This chapter discusses the steps required to package and deploy WebLogic Server EJB applications. Consistent with the intermediate to advanced nature of this book, we assume that you have some knowledge of the J2EE specification and the required elements in a well-structured EJB application. We also assume that you have a basic level of experience with the Ant build tool provided by the Apache Software Foundation.
Figure 8.1 presents the basic process for creating EJB archive files and the options available for packaging and deploying EJB applications using WebLogic Server. This chapter discusses each of these steps, compares the packaging and deployment options available, identifies best practices, and walks through the packaging and deployment of the bigrez.com application.