GlassFish For Business: Addressing your Deployment and Business Needs

The Java WebServices Developer Track includes in-classroom, instructor-led training courses as well as web-based training courses.

At the time of writing this note, the courses include these GlassFish and Metro based courses:

• Developing Applications for the Java EE Platform -   [Classroom: FJ-310-EE5; Web-based: WJB-310-EE5] • Creating Web Services Using Java Technology -   [Classroom: DWS-3111-EE5; Web-based: WJB-3111-EE5] • Designing Java Web Services -   [Classroom: DWS-4112-EE5; Web-based: WJ-4112-EE5] • Developing Secure Java Web Services -   [Classroom: DWS-4120-EE5]

Check the Track Description for the conplete list.

New Web-Based Training Course Bundle on Web Services Technology from GlassFish AppServer.

Name: Introduction to Web Services Interoperability Technologies (WSIT) Bundle
Type: Web-Based
Course Number: WMTB-SAS-1500
Note: Bundle includes 5 courses:

WMT-SAS-1543: Adding Quality of Service and .NET Interoperability to Web Services
WMT-SAS-2544: Creating Reliable and Secure Interoperable Web Services
WMT-SAS-2545: Creating Transactional Web Services
WMT-SAS-2546: Working With the Web Services Policy
WMT-SAS-2547: Brokered Trust

Note: WMT-SAS-1543, 2544, 2546 and 2547 are, at the time of writing this note, not available separately.

Note: Courses bought in the US must be used in the US; for other geographies check the WorldWide Training Site.

New Web-Based Training Course Bundle on GlassFish AppServer.

Name: GlassFish Application Server Administration Bundle
Type: Web-Based
Course Number: WMTB-SAS-1600
Note: Bundle includes 4 courses:

WMT-SAS-1536: GlassFish Application Server: Introduction
WMT-SAS-2537: GlassFish Application Server: Installation and Basic Configuration
WMT-SAS-2538: GlassFish Application Server: Administration
WMT-SAS-3539: Making Applications Highly Available Using GlassFish Application Server

Note: WMT-SAS-2537, 2538 and 3539 are, at the time of writing this note, not available separately.

Note: Courses bought in the US must be used in the US; for other geographies check the WorldWide Training Site.

SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GF v1 U1) patch 4 is a commercial (Restricted) patch available as part of Sun's Enterprise Support for GlassFish. It was released in October 2007.

Release Overview

Patch Ids
• Solaris x86 - [124610-05]
• Solaris SPARC - [124609-05]
• RHEL - [124611-05]
• Windows - [124612-05]

Description
SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GFv1 U1) - File-Based Patch for Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, RHEL and Windows

Update Date
October, 25th, 2007

Comment
Commercial (for-fee) release with regular bug fixes. This patch for SJS AS 9.0 U1 expands on SJS AS 9.0U1 Patch 3 and includes 9 new key bug fixes.

Status
CURRENT

Bugs Fixed in this Patch:

• [6393417] Need to fix findbugs flagged error asap reported from CTS failures for RI
• [6475894] undeploy fails when Symbolic links are used
• [6490722] InvocationException when in Session Listener lifecycle and also in Context initialization lifecycle
• [6492944] Logging Last Resource feature support is required for SpecJ numbersLL
• [6497447] Grizzly connector not able to process once setTcpNoDelay throws an exception (HANGS)
• [6499326] PE 9.0_01 becomes unresponsive after a short time running under load.
• [6504761] Ability of lagging / broken connection to block entire SSL listener
• [6511850] different connections are given to application for a local tx datasource withing a single transaction
• [6519697] Java EE Service Engine fails to process messages
• [6524086] Java EE Service Engine fails to process messages
• [6531676] Mediated write performance fixes
• [6542007] XSLT transforms processing issue
• [6549528] Background jsp compilation for taglib 2.1
• [6559421] Message Listener Interface(MLI) not being picked up for non-jms MDB's when MLI bundled in .rar
• [6562608] Glassfishv1/AS90UR1 hangs when bad HTTP headers are submitted
• [6569427] JSP code exposure on Windows platform
• [6602302] JSF Signaturetests fails do to old version of JSF in Appserver
• [6603717] Need to fix findbugs flagged error asap reported from CTS failures for RI
• [6604671] option to add/remove charset encoding requested (AS9.0)

