What’s New in the 8.2 Release

The Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 includes the following enhancements:

• Improved Administration – The Application Server supports the remote secure management of complex multisystem enterprise deployments by using either a browser-based console or a scriptable command-line interface. The Application Server also provides a rich JMX based API allowing remote, secure, programmatic access to administrative and monitoring functions.

• Message Broker – The Application Server includes an integrated enterprise-class message broker that provides highly available, reliable, high-performance, and scalable messaging.

• Message Queue 3.7 UR 1 – The Application Server now implements MQ 3.7 UR 1.

• Expanded Platform Support – Additional operating systems, databases, locales, and hardware are supported.

• Sun Java Enterprise System – As a key component of the Sun Java Enterprise System, the Application Server is tightly integrated with portal and network identity services.

• Migration and Upgrade Tools – These tools enable you to verify J2EE applications for standards conformance and portability, help with migrations from other J2EE Application Servers (JBoss, WebLogic, WebSphere), and aid in upgrading from previous versions of Sun ONE Application Server/ iPlanet Application Server.

• Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0 Support – The Application Server supports the Java 2 Standard Edition 5.0, which includes enhanced management and monitoring features and many performance and scalability improvements.

• Java Web Services Developer Pack 1.6 (JWDSP) Plugin Support – All JWSDP plug-ins are now supported. The JWSDP 1.6 can be downloaded for free from http://java.sun.com/webservices/downloads/1.6/index.html.

• Java DB Database Support – Application Server includes the Java DB database, based onApache Derby. Backward compatibility with Pointbase database is maintained, but any new databases created on the server will use Java DB by default. After an upgrade from Application Server 8.1 PE or 8.1 EE, existing domains will continue to use Pointbase database, but any new domain created after the upgrade will use Java DB.

• JDBC Drivers – The Application Server ships with Sun JDBC drivers.

• Web Services Security – These container message security mechanisms implement message-level authentication (for example, XML digital signature and encryption) of SOAP web services invocations by using the X509 and username and password profiles of the OASIS WS-Security standard.

• WS-I Basic Profile 1.1 – As mandated by the J2EE 1.4 specification, this release implements Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) Basic Profile 1.1 to enable interoperability for web services applications.

• Backend Connectivity with iWay Adapters – Sun Microsystems now resells and supports 22 iWay adapters to key backend systems (SAP, Siebel, Oracle, CICS, and IBM MQ Series) to help you leverage existing IT applications from within the Application Server environment. These adapters support the J2EE Connector Architecture 1.5 specification and Web services (SOAP) standards, and include developer tools to reduce time to connect to backend applications.

• Latest HADB Management System – The UNIX® platforms contain the new high-availability database (HADB) management system (HADB version 4.4.2–7), which includes a database server, ODBC 2.5 driver, JDBC 3.0 type 4 driver, clusql (an interactive program to enter and execute SQL statements), and a management system. This version eliminates the dependency on SSH or RSH, but requires that the network be configured for UDP multicast. See the Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.2 High Availability Administration Guide for the details about HADB requirements and limitations.

• Dynamic Content Technology Support Discontinued – Dynamic content technologies, such as CGI and SHTML, are no longer supported.