Specifying a Server Configuration | JBoss: A Developers Notebook

JBoss is not only powerful, it's also very configurable. At the center of JBoss is a JMX microkernel that manages the MBeans that control the various services in the server. The JBoss documentation describes the microkernel as a spine, and the analogy fits well. JBoss in its minimum configuration is like the brainstem sitting at the top of the spine. It provides all the core autonomic features (to steal some thunder from IBM's autonomic computing initiative). The spinal column is the attachment point for all the MBeans that want to talk to the brainstem and to each other over the spinal cord. This architecture provides a strong backbone to build on, but at the same time it can work at its most minimal state and still do amazing things. It makes JBoss useful for everything from very small, embedded applications all the way up to full-blown enterprise server applications, all on the same spinal column.

Having a flexible architecture is pointless unless you can make use of that flexibility. JBoss provides several different configurations that range from a barebones server with no J2EE capabilities to a superserver with more services than any single application could possibly use. Figure 1-4 shows the three standard server configurations.

Developer's Notebook 1-4. Server configurations

Here are descriptions of the server configurations:

Note: There is a huge difference in the size of these configurations. The minimal configuration can start up in just a few seconds, whereas it can take nearly a minute for the all configuration to completely start on a typical developer machine.

minimal: This configuration provides the bare services you might need in the simplest application: logging, JNDI naming services, and URL deployment scanning. You'd use this setup in tight memory situations, or when you want to use JMX to control exactly which MBeans are loaded, and when and how they are loaded. This configuration doesn't provide support for EJBs, web applications, JMS, or any other high-level services. It's just a raw microkernel waiting to be molded.
default: This is a lightweight J2EE configuration; it's the one most people use. It provides most of the common J2EE services, but it doesn't include IIOP, JAXR, or clustering services, for example. These services can be added easily to this configuration.
all: This configuration includes everything in JBoss. If you need any extra services not provided in the default configuration, this is the place to start. It's often easier to start from the all configuration and take out unwanted services than to start with the default configuration and add the desired services.

Note: The all configuration includes everthing but proverbial kitchen sink.

How do I do that?

You specify a particular configuration using the -c command to the run script. To run the minimal configuration, for example, use -c minimal.

Here is an example:

Note: You can also use --configuration = minimal, if you prefer to use long configuration names.

    [bin]$ ./run.sh -c minimal