Chapter 1   Product Overview


This chapter explains the role of iPlanet Application Server (iAS) within the multitier enterprise environment. In addition, the chapter summarizes the main product components that come with iAS.

This chapter contains the following sections:

• The Multitiered Environment

• Product Components

The Multitiered Environment

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iPlanet Application Server is the middleware between enterprise data sources and the clients that access those data sources. Business code is stored and processed on iPlanet Application Server (iAS) rather than on clients. An application is deployed and managed in a single location, and the application is accessible to large numbers of heterogeneous clients.

iAS applications run in a distributed, multitiered environment. This means that an enterprise system might consist of several application servers (computers running the iPlanet Application Server software), along with multiple database servers and web servers. Your application code can be distributed among the application servers.

Overall, the machines and software involved are divided into three tiers:

• a client tier, represented by web browsers or rich clients (such as a Java application).

• a server tier, represented by a web server (such as iPlanet Enterprise Server) and an application server (such as iPlanet Application Server).

• a data tier, represented by relational databases or other back-end data sources.

The following figure shows a multitiered environment:

End users interact with client software, typically a web browser, to use the application.

• When a request originates from a web browser, it is sent to the web server. Assuming the request requires application processing or data access, the web server forwards the request to iPlanet Application Server (iAS).

• When a request originates from a CORBA client, it is sent to iAS by way of an RMI/IIOP link.

• iAS handles requests by running the appropriate application code (and accessing data sources if needed). iAS returns the results to the web server, which in turn forwards the reply back to the client.

For more information about the components and interactions in the multitier environment, see the Programmer's Guide.

Industry Standard Components

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iAS is 100% compliant with the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition. Following is a list of specific standards and components that IAS 6.0 supports

• JDK 1.2 Specification

• Java Servlet 2.2 Specification

• Enterprise JavaBeans 1.1 Specification

• JavaServer Pages 1.1 Specification

• JDBC 2.0 Core Specification

• JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions Specification

• JTA 1.0 Specification

• JNDI 1.2 Specification

• RMI-IIOP 1.0.1

• JavaMail 1.1

• JAF 1.0

• Corba 2.3

• Application Assembly and Deployment (XML)

• HTML

• XML

• LDAP

• COM/DCOM

• SNMP AGENTS

• XA

Product Components

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This section describes the software and product components of iAS. This section consists of the following topics:

• Programming APIs

• System Services and Application Services

• Sample Applications

• iAS Administration Tool

• iAS Deployment Tool

• iPlanet Directory Server

Programming APIs

iAS is compliant with the standards set by the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition. iAS supports these industry-standard Java APIs. In particular, iAS supports the APIs and technologies.

• JDK 1.2 Specification

• Java Servlet 2.2 API Specification

• Enterprise JavaBeans 1.1 Specification

• JavaServer Pages 1.1 Specification

• JDBC 2.0 Core API Specification

• JDBC 2.0 Standard Extensions Specification

Note that iAS 6.0 provides full support for JDBC 2.0 as described in the Programmer's Guide (Java).

For building application components written in C++, iAS provides the Foundation Class Library.

For more information about the iAS Foundation Class Library, see the Programmer's Guide or the iPlanet Application Server Foundation Class Reference. Both of these documents are available in Java or C++ versions.

For more information about the industry-standard Java APIs that are supported in iAS 6.0, see the appropriate API specification. All specifications are accessible from installdir/iAS/docs/index.htm, where installdir is the location in which you installed iAS.

System Services and Application Services

System and application services provide a variety of application-level capabilities and system-level capabilities. These services enable the development, deployment, and management of complex business-logic and transaction-based applications.

Sample Applications

iAS includes sample web-based applications, enabling you to more quickly learn techniques for developing and deploying applications in a iAS environment.

One sample presents a banking application that simulates a user session with an online account. This sample demonstrates techniques for migrating existing applications to comply with the industry-standard Java application model. For information about installing the bank application, see the Installation Guide. For details about the application code, see the Migration Guide.

iAS Administration Tool

iAS Administration Tool is a GUI tool that contains several smaller tools for managing one or more iAS machines or applications. For detailed information about using iAS Administrator, see the Administration Guide.

iAS Deployment Tool

An application must be deployed before it can be used, and iAS Deployment Manager is a GUI tool that makes application deployment easier. You access this tool either from iAS Administrator or from iPlanet Application Builder.

When you deploy an application, iAS Deployment Manager installs all the application's files and registers all of its components on the destination server (a server on which iAS has been installed).

For information about using iAS Deployment Manager to deploy applications, see the Administration Guide.

iPlanet Directory Server

iPlanet Directory Server provides a comprehensive, enterprise-wide directory service for managing information about users, groups, and access control lists. iAS 6.0 includes iPlanet Directory Server 6.0, which supports versions 2 and 3 of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

For more information, see the iAS Deployment Guide. In addition, consult the Installation Guide for iPlanet Directory Server 4.11.