Migrate from Jboss 4.0.3 to 5.0.1 GA

[Asad Imtiaz]

Hello everyone,


For a few reasons I have to look into this migration process from Jboss 4.0.3 to 5.0.1 GA. For me Jboss 4.0.3 works fine with our current (5 year old)application which is based on the following.

Struts 1.2.7

Velocity 1.4

Hibernate 3.1 rc2

EJB 2.0

We have 2 separate projects

<application> - The main project that has the UI, EJB etc
<applicationHAR> - Only hibernate Entities (which are deployed as HAR separately)


The Deployment Structure we use to deploy the application is

<application-[version]>.ear - which has the follow structure (from the application.xml file)

  <application>
	<display-name>Application Name</display-name>
	<description>XYZ Application</description>

	<module>
		<ejb>application.jar</ejb>
	</module>
	<module>
		<web>
			<web-uri>application.war</web-uri>
			<context-root>application</context-root>
		</web>
	</module>
	<module>
		<web>
			<web-uri>application-junitee.war</web-uri>
			<context-root>application-junitee</context-root>
		</web>
	</module>
</application>  

Then the HAR package


<application>-HAR.har - This has all the hiberate Entities, Hibernate-service.xml, and HBMs.



Now my concern is that whether this deployment strategy is compatible with the newer jboss as it is. IF not then what changes would be required, just a overview and if in detail then that would be great.


Also is there any benefits of migrating the current old application to the newer version keeping in mind that we are just maintaining it and adding modules and features to it at a very slow rate and have no plans to upgrade to newer versions of the individual technologies in the near future.



Thank you,


Asad Imtiaz

[Jaikiran Pai]

Now my concern is that whether this deployment strategy is compatible with the newer jboss as it is. IF not then what changes would be required, just a overview and if in detail then that would be great.

There have been a lot of changes between JBoss AS-4(.0.x) and JBoss AS-5 especially around the way deployments are handled. Although it's the internal implementation of the AS that has changed, there are chances that some of the user applications will have to be repackaged in a different way probably.

We have 2 separate projects
...
<applicationHAR> - Only hibernate Entities (which are deployed as HAR separately)

From what i remember, JBoss AS-5 no longer supports .har deployments.

Also is there any benefits of migrating the current old application to the newer version keeping in mind that we are just maintaining it and adding modules and features to it at a very slow rate and have no plans to upgrade to newer versions of the individual technologies in the near future.

The benefit of moving to the latest stable version (which by the way is 5.1.0) is that your server is up-to-date with the latest features/bug-fixes etc... Also, if you run into any issues/bugs with the version of JBoss AS you are using, then it's easier to get help from community if you are using the latest version.

On the other hand, if your application is a 5 year old application which has been running without any issues and if you don't have any plans of upgrading to any of the newer technologies, then i don't see a benefit of moving to the latest version.

[Peter Johnson]

JBoss AS-5 no longer supports .har deployments.

AS 5.x still supports har deployments (there's an example in JBoss in Action, and it works even in 5.1.0), but using a HAR has gone out of favor (deprecated) probably because of JPA.

[Asad Imtiaz]

Thanks for the replies. Personally I don't want to upgrade cause I don't see the benefit in it rather I am afraid of the unseen issues we might face. But still I would have to try it out.

I will try looking at the example in the "Jboss in Action" for HAR deployment cause mainly thats the issue. Rest i think the ear bwould still work as it is without any changes, with just adding the right libraries and thats all *I hope*

[Peter Johnson]

I do recall that there was a significant change in how HAR files are configured in AS 5. There was even a wiki page on it, or perhaps it was a forum post. Either way, I can't seem to find it, but the book has the details.