS file system rather than FAT or FAT32 when running the Enterprise Server on any Microsoft Windows platform.

  3. Although Mac OS is not supported for production deployments, it is supported for development purposes. You can get information on downloading the Macintosh operating system from the GlassFish downloads page , or through the SDK page where Mac is listed. For example, on the Java EE 5 SDK Update 5 download page.


System Virtualization Support

System virtualization is a technology that enables multiple operating system (OS) instances to execute independently on shared hardware. Functionally, software deployed to an OS hosted in a virtualized environment is generally unaware that the underlying platform has been virtualized. Sun performs testing of its Sun Java System products on select system virtualization and OS combinations to help validate that the Sun Java System products continue to function on properly sized and configured virtualized environments as they do on non-virtualized systems.

Important Patch Information

Solaris Patch Requirements

It is recommended that Solaris 10 (x86, SPARC) users have the “Sun recommended patch cluster” installed. This patch cluster is available under “Recommended and Security Patches” on the SunSolve Web site.

JDK Version

The minimum (and certified) version of JDK required for Enterprise Server is 1.5.0_14.

ProcedureTo Switch to the Supported Java SE Version

You can switch to a supported Java SE version by editing the asenv file as described here.

  1. If you have not already done so, install the new Java SE version on your system.

    The Java SE SDK can be downloaded from http://java.sun.com/javase

  2. Stop the Enterprise Server.

    • From the command line:

      install_dir/bin/asadmin stop-domain

    • From the Administration Console:

      1. Click the Application Server node.

      2. Click Stop Instance.

  3. Edit the install_dir/config/asenv.conf file (asenv.bat on Windows), changing the value for AS_JAVA to point to the new Java home directory:

  4. Edit the as-install/samples/common.properties file, changing the line beginning com.sun.aas.javaRoot... to reference the new Java home directory.

  5. Restart the Application Server.

    • From the command line:

      as-install/bin/asadmin start-domain

    • From the Administration Console:

      1. Click the Application Server node.

      2. Click Start Instance.

Apache Ant Version

Version 1.6.5 of Apache Ant is bundled with Enterprise Server on all operating systems except Ubuntu Linux. Version 1.7.0 of Apache Ant is bundled with Ubuntu Linux and used with Enterprise Server .

JDBC Drivers and Databases

Table 2–2 lists databases and drivers that meet the Java EE compatibility requirements. All supported configurations of the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server must contain at least one database/driver combination from this table, such as the bundled Java DB database and driver. In addition, the Enterprise Server is designed to support JDBC connectivity to any additional DBMS with a corresponding JDBC driver.

Table 2–2 Java EE-Compatible JDBC Drivers

JDBC Driver Vendor 

JDBC Driver Type 

Supported Database Server 

Derby Network Client 

Type 4 

Derby 10.2 

DataDirect 3.6.x, 3.7.x

(Also known as Sun JDBC drivers) 


Note –

Sun JDBC drivers are provided only with Enterprise-profile capable installation bundles.


Type 4 

Oracle 10g 

Oracle 9i 

Sybase ASE 12.5, 15 

MS SQL 2000, 2005 

DB2 9.1 

DB2 8.1, 8.2 

MySQL Connector/J Driver 3.1 

Type 4 

MySQL 5.0 

Oracle 10g, 11g  

Type 4 

Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g 

-RAC 

PostGres 

Type 4 

8.1, 8.2.x

In general, the Enterprise Server v2.1.1 supports all JDBC drivers that meet the Java EE specification.

Using the Bundled Java DB Database

This section provides instructions for using the Java DB database implementation bundled with Enterprise Server v2.1.1. Java DB is based on the Apache Derby database.

Starting and Stopping the Java DB Database

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server has the following asadmin commands for starting and stopping the Java DB Network Server.

Java DB Utility Scripts

The Java DB configuration that is supplied with Enterprise Server 2..1.1 includes scripts that can help you use Java DB. The following scripts are available for use in the as-install/javadb/bin directory:

ProcedureTo Configure Your Environment to Run the Java DB Utility Scripts

  1. Ensure that the JAVA_HOME environment variable specifies the directory where the JDK is installed.

  2. Set the DERBY_HOME environment variable to point to the as-install/javadb directory.

See Also

For more information about these utilities, see the following Derby documentation:

Message Queue Versions

For file-based installations, Message Queue 4.4 is co-packaged with Enterprise Server.