Useful Links (note: they belong in side-bars):

Patch Page. Commercial Subscription Offering

SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GF v1 U1) patch 3 is a commercial (Restricted) patch available as part of Sun's Enterprise Support for GlassFish. It was released in March 2007.

Release Overview

Patch Ids
• Solaris x86 - [124610-03]
• Solaris SPARC - [124609-03]
• RHEL - [124611-03]
• Windows - [124612-03]

Description
SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GFv1 U1) - File-Based Patch for Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, RHEL and Windows

Update Date
March 22nd, 2007

Comment
Commercial (for-fee) release with regular bug fixes. This patch for SJS AS 9.0 U1 expands on SJS AS 9.0U1 Patch 2 with 4 new critial bug fixes.

Status
OBSOLETE. Refer to SJS AS 9.0 U1 - Patch 4

Bugs Fixed in this Patch:

• [6393417] Need to fix findbugs flagged error asap reported from CTS failures for RI
• [6475894] undeploy fails when Symbolic links are used
• [6490722] InvocationException when in Session Listener lifecycle and also in Context initialization lifecycle
• [6492944] Logging Last Resource feature support is required for SpecJ numbersLL
• [6497447] Grizzly connector not able to process once setTcpNoDelay throws an exception (HANGS)
• [6499326] PE 9.0_01 becomes unresponsive after a short time running under load.
• [6504761] Ability of lagging / broken connection to block entire SSL listener
• [6511850] different connections are given to application for a local tx datasource withing a single transaction
• [6519697] Java EE Service Engine fails to process messages
• [6524086] Java EE Service Engine fails to process messages

SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GF v1 U1) patch 2 is a commercial (Restricted) patch available as part of Sun's Enterprise Support for GlassFish. It was released in January 2007.

Release Overview

Patch Ids
• Solaris x86 - [124610-02]
• Solaris SPARC - [124609-02]
• RHEL - [124611-02]
• Windows - [124612-02]

Description
SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GFv1 U1) - File-Based Patch for Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, RHEL and Windows

Update Date
January 25th, 2007

Comment
Commercial (for-fee) release with regular bug fixes. This patch for SJS AS 9.0 U1 expands SJS AS 9.0U1 Patch 1 with 5 additional critical fixes.

Status
OBSOLETE. Refer to SJS AS 9.0 U1 - Patch 3

Bugs Fixed in this Patch:

• [6475894] undeploy fails when Symbolic links are used
• [6490722] InvocationException when in Session Listener lifecycle and also in Context initialization lifecycle
• [6492944] Logging Last Resource feature support is required for SpecJ numbersLL
• [6497447] Grizzly connector not able to process once setTcpNoDelay throws an exception (HANGS)
• [6499326] PE 9.0_01 becomes unresponsive after a short time running under load.
• [6504761] Ability of lagging / broken connection to block entire SSL listener

SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GF v1 U1) patch 1 is the first commercial (Restricted) patch available as part of Sun's Enterprise Support for GlassFish. It was released in December 2006.

Release Overview

Patch Ids
• Solaris x86 - [124610-01]
• Solaris SPARC - [124609-01]
• RHEL - [124611-01]
• Windows - [124612-01]

Description
SJS AS 9.0 U1 (GFv1 U1) - File-Based Patch for Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, RHEL and Windows

Update Date
December 14, 2006

Comment
Commercial (for-fee) release with regular bug fixes. This is the first patch for SJS AS 9.0 U1 with two critical bug fixes.

