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Sun Java Enterprise System 2004Q2 Technical Overview

Chapter 1
Introduction

Sun Java^™ Enterprise System is a software infrastructure that provides the services needed to support enterprise-strength applications distributed across a network or Internet environment. These applications are referred to in this book as distributed enterprise applications.

Java Enterprise System is also a Sun software release and delivery methodology and a business and pricing strategy. The focus of this book, however, is on Java Enterprise System as a software system.

This chapter introduces Java Enterprise System and the tasks involved in using the system. It covers the following topics:

Java Enterprise System Services
Java Enterprise System Components
Working With Java Enterprise System

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Java Enterprise System Services

Today’s business requirements demand software solutions that are distributed across a network or internet environment and have high levels of performance, availability, security, scalability, and serviceability. Java Enterprise System provides infrastructure services to support such software solutions.

These software solution are applications with the following characteristics:

Distributed.    The application consists of interacting software components deployed across a networked environment that might include geographically remote sites. These distributed components, running on the various computing nodes in the environment, work together to deliver specific business functions to end users and to other business applications.
Enterprise-strength features.    The application’s scope and scale meet the needs of a production environment or Internet service provider. The application typically spans an entire enterprise, integrating many departments, operations, and processes into a single software system. The application must meet high quality of service requirements regarding performance, availability, security, scalability, and serviceability.

Distributed enterprise applications require an underlying infrastructure that allows their distributed components to communicate with each other, coordinate their work, implement secure access, and so forth. This infrastructure consists of a number of distributed services.

These distributed infrastructure services are, in turn, supported by a hardware environment of computing nodes and network links. This environment includes SPARC and X86 (Intel and AMI) hardware architectures.

The overall scheme is shown in the following figure.

Figure 1-1  Support Needed for Distributed Enterprise Applications

Java Enterprise System provides the distributed infrastructure services layer shown in Figure 1-1. Java Enterprise System infrastructure services support a broad range of business services and applications. Among the infrastructure services provided by Java Enterprise System are the following:

Portal services.     Portal services enable mobile employees, telecommuters, knowledge workers, business partners, suppliers, and customers to securely access their personalized corporate portal from anywhere outside the corporate network through the Internet. These services provide anytime, anywhere access capabilities to user communities, delivering integration, aggregation, personalization, security, mobile access, and search.
Communications and collaboration services.    These services enable the secure interchange of information among diverse user communities. Specific capabilities include messaging, real-time collaboration, and calendar scheduling in the context of the user's business environment.
Network identity and security services.    These services improve security and protection of key corporate information assets by ensuring that appropriate access control policies are enforced across all communities, applications, and services on a global basis. These services work with a repository for storing and managing identity profiles, access privileges, and application and network resource information.
Web and application services.    These services enable IT organizations to develop, deploy, and manage applications for a broad range of servers, clients, and devices, based on Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE™) technology.
Availability services.    These services deliver a unique approach to application service-level management. Availability services provide the patented “Always-On” technology for application and web services, delivering near-continuous availability and scalability.

You can selectively deploy one or more of these infrastructure services, each of which might include a number of Java Enterprise System components.

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Java Enterprise System Components

Java Enterprise System is an integration of previously independent Sun software products into a single software system.

The components of this system (the component products) have been tested together to ensure interoperability. Their integration is facilitated by a number of system-level features:

All component products are synchronized on a common set of shared libraries
All Java Enterprise System components are installed using a single installer
All components share an integrated user identity and security management system

The main components of Java Enterprise System and the infrastructure services they provide are listed in the following table. For more details on any component, consult Java Enterprise System Server Components.