The embedded Sun GlassFish Message Queue code that is supplied as part of Enterprise Server is only tested and certified (typically) against the equivalent version of the Message Queue broker. This means that using the supplied embedded Message Queue code to connect to a remote (not managed by Enterprise Server) Message Queue broker running a different version of the Message Queue code is not supported.

Web Servers for the Load Balancing Plugin

This section lists the Web servers that are supported for the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server load balancing plugin.

Table 2–3 Supported Web Servers

Web Server 

Version 

Operating System [Only 32–bit platforms are supported.]

Sun Java System Web Server (32–bit) 

6.1, 7.0 

Solaris SPARC 9, 10  

Solaris x86 9, 10

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4 , 5 

SUSE Linux 10, 11 

Apache Web Server (32–bit) 

2.0.x, 2.2.x 

Solaris SPARC 9, 10 

Solaris x86 10

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, 5 

SUSE Linux 10, 11 

Microsoft IIS (32–bit) 

5.0+, 6 

Windows Server 2003 

Browsers

This section lists the browsers that are supported with the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1.

Table 2–4 Supported Web Browsers

Browser 

Version 

Mozilla 

1.7.12 

Internet Explorer 

6.0 Service Pack 2, 7.0 

Firefox 

2.x, 3.x 

Safari 

3.x,4.x 

Netscape 

8.0.4, 8.1, 9.0, 9.0.x

HADB Requirements and Supported Platforms

In addition to the requirements listed in Hardware and Software Requirements, verify that your system meets the requirements listed below for running HADB.


Note –

HADB is only bundled with the Enterprise Server v2.1.1 Enterprise profile. Also note that the Java components of the system have been built and tested on JDK 5 and JDK 6.


Supported Platforms

HADB Server Host Requirements


Note –

Make sure write caching is disabled on devices storing HADB data and log files. Write caching is enabled by default on some Solaris platforms; for example, Solaris x86.


HADB Management Host Requirements

HADB Client Host Requirements

Upgrading the Enterprise Server

Refer to the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 Upgrade Guide for complete instructions for upgrading from a previous version of the Enterprise Server to the current version.

Other Requirements

The following additional requirements should be met before installing the Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server software.

Java EE 5 Platform APIs

The Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 supports the Java EE 5 platform. The following table lists the enhanced APIs available on the Java EE 5 platform.

Table 2–5 Major API changes on the Java EE 5 Platform

API 

JSR 

Java EE 5

Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5

JSR 244

Web Services Technologies

Implementing Enterprise Web Services 

JSR 109

Java API for XML-Based Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0

JSR 224

Java API for XML-Based RPC (JAX-RPC) 1.1

JSR 101

Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0

JSR 222

SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ)

JSR 67

Streaming API for XML

JSR 173

Web Service Metadata for the Java Platform 

JSR 181

Component Model Technologies

Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0

JSR 220

J2EE Connector Architecture 1.5

JSR 112

Java Servlet 2.5

JSR 154

JavaServer Faces 1.2

JSR 252

JavaServer Pages 2.1

JSR 245

JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library 1.2

JSR 52

Management Technologies

J2EE Management

JSR 77

J2EE Application Deployment

JSR 88

Java Authorization Contract for Containers

JSR 115

Other Java EE Technologies

Common Annotations for the Java Platform 

JSR 250

Java Transaction API (JTA)

JSR 907

JavaBeans Activation Framework (JAF) 1.1

JSR 925

JavaMail

JSR 919

Java Message Service API

JSR 914

Java Persistence API

JSR 220

Java EE 5 SDK

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 is available as part of the Java EE 5 SDK.

There are two Java EE 5 SDK versions:

In addition, you can download these SDK distributions with the JDK. For more information, access the download page at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javaee/downloads/index.html.

Switching to Another Supported Java Version

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 requires Java SE 5.0 or greater as the underlying JVM. If you want to switch from one Java version to another, perform the following general steps. (Windows and Unix)


Note –

Downgrading to an earlier Java version is not recommended after a domain has been created with a newer Java VM. If you must downgrade your JVM, it is recommended that you do it on a per-domain basis. The following procedure describes how to do this.


ProcedureTo Switch to Another Supported Java Version

  1. Download the desired Java SDK (not the JRE) and install it on your system, if you have not already done so.

    The Java SDK can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/overview/index.html.

