Can I use Application server as Webserver?

[Maulin Vasavada]

Hi all,
I have an application that is currently just some JSPs and Servlets. I was using iPlanet webserver for that application but now I want to use Application Server SUN ONE for the same. My question is- can I use Application Server as the Webserver even though I am not having any EJBs and all you know?
Please point me some problems or issues you might see with this. I have never worked with any Application server and I have yet to go through any documentation regarding the deployment structure and all for the application server I am going to use.
I understand that, it will make little sense to "underuse" application server's capabilities but later on I am going to migrate to EJBs and all where I can use application server's capabilities.
Any pointers are welcome.
Regards
Maulin

[Andres Gonzalez]

Maulin -
You can use any application server you want, even if you're only having jsp/servlets. For instance, I used JBoss for a web application, having 0 ejb's.
In order to "migrate" your web application, it's better to create a war file and look for the SUN ONE documentation and see how to deploy a war file into the application server. It shouldn't be complicated.

[Andres Gonzalez]

BTW, you want a web server or a web container?

[Maulin Vasavada]

hi Andres
What you mean by web container?
I guess I need a web server. My application on iPlanet currently and on the other machine we are running app server where we would deploy.
Regards
Maulin

[Lasse Koskela]

A "web server" serves HTML pages and other static content.
A "web container" serves JSP pages and servlets (in addition to static content).
An "application server" serves JSP pages, servlets, Enterprise JavaBeans, J2EE Connectors, and so on.

[Andres Gonzalez]

have a look at this post.
I'm not familiar with iPlanet, but if (after reading my link) you're looking for a web server, then apache is my suggestion.
If you're looking for a web container (jsp/servlets), then tomcat or jetty
notice that jetty is a HTTP servlet server (so it's a web server + web container). The same with tomcat.

Jetty is a 100% Java HTTP Server and Servlet Container. This means that you do not need to configure and run a seperate web server (like Apache) in order to use java, servlets and JSPs to generate dynamic content. Jetty is a fully featured web server for static and dynamic content. Unlike separate server/container solutions, this means that your web server and web application run in the same process, without interconnection overheads and complications.

let me know if I confused you more
[ August 26, 2003: Message edited by: Andres Gonzalez ]

[Alaa Abutabaq]

Hi All ,
To develop a web applications you need web container . So , JBoss for instance is an application server (serves as a EJB container), but in the same time you can get it integrated with a web container ,such as Jetty or Tomcat. You can find the different integrated versions in their site

[Maulin Vasavada]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the input. According to Lasse definition, I need a Web-container.
I already have SUN ONE App server but I will just use it to host JSP/Servlets/HTML rather than EJBs and all.
I am going through the SUN ONE App server documentation for more details.
Regards
Maulin