Table 1-1  Java Enterprise System Components 

System Component	Services Provided
Sun Cluster	Provides high availability and scalability services for the Java Enterprise System, the applications that run on top of the Java Enterprise System infrastructure, and the hardware environment in which both are deployed.
Sun ONE Application Server	Provides J2EE container services for Enterprise JavaBeans™ (EJB) components, such as session beans, entity beans, and message-driven beans. The container provides the infrastructure services needed for tightly-coupled distributed components to interact, making it a platform for the development and execution of e-commerce applications and web services. The Application Server also provides web container services.
Sun Java System Calendar Server	Provides calendar and scheduling services to end users and groups of end users. Calendar Server includes a browser-based client that interacts with the server.
Sun Java System Directory Proxy Server	Provides security services for Directory Server from outside a corporate firewall. Directory Proxy Server provides enhanced directory access control, schema compatibility, routing, and load balancing for multiple Directory Server instances.
Sun Java System Directory Server	Provides a central repository for storing and managing intranet and Internet information such as identity profiles (employees, customers, suppliers, and so forth), user credentials (public key certificates, passwords, and pin numbers), access privileges, application resource information, and network resource information.
Sun Java System Identity Server	Provides access management and digital identity administration services. Access management services include authentication (including single sign-on) and role-based authorization for access to applications and/or services. Administration services include centralized administration of individual user accounts, roles, groups, and policies.
Sun Java System Instant Messaging	Provides secure, real-time communication between end users, such as instant messaging (chat), conferencing, alerts, news, polls, and file transfer. The service includes a presence manager that tells users who is currently on line and includes a browser-based client that interacts with the server.
Sun Java System Message Queue	Provides reliable, asynchronous messaging between loosely-coupled distributed components and applications. Message Queue implements the Java Message Service (JMS) API specification and adds enterprise features such as security, scalability, and remote administration.
Sun Java System Messaging Server	Provides secure, reliable, high-capacity store-and-forward messaging that supports email, fax, pager, voice, and video. It can concurrently access multiple message stores and provides content filtering to help reject unsolicited email and prevent virus attacks.
Sun Java System Portal Server	Provides key portal services, such as content aggregation and personalization, to browser-based clients accessing business applications or services. Portal Server also provides a configurable search engine.
Sun Java System Portal Server Mobile Access	Provides wireless access to the Portal Server from mobile devices and voice access to the Portal Server from telephones.
Sun Java System Portal Server Secure Remote Access	Provides secure, Internet access from outside a corporate firewall to Portal Server content and services, including internal portals and Internet applications.
Sun ONE Web Server	Provides Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE™ platform) web container services for Java web components, such as Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages™ (JSP™) components. The Web Server also supports other web application technologies for delivering static and dynamic web content, such as CGI scripts and Active Server Pages.

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Working With Java Enterprise System

Creating business solutions based on Java Enterprise System software involves a complex set of tasks that can be divided into three stages: requirements analysis, deployment, and operations, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1-2  Solution Life-Cycle Stages

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The Java Enterprise System life-cycle stages can be described briefly as follows:

Requirements analysis.    Translate an analysis of business needs into a deployment scenario: a logical architecture and quality of service requirements. The deployment scenario serves as a specification for a software deployment.
Deployment.    Translate a deployment scenario into a deployment architecture that meets business needs and can be used as a basis for project approval and budgeting. This architecture is also the basis for an implementation design that provides the details needed to build, test, and roll out into a production environment.
Operations.    Run a deployed software solution, monitoring and optimizing its performance and upgrading it to include new functionality as necessary.

The tasks involved in each of these stages are shown in Figure 1-2 and discussed more fully in Chapter 4, "Life-Cycle Concepts."

Figure 1-2 shows the kind of Java Enterprise System user needed to perform the various Java Enterprise System tasks. If you are working with Java Enterprise System, your job should fit one or more of the user categories shown in Figure 1-2. The following table describes the skills and background needed to perform the corresponding Java Enterprise System tasks.

Table 1-2  User Categories for Java Enterprise System Tasks  

User Profile	Skills and Background
Business planner System analyst	General, rather than in-depth technical knowledge Understands strategic direction of the business Knows business processes, objectives, and requirements
Architect	Highly technical Has broad knowledge of deployment architectures Familiar with latest technologies Understands business requirements and constraints
System integrator IT manager Field engineer System administrator	Highly technical Intimately familiar with IT environments Experienced in implementing distributed software solutions Knows network architecture, protocols, devices, security Knows scripting and programming languages
Specialized system administrator Delegated administrator	Specialized technical or product knowledge Familiar with hardware, platforms, directories, databases Skilled at monitoring, troubleshooting, upgrading software Knows UNIX system administration

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Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.