Foreword

The real story behind WebSphere probably goes back to the 60s and 70s – the development of CICS and IMS as application platforms, hierarchical and relational data management, transactional integrity and security, the entry of object-oriented concepts, distributed computing, and virtualization.

However, in 1995 there were three major concerns: how to build a business-value proposition around a small, but interesting technology called SOM (System Object Model); how to get 10⁹ scalability out of the CORBA persistence framework; and how to build a hosting environment for system and application objects. The answers to these problems coalesced to form what was then referred to as Component Broker (CB) – a product for hosting component-based business applications in a distributed, container-managed environment. In essence, the value proposition was supposed to (and still does for WebSphere) put application developers back into the business of writing business applications – letting the component broker handle the complexity of the underlying information system and focusing the business application developer's attention on creating reusable object-oriented parts (components based on what was then referred to as the Managed Object Framework). Don Ferguson was brought in from IBM's Research division to lead the development of CB and every one of the authors of this book were founding architects (along with several others). From conception to delivery, CB took less than 18 months to put into the market – shipping in May 1997.

Then, in 1998, the World Wide Web and Java really started to take off. IBM built an extension to the web server for hosting Java-based presentation components. By the end of 1998 there was enormous synergy in a common hosting platform for presentation and business components and thus was forged a marriage between these two servers. IBM began work with SunSoft and others to form the J2EE specification for building Java-based business components – Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs) – drawing from our experience with MOFW in CB and combining that with the already emerging specifications for servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSPs).

WebSphere Version 3.0 (the name was new, but the numbering sequence borrowed from the predecessor products) was brought to market in October 1999 with a crudely formed alliance between Component Broker, web-based computing, and J2EE. The architecture fully converged with WebSphere Application Server Version 4.0 in August 2001 and that lay the foundation on which IBM could build the WebSphere brand as an entire suite of products that extend the value proposition of the base application server.

With the release of WebSphere Version 5.0 in December 2002, WebSphere has become the most rapidly successful software product in the history of IBM. WebSphere is the leading application server in the industry, and continues to grow market share faster than any other commercial application server. Some of the largest web sites on the Internet are hosted by WebSphere. e-Bay, a common reference for IBM, is driving on the order of 8,000 transactions a second with around-the-clock operations and availability on WebSphere. To say the least, we are enormously proud of the WebSphere product and having been a part of its creation.

This book is about the WebSphere Application Server and its tooling partner the WebSphere Studio Application Developer.

In this book, you will find some perspective on the philosophy and rational behind WebSphere. You will be taken through the programming and deployment model and become familiar with the WebSphere Studio Application Developer tool set. You will learn how to use the application server to build business applications, and how to integrate your business. You will find specifics on how to build presentation and business components, how to interconnect your applications through messaging and adapters, and how to build web services to leverage service-oriented architecture. You will be introduced to valuable extensions for building enterprise-enabling business applications and business processes, and provided with an understanding of how to configure, secure, and administer your production systems.

This book has been divided into four parts:

Part 1 will introduce you to WebSphere. It discusses the value proposition, strategy, and philosophical principles that will guide you through the development and evolution of the WebSphere Application Server. The section will spend some time going over the major elements of the programming model, including the things that differentiate the base application server from its programming model extensions. Finally, you will be introduced to the WebSphere Studio Application Developer (WSAD) tools.

Part 2 will focus primarily on the core J2EE programming model – building presentation and business components, including how to assemble and deploy J2EE applications with the WSAD and Application Assembly Tool (AAT). You will learn to use the messaging engine to build point-to-point and pub/sub notification-oriented communication between your applications and how to use the Java 2 Connector architecture to build adapters to integrate with your non-J2EE applications. Finally, you will see the process of building web services with WebSphere.

Part 3 then takes you beyond J2EE and basic web services. This part will refine your knowledge of how the container can efficiently manage the persistent state of your business components – incorporating Access Intent policies, and Application Profiles. The details on how to use the WebSphere workflow manager, how to incorporate business rules into your application, and how to use the internationalization service, workmanager, workareas, and the startup service, will be covered.

Part 4 shifts your focus to the production environment. It describes the various topologies that you might exploit in your enterprise. It details how to secure your applications in the production environment. These chapters will take you through the process of administering your environment – including, how to install an application, how to configure application servers, and how to manage the operational state of your system. This section also describes how to write administrative applications using the JMX interfaces supported by WebSphere. A later appendix on this topic lists the command-line, scripting, and ANT tasks that you can use to build operations automation routines for use in your production environment. This section concludes with a summary of other features of WebSphere that you might explore on your own.

This book was conceived from the passion that all of us share about this product. WebSphere represents more than just an outlet for our creative energies – we truly believe that WebSphere will add value to your business. It will help you harness the complexities of your information systems and, in doing so, let you exploit the advantages of your computing infrastructure to improve the way that you do business. It will change the way that you think about programming your applications. We hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Rob High, Jr., Eric Herness, Jim Knutson, Tim Francis, Chris Vignola, and Kim Rochat
Architects of the WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Studio tools

What you Need to Use this Book

Over the course of this book, we cover the use of a number of different WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Studio editions:

• For Chapters 4-8, you will need WebSphere Studio Application Server version 5.0 and WebSphere Application Server version 5.0

• For Chapters 9 and onwards, you will need WebSphere Studio Integration Edition version 5.0 and WebSphere Application Server Enterprise version 5.0

• Some of the clustered topology will also require WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment version 5.0

On the CD

Accompanying this book there are two CDs that contain the following:

• An evaluation copy of WebSphere Studio Application Developer version 5.0 for Windows (Disk 1 and 2)

• The Web Services Technology Preview for WebSphere Application Server version 5.0 (Disk 2)

• EAR files for the sample code developed over the course of the book (Disk 2)

• The PLANTSDB database used by the Plants-By-WebSphere application in this book (Disk 2)

The installation of WebSphere Studio should launch automatically upon inserting Disk 1. For the Web Services Tech Preview and sample code you will need to browse the disk and retrieve these items manually.

Refer to the readme files on the disks for more instructions.