  2. Start the domain for which you want to change the JDK:


    as-install/bin/asadmin start-domain domain-name
    
  3. Log in to the Admin console and change the JVM attributes for the domain.

    In particular, you may want to change the JAVA_HOME variable on the JVM Settings page for the domain.

    Alternatively, you can use the asadmin command:


    as-install/bin/asadmin set "server.java-config.java-home=path-to-java-home"

Known Java ES 5 Compatibility Issues

    There are two known compatibility issues between Enterprise Server v2.1.1 and Java ES 5 (JES5).

  1. The JES5 Service Registry is not compatible with Enterprise Server v2.1.1 because of the JSF 1.2 version provided by Enterprise Server v2.1.1. The Service Registry needs to be upgraded to JES5u1 prior the Enterprise Server upgrade to v2.1.1. This limitation is also documented in the Service Registry documentation.

  2. The JES5 Portal Server is not compatible with Enterprise Server v2.1.1 because of the JSF 1.2 version provided by Enterprise Server v2.1.1. Portal Server needs to be upgraded to JES5u1 prior the v2.1.1 upgrade to v2.1.1.

    On a Java ES 5 setup that has Portal Server on Enterprise Server 8.2, upgrading Enterprise Server 8.2 to v2.1.1 makes the Portal Server unusable. Enterprise Server v2.1.1 uses JSF 1.2, but the JSF-Portlet bridge in Release 5 Portal Server does not support JSF 1.2. On Solaris/Linux the Portal Server needs to be upgraded to JavaES5 Update 1. On Windows do not upgrade Enterprise Server to v2.1.1 if you want to continue using the Release 5 Portal Server, as Portal Server is not supported in Java ES 5 Update 1 on Windows.

Oracle Access Manager Integration

Oracle Access Manager (OAM) is an identity management and access control system that can be shared by all applications deployed on Enterprise Server to provide centralized and automated single sign-on (SSO) services. OAM is available as a standalone product or as part of the Oracle Identity & Access Management Suite.

See the OAM product page for more information about OAM. See Using Oracle Access Manager with Enterprise Server for more information about configuring Enterprise Server v2.1.1 to work with OAM providers.

Web Stack Support

You can use Enterprise Server with Sun GlassFish Web Stack, which pre-integrates and bundles components such as Apache HTTP Server, PHP, Ruby, and more. For more information about Sun GlassFish Web Stack, see the Sun GlassFish Web Stack Documentation wiki.

Enterprise Server provides support for load balancing by using the load balancer plug-in front-ended by Sun Java System Web Server, Apache Web Server and Microsoft IIS. Another technique for front-ending Enterprise Server is to use Apache httpd with the mod_jk connector.

ProcedureFront-ending Enterprise Server with Apache httpd and mod_jk

  1. Create an Enterprise Server cluster.

  2. Define the following JVM options as follows:

    • asadmin create-jvm-options --target cluster_name "-DjvmRoute=\${AJP_INSTANCE_NAME}"

    • asadmin create-jvm-options --target cluster_name "-Dcom.sun.enterprise.web.connector.enableJK=\${AJP_PORT}"

  3. Configure the JVM options, AJP_PORT and AJP_INSTANCE_NAME, for each instance in the cluster with the following command:

    asadmin create-system-properties --target instance_name AJP_INSTANCE_NAME=instance_name

    asadmin create-system-properties --target instance_name AJP_PORT=port-number

  4. Restart the cluster

  5. Install Apache httpd.

    Apache httpd is available from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi

  6. Install mod_jk.

    The mod_jk connector is available from http://www.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-connectors/jk/binaries/

  7. Add the following lines to the mof_jk.so file:

    LoadModule jk_module path_to_mod_jk.so
    JkWorkersFile /etc/apache2/worker.properties
    # Where to put jk logs
    JkLogFile /var/log/httpd/mod_jk.log
    # Set the jk log level [debug/error/info]
    JkLogLevel debug
    # Select the log format
    JkLogStampFormat "[%a %b %d %H:%M:%S %Y] "
    # JkRequestLogFormat set the request format
    JkRequestLogFormat "%w %V %T"
    # Send all jsp requests to GlassFish
    JkMount /*.jsp loadbalancer.
  8. Create a new file named /etc/apache2/worker.properties and add the following lines:

