Chapter 1 Application Server Compatibility Issues

The Sun Java System Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta (Application Server 8) is upward binary-compatible with Sun Java System Application Server 8 2004Q2 and with Sun Java System Application Server 7 (Application Server 7) except for the incompatibilities noted below. J2EE applications that run on version 7 and version 8 2004Q2 also work on version 8 2004Q4 Beta except for the incompatibilities noted below.

“Application Server 8” refers to Sun Java System Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta unless otherwise noted.

The topics discussed in this chapter include incompatibilities in the following areas:

Web Server Features

Application Server 8 replaces the Web server shipped with Application Server 7 with a Java-based web container. As a result, the following web server-specific features are no longer supported in version 8:

These features are discussed in the Sun ONE Application Server 7 Administrator’s Guide, which can be downloaded and read from http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/817-1953?a=load.

Security Realms

The package names of the security realm implementations have been renamed from com.iplanet.ias.security.auth.realm to com.sun.enterprise.security.auth.realm. Custom realms written using the com.iplanet.* classes must be modified.

The com.sun.enterprise.security.auth.login.PasswordLoginModule authenticate method implementation has changed as follows.

/**
  * Perform authentication decision.
  * <P> Note: AuthenticationStatus and AuthenticationStatusImpl
  * classes have been removed.
  * Method returns silently on success and returns a LoginException
  * on failure.
  *
  * @return void authenticate returns silently on successful authentication.
  * @throws LoginException on authentication failure.
  *
  */
abstract protected void authenticate()
  throws LoginException;

Sun Deployment Descriptor: sun-web.xml

In Application Server 7, the default value for the optional attribute delegate was false. In this release, this attribute defaults to true. This change means that by default the Web application classloader first delegates to the parent classloader before attempting to load a class by itself. For details, see Application Server 8 Options Contrary to J2EE 1.4 Specification Recommendations.

CORBA Performance Option

In Application Server 7, users were able to specify the following system property to optionally turn on some ORB performance optimization:

The ORB performance optimization is turned on by default in Application Server 8. If you are using the system property reference above, you must remove it to avoid interfering with the default optimization.

File Formats

In Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta, domain.xml is the main server configuration file. In Application Server 7, the main server configuration file was server.xml. The DTD file of domain.xml is found in lib/dtds/sun-domain_1_1.dtd.. The upgrade tool included in Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta can be used to migrate the server.xml from Application Server 7 to domain.xml for Application Server 8.

The lib/dtds/sun-domain_1_1.dtd. file for Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta is fully backward compatible with the corresponding file for Application Server 8 2004Q2, sun-domain_1_0.dtd.

In general, the configuration file formats are NOT backward compatible. The following configuration files are NOT supported:

Certificate Database

Application Server 8 uses Java Keystore (JKS) as the keystore format. The NSS format used in Application Server 7 is not supported. The upgrade tool included in the product can be used to migrate existing NSS keystores to JKS keystores.

Tools Interoperability

As a general rule, tools are not interoperable between Application Server 7 and 8. Users must upgrade their Application Server 7 tools to work with Application Server 8.

Primary Key Attribute Values

In Application Server 7, it was possible to change any field (in the Administration Console) or attribute (in the command line interface). In Application Server 8, a field or attribute that is the primary key of an item cannot be changed. However, an item can be deleted and then recreated with a new primary key value. In most cases, the primary key is a name, ID, reference, or JNDI name. The following table lists the primary keys that cannot be changed.


Note	In the domain.xml file, a field or attribute is called an attribute, and an item is called an element. For more information about domain.xml, see the Sun Java System Application Server Reference.

Table 1-1 Primary Key Attributes
Item	Primary Key Field or Attribute
admin-object-resource	jndi-name
alert-subscription	name
appclient-module	name
application-ref	ref
audit-module	name
auth-realm	name
cluster-ref	ref
cluster	name
config	name
connector-connection-pool	name
connector-module	name
connector-resource	jndi-name
custom-resource	jndi-name
ejb-module	name
external-jndi-resource	jndi-name
http-listener	id
iiop-listener	id
j2ee-application	name
jacc-provider	name
jdbc-connection-pool	name
jdbc-resource	jndi-name
jms-host	name
jmx-connector	name
lb-config	name
lifecycle-module	name
mail-resource	jndi-name
message-security-config	auth-layer
node-agent	name
profiler	name
element-property	name
provider-config	provider-id
resource-adapter-config	resource-adapter-name
resource-ref	ref
security-map	name
server	name
server-ref	ref
system-property	name
thread-pool	thread-pool-id
virtual-server	id
web-module	name
persistence-manager-factory-resource	jndi-name

Command Line Interface: asadmin

For more information about the asadmin commands, see the Sun Java System Application Server Utility Reference.

Subcommands

Application Server 8 can only create one instance, so these subcommands are not supported.

