Preliminary WebLogic Server Installation Considerations

WebLogic Server is a very scalable application server that can be configured to meet the demands of any J2EE application scenario. However, before you can install and start using WebLogic Server, you should be aware of the hardware system requirements required to install WebLogic Server, as well as the new WebLogic Server licensing model that has been implemented.

System and Software Requirements for Installing WebLogic Server

BEA states a few minimum system and software requirements that need to be satisfied for the target hardware system, as described in Table 10.1. In practice some of these minimum requirements will cause you to experience poor performance, if taken verbatim. So wherever possible in Table 10.1, an experienced recommendation will be suggested with the BEA guidelines.

Table 10.1. The Recommended System and Software Requirements for WebLogic Server

System/Software Requirements	Minimum and Recommended Requirements
Platform	WebLogic Server is certified for most platforms and operating systems, for example Sun Microsystems with Solaris 8 and Intel with Windows 2000 Professional, Server and Advanced Server. You can reference all the BEA certified. platforms at the following URL: http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/certifications/certifications/index.html. This page also includes the recommended Java runtime environment versions and other prerequisites or recommendations, such as operating system patches, kernel configuration values, and performance packs .
System Memory	BEA recommends a minimum of 128 MB of RAM for Unix and Windows based system. In reality, you will be running other applications in conjunction with WebLogic Server, and hence will incur a great deal of memory paging and swapping if you do not have enough memory. Also, the more memory you have, the faster the JVM will operate as more java classes can be maintained in the JVM memory (heap). So from an experienced perspective, and in recognition that memory is currently very cheap, you should aim for a minimum of 256MB RAM and an optimal of 512MB RAM for a standalone development environment.
Processor	BEA recommends a single Pentium 200MHz or higher processor. From an experienced perspective, you should aim to run WebLogic Server with a system that has at a minimum a Pentium II 400MHz processor. It is unbelievable how much an extra 200Mhz makes a difference in terms of performance. In general, you should take the approach of running WebLogic Server on the fastest processor you can possibly get your hands on.
Disk Space	For Windows-based systems, BEA recommends approximately 215MB of free storage and about 140MB of temporary storage. For Unix-based systems, BEA recommends approximately 175MB of free storage and about 140MB of temporary storage. Temporary storage is required for the installer program to unpack the installation files. From an experienced perspective, the actual free storage you need is determined by the size of your application deployment files, potential service packs you may need to install, WebLogic Server files, and any additional disk space required by supporting applications or components . For this reason, always ensure you have the capability to add disk storage space to your system in a very scalable manner.
Java 2 Platform	As stated in the previous section, the Sun JDK 1.3.1_02 is bundled with WebLogic Server and is installed by default on your system. From an experienced perspective, you should consider using the JRockit JVM if you intend to deploy real-time transaction processing and mission critical J2EE Applications on Microsoft Windows or Red Hat Linux operating systems.
Web Browser	You will need a Java-compliant Web browser to support the WebLogic Administration Console, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or Netscape 4.7x.

The New WebLogic Server Development Licensing Model

In previous versions of WebLogic Server, a 30-day evaluation license was provided by default. Any extensions to the 30-day license required the involvement of a local BEA sales account manager. This evaluation licensing model was not viable for most organizations that were assessing the viability of WebLogic Server as a platform for their J2EE applications. Because mastering J2EE application development, deployment, and administration of WebLogic Server is not an easy exercise to grasp within 30 days, the evaluation license was a very painful experience for developers, who would continuously have to turn back their system clocks or re-install WebLogic Server.

BEA has recognized that having the best application server on the market is sometimes not enough to increase market share in the infrastructure space. There are many factors that contribute to being a successful application infrastructure company including having an experienced skill base. To the delight of all the global WebLogic developers, BEA is extending its evaluation license to 90 days, with access for up to 20 client connections. All production WebLogic Platform implementations will, however, incur a licensing cost. Also, if you do have a WebLogic Server production license, you can request developer licenses for your developers, which they can use at no cost to prepare their J2EE applications for deployment to a production and licensed WebLogic Server environment.

Note

A production license allows unlimited connections and development for an unrestricted period of time, for a specific IP address.

The motivation behind this licensing model is to increase the WebLogic Server skill base through development exposure and hence increase adoption in the application infrastructure market space.