Oracle GlassFish Message Queue 4.4.2 Technical Overview

Java EE Application Server Support

In Java EE architecture, EJB containers are provided by Java EE application servers. An application server supports these containers by providing resources they need, such as transaction managers, persistence managers, name services, and, in the case of messaging and MDBs, a JMS provider.

For information about Java EE architecture, see the Java EE Platform Specification located at http://java.sun.com/javaee/downloads/index.jsp.

Java EE also provides a standardized way of plugging in external resources needed by an application server. The standard, defined by the Java EE Connector Architecture (J2EECA) 1.5 specification, allows an application server to interact with external systems by way of a resource adapter. External systems can include, among others, JMS messaging systems, as implemented by a JMS provider.

Plugging a JMS resource adapter into an application server allows Java EE components deployed and running in the application server to exchange JMS messages. The JMS connection factory and destination administered objects needed by these components can be created and configured using Java EE application server administration tools.

Other administrative operations, however, such as managing a broker and physical destinations, are not included in the J2EECA specification and can be performed only through provider-specific tools.

Message Queue includes a JMS resource adapter that consists of a single file (imqjmsra.rar) located in a directory that depends on the operating system (see Chapter 20, JMS Resource Adapter Property Reference, in Oracle GlassFish Message Queue 4.4.2 Administration Guide). The imqjmsra.rar file contains the JAR files needed by the application server to support JMS messaging, as well as the resource adapter deployment descriptor (ra.xml) used to deploy the resource adapter in a Java EE application server.

You can deploy the Message Queue resource adapter in Java EE-1.4-compliant application servers by following the resource adapter deployment and configuration instructions provided by each application server.

In the case of the Oracle GlassFishTM Server, however, Message Queue is already integrated, by default, as the application server's native JMS provider. Hence, no deployment of the Message Queue resource adapter is required.