The following subcommands are no longer supported in Application Server 8, because the software license key and web core were removed, and because controlled functions from web server features are no longer supported:

Options

Table 1-2 Deprecated and Unsupported asadmin Options
Option	Deprecated or Unsupported in Subcommands
--acceptlang	Deprecated for the create-virtual-server subcommand.
--acls	Deprecated for the create-virtual-server subcommand.
--adminpassword	Deprecated for all relevant subcommands. Use --passwordfile instead.
--blockingenabled	Deprecated for the create-http-listener subcommand.
--configfile	Deprecated for the create-virtual-server subcommand.
--defaultobj	Deprecated for the create-virtual-server subcommand.
--domain	Deprecated for the stop-domain subcommand.
--family	Deprecated for the create-http-listener subcommand.
--instance	Deprecated for all remote subcommands. Use --target instead.
--mime	Deprecated for the create-virtual-server subcommand.
--optionsfile	No longer supported for any commands.
--password	Deprecated for all remote subcommands. Use --passwordfile instead.
--path	Deprecated for the create-domain subcommand. Use --domaindir instead.
--resourcetype	Deprecated for all relevant subcommands. Use --restype instead.
--storeurl	No longer supported for any commands.
--target	Deprecated for all jdbc-connection-pool, connector-connection-pool, connector-security-map, and resource-adapter-config subcommands.
--type	Deprecated for all relevant subcommands.

Dotted Names

The following use of dotted names in asadmin get and set subcommands are not backward compatible:

The table below displays a one-to-one mapping of the incompatibilities in dotted names between Application Server 7 and 8. The compatible dotted names are not listed in this table.

Table 1-3 Incompatible Dotted Names Between Versions
Application Server 7 Dotted Names	Application Server 8 Dotted Names
server_instance.http-listener.listener_id server_instance.http-service.http-listener. listener_id	server.http-service.http-listener.listener_id server-config.http-service.http-listener. listener_id
server_instance.orb server_instance.iiop-service	server.iiop-service server-config.iiop-service
server_instance.orblistener server_instance.iiop-listener	server.iiop-service.iiop-listener.listener_id server-config.iiop-service.iiop-listener. listener_id
server_instance.jdbc-resource.jndi_name	server.resources.jdbc-resource.jndi_name domain.resources.jdbc-resource.jndi_name
server_instance.jdbc-connection-pool.pool_id	server.resources.jdbc-connection-pool.pool_id domain.resources.jdbc-connection-pool.pool_id
server_instance.external-jndi-resource.jndi_name server_instance.jndi-resource.jndi_name	server.resources.external-jndi-resource. jndi_name domain.resources.external.jndi-resource. jndi_name
server_instance.custom-resource.jndi_name	server.resources.custom-resource.jndi_name domain.resources.custom-resource.jndi_name
server_instance.web-container.logLevel (see note below)	server.log-service.module-log-levels. web-container server-config.log-service.module-log-levels. web-container
server_instance.web-container.monitoringEnabled (see note below)	server.monitoring-service. module-monitoring-levels.web-container server-config.monitoring-service. module-monitoring-levels.web-container
server_instance.j2ee-application.application_name server_instance.application.application_name	server.applications.j2ee-application. application_name domain.applications.j2ee-application. application_name
server_instance.ejb-module.ejb-module_name	server.applications.ejb-module.ejb-module_name domain.applications.ejb-module.ejb-module_name
server_instance.web-module.web-module_name	server.applications.web-module.web-module_name domain.applications.web-module.web-module_name
server_instance.connector-module. connector_module_name	server.applications.connector-module. connector_module_name domain.applications.connector-module. connector_module_name
server_instance.lifecycle-module. lifecycle_module_name	server.applications.lifecycle-module. lifecycle_module_name domain.application.lifecycle-module. lifecycle_module_name
server_instance.virtual-server-class	N/A
server_instance.virtual-server. virtual-server_id	server.http-service.virtual-server. virtual-server_id server-config.http-service.virtual-server. virtual-server_id
server_instance.mime.mime_id	N/A
server_instance.acl.acl_id	N/A
server_instance.virtual-server. virtual-server_id.auth-db.auth-db_id	N/A
server_instance.authrealm.realm_id server_instance.security-service.authrealm. realm_id	server.security-service.auth-realm.realm_id server-config.security-service-auth-realm. realm_id
server_instance. persistence-manager-factory-resource.jndi_name server_instance.resources.persistence-manager-factory-resource.jndi_name	server.resources.persistence-manager-factory-resource.jndi_name domain.resources. persistence-manager-factory-resource.jndi_name
server_instance.http-service.acl.acl_id	N/A
server_instance.mail-resource.jndi_name	server.resources.mail-resource.jndi_name domain.resources.mail-resource.jndi_name
server_instance.profiler	server.java-config.profiler server-config.java-config.profiler

Tokens in Attribute Values


Note	Rows with note in previous table describe attribute names. In these instances, there is not a one-to-one relationship with the dotted names between Application Server 7 and 8.

The asadmin get command shows raw values in Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta instead of resolved values as in Application Server 8 2004Q2. These raw values may be tokens. For example, executing the following command:

Nulls in Attribute Values

In Application Server 8 2004Q2, attributes with no values contained nulls. This caused problems in attributes that specified paths. In Application Server 8 2004Q4 Beta, attributes with no values contain empty strings, as they did in Application Server 7.

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