JBoss In Action - with or without Apache?

[Varun Chopra]

Hello Javid & Peter

I went through the TOC of "JBoss in Action" and it looks very impressive. I would definitely like to read it.
I am working in a Java enterprise application running on JBoss and Apache. We are using Apache URL redirects, which are pretty simple to configure. I have following questions about using JBoss as webserver:

1. Does JBoss come with all capabilities that Apache webserver provides (like URL redirects) and are these explained in "JBoss in Action"?
2. In what circumstances you would suggest to put Apache at the front of JBoss and use JBoss only as an app server not as web server?

regards
Varun

[Javid Jamae]

1) JBoss uses Tomcat as a Web server. Tomcat can support virtual hosts, and there are ways to do URL redirects, but that is better handled upstream by hardware or a native web server.

2) Apache is a native Web server, but it doesn't serve JSP/Servlets. For that you'll need a Servlet container like Tomcat. Tomcat happens to also serve static content. Arguably, JBoss/Tomcat can now perform as well as Apache / IIS using the native libraries (which use the Apache Portable Runtime). That being said, you'll often want to offload static file serving to a native web server and load balance requests to multiple JBoss instances.

[Varun Chopra]

So the thing is that if there are a lot of static files to be served then putting a native Web Server is still a better option. And similarly URL redirection is better handled by native web server.
Is Jboss thinking in this direction so as to be a single wholesome solution or will native webserver remain a reality in coming time as well?

[Javid Jamae]

If you have a single server, you don't necessarily need URL redirection, or load balancing. But if you have more load than a single server can handle, then you'll need to front load.

[Varun Chopra]

Thanks Javid.