    # Define 1 real worker using ajp13
    worker.list=loadbalancer
    # Set properties for instance1
    worker.instance1.type=ajp13
    worker.instance1.host=localhost
    worker.instance1.port=9090
    worker.instance1.lbfactor=50
    worker.instance1.cachesize=10
    worker.instance1.cache_timeout=600
    worker.instance1.socket_keepalive=1
    worker.instance1.socket_timeout=300
    # Set properties for instance2
    worker.instance2.type=ajp13
    worker.instance2.host=localhost
    worker.instance2.port=9091
    worker.instance2.lbfactor=50
    worker.instance2.cachesize=10
    worker.instance2.cache_timeout=600
    worker.instance2.socket_keepalive=1
    worker.instance2.socket_timeout=300
    # Set properties for instance3
    worker.instance3.type=ajp13
    worker.instance3.host=localhost
    worker.instance3.port=9092
    worker.instance3.lbfactor=50
    worker.instance3.cachesize=10
    worker.instance3.cache_timeout=600
    worker.instance3.socket_keepalive=1
    worker.instance3.socket_timeout=300
    
    worker.loadbalancer.type=lb
    worker.loadbalancer.balance_workers=instance1,instance2,instance3
  9. Copy the tomcat-ajp.jar file from the Apache 5.5.x installation to the Enterprise Server lib directory.

  10. Copy the commons-logging.jar (version 1.1.1) and the commons-modeler.jar (version 2.0.1) file from the Jakarta Commons web site at http://commons.apache.org.

  11. Restart the cluster and start httpd.

Features Not Supported on All Operating Systems

Some features of the Enterprise Server are not supported on all operating systems. Details about these features are provided in the subsections that follow.

Features Not Supported on the AIX Operating System

If you are using the AIX operating system, the following limitations apply:

Features Not Supported on the Linux Operating System

If you are using the Linux operating system, the following limitations apply:

Features Not Supported on the Ubuntu Operating System

If you are using the Ubuntu Linux operating system, the following limitations apply:

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Manger

Sun GlassFish Enterprise Manager offers improved management and performance visibility of production Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 deployments. It also enables IT to reduce time to deployment, optimize and troubleshoot performance, and address potential problems before they occur. For more details, see http://www.oracle.com/goto/glassfish

Using the Update Center

The Update Center provides automated Enterprise Server updates and easy access to additional components.

When the Update Center is enabled, it performs an automated software update. During this automated update process, the Update Center collects and transmits the following data to Sun Microsystems (or its service provider):

No personally identifiable information is tracked. No personally identifiable information is associated with any other data or used for reporting purposes.

ProcedureTo Use the Update Center

To ensure explicit agreement of the automated update, the Update Center is disabled by default. To enable the Update Center to perform periodic checks and automated updates:

  1. Start the Update Center.

    • On Unix: <installdir>/updatecenter/bin/updatetool

    • On Windows: <installdir>\updatecenter\bin\updatetool.bat

  2. Select the Preferences tab.

  3. In the Update Scheduling window, change the Check for Updates drop-down box value from Never (Manual) to a desired value. For example, daily or weekly.

  4. Specify the desired day of the week and time of the day for the update.

  5. Select the Save button to save your changes.

    The Update Center will now automatically check for Enterprise Server component updates according to the schedule specified. When an update is available, the Update Center will launch and notify you of the component available to update.

Upgrading the Enterprise Server on the Ubuntu Operating System

On the Ubuntu Linux operating system, installing GlassFish v2 does not override an existing installation of GlassFish v1. The asadmin script in /usr/bin administers GlassFish v2. To administer GlassFish v1, use its local asadmin utility in /usr/share/sunappserver/bin. To upgrade the v1 domain to v2, use the asupgrade tool located in /usr/share/glassfishv2/bin.

Using the global asadmin script to start a v1 domain results in the upgrade tool being invoked automatically. However, this causes an error due to a bug that uses the default domain location of the server for other (non-Ubuntu) platforms. To avoid this error, use the asupgrade tool instead.

Enabling Multilevel Relationship Prefetching

Multilevel relationship prefetching is supported for CMP 2.1 entity beans.

To enable multilevel relationship prefetching, set the following property:


-Dcom.sun.jdo.spi.persistence.support.sqlstore.MULTILEVEL_PREFETCH=true

For more information about relationship prefetching, see Relationship Prefetching in Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server v2.1.1 Developer’s Guide.

More About WSIT Integration

For detailed information about WSIT status, refer to the WSIT Status Notes page. Also refer to the The WSIT Tutorial for information about using WSIT with Enterprise Server.