Which application server?

[Sergio Tridente]

Hi,

I have (finally) decided to go for the SCBCD certification.
I am completely new to EJB technologies, but not to JEE (JSP, JSF, some ADF).

After going thru some of the posts in this forums, I decided to use OReilly's EJB 3.0 (5th Edition) for my preparation. I also plan to go thru the specs as that proved very useful when preparing for the SCWCD exam.

While waiting for the book to arrive, I'd like to install an Application Server in order to experiment and practise. The 'problem' is that I am uncertain to which one to use: JBoss, Glassfish, Sun Application server 9.1, Oracle Application Server, Apache Geronimo 2.1 (is it EJB 3.0 compliant?), etc.?

With SCWCD preparation the choice was rather easy for me, as it looked that most of the ranchers were using Tomcat as Web Container.

I'd like to hear from other ranchers' experiences and opinions. If possible, I'd like to use a light-weight AS (because of rather old hardware) that yet complies with the specs (the closer it complies the better). I would be cool too if I could make it integrate with Tomcat 6 (but not essential).

Thank you very much.

[Benoît de Chateauvieux]

Hi Sergio,

I prepared my certification with 2 configurations:
- firstly, I worked with Oracle JDeveloper
- then, while working on another project, I worked with Eclipse+JBoss

I have to admit that the first option is very comfortable: JDev is all-included: the embedded OC4J server works perfectly well with EJB3/JPA.
Just download (for free) JDev on the Oracle site, install it and you've got all you need for study.

The second option works well too but you need 2 products and a little more time of configuration, integration with the database, etc...

Beno�t

[Sergio Tridente]

Thank you Beno�t.

I think I will try the same thing you did: two configurations. I have already JDev + Oracle 10g installed on my laptop from work. It is a really nice machine in terms of power and memory, and JDev works fine.

However, my desktop computer (which I use more because it is always on) is kinda SLOMO (a PIII 600 Mhz + 320 mb RAM, really old). It works fine with just Tomcat and Eclipse (or no eclipse at all) but I imagine it will be really painful for running JDev.

Some other questions:
Will JDev 10.1.3.3 do the job or do I need to install JDev 11?
Doesn't JBoss already come with a SQL database installed?
Is there an alternative to JBoss: something more light-weight?
And finally. I was of the idea of not using an IDE for studying, because it tends to hide some details. What was your experience? Is it unnecessary for SCBCD to avoid using an IDE?

May thanks.

[Benoît de Chateauvieux]

Hi Sergio,

I think you can work with only a text editor and it will work fine (as with EJB3, there are only annotations, the code is very lighter than in older versions).
I use an IDE but I don't use the EJB function (like generation of beans, ORM, etc.)

I, personally, prefer JDev 10.1.3.3.
I think it's more stable than 11.

Have you tried Glassfish AppServer?

Beno�t

[Dinuka Arsakularatne]

I use netbeans with jboss.. its really easy to develop and deploy with it.. but i always keep in mind not to use the auto generating features of the IDE as i need to learn how each and everything works because the IDE tries to do most of the things for you... just a small note to keep in mind...

[Sergio Tridente]

Thank you guys for the insights.
I have just installed JBoss in my little old computer. I will begin exploring this weekend.

As for the IDE, I think that I will just use a text editor with syntax highligting and the command line (I am a Linux freak).
[ April 25, 2008: Message edited by: Sergio Tridente ]