Status
OBSOLETE. Refer to SJS AS 9.0 U1 - Patch 2

Bugs Fixed in this Patch:

• [6475894] undeploy fails when Symbolic links are used
• [6492944] Logging Last Resource feature support is required for SpecJ numbersLL

GlassFish v1 U1 was released in November 2006 and is a public (no-cost) bug-fixing release that was was aligned with NetBeans 5.5.

GFv1 U1 is the follow-up to the GlassFish v1 release and is intended to be the final public release of the GlassFish v1 branch, although there are several for-fee (restricted) sustaining releases / patches available as part of Sun's commercial support for GF.

The Sun distribution of GlassFish v1 U1 is Sun Java System Application Server 9.0 U1 and there is full commercial support for it; see GFv1 Overview.

The Java.Net distribution of this release is still available at GFv1 UR1 b14. I can't find a public link to the corresponding build at Sun.Com.

This is the latest public release of the GF v1 branch and we encourage new users to start directly with the latest GlassFish v2 public release.

GlassFish v1 was released at JavaOne 2006, May 2006, a year after announcing the project. GF v1 is based on the same code base as the JavaEE 5 Reference Implementation; the RI is a specific snapshot in time of GF that is provided by the JavaEE 5 Spec Lead (Sun) to the JCP, and thus GF v1 was the first AppServer that was JavaEE 5 compliant. GFv1, like later versions, was in the different JavaEE 5-based SDKs available from Sun (download page).

GlassFish v1 builds on earlier versions of Sun's AppServers, and also includes Oracle's contribution of TopLink Essentials to provide the JPA 1.0 implementation. It is Open Source and fully Free Right-to-Use. GF v1 does have some of the enterprise features of GF v2, like cluster support, but it is nevertheless a very useful release in production as shown in the early testimonials in our Adoption Stories.

The Sun distribution of GlassFish v1 is Sun Java System Application Server 9.0 and there is full commercial support for it; see GFv1 Overview.

The Java.Net distribution of this release is still available at GFv1 b48. I can't find a public link to the corresponding build at Sun.Com.

The latest public release of the GF v1 branch is GlassFish v1 U1 but we encourage new users to start directly with the latest GlassFish v2 public release.

GlassFish v1 is Sun's first Open Source release of Sun's App Server; the corresponding Sun branded distribution is Sun Java System Application Server 9.0, reflecting many earlier, closed-source, releases of ancestors of this code base. The original release was aligned with the final release of Java EE 5.

All patches are cumulative, i.e. fixes are accumulated in subsequent releases and the last digit in the release number often, but not always, matches its name; e.g. -01 is "Patch 1", but note that -05 is "Patch 4"!

The "No-Cost" term denotes a free release, while the "Restricted" term denotes one only available through the for-fee subscription service, see Support Overview and How to Install a Patch Screencast

The current patches are:

• SJS AS 9.0 (No-Cost - May 2006)
• SJS AS 9.0 U1 (No-Cost - Oct 06)
• SJS AS 9.0 U1 Patch 1 (Restricted - Dec 14, 2006)
• SJS AS 9.0 U1 Patch 2 (Restricted - Jan 25, 2007)
• SJS AS 9.0 U1 Patch 3 (Restricted - Mar 22, 2007)
• SJS AS 9.0 U1 Patch 4 (Restricted - Oct 25, 2007)

Note: Most customers should consider switching to the GlassFish v2-based releases (SJS AS 9.1) as they have improvements in functionality, reliability and performance.

Note: Many of the links above are forward links to entries that I will publish in the next day or two.

Yael has put together a screencast that shows how to get GlassFish Enterprise Support (see my previous post). The screencast covers the different portions of the experience, from buying subscription online to contacting Sun to installing the patches.

You probably want to start at the Top Page and use the left menu to navigate through the different sections. The top page starts with the introduction but give it a few sections to get started if you are in a slow connection.

• Introduction
• How to Buy Subscription Online
• How to Contact Sun Online
• How to get Access to Patches
• How to Request Service Online

Note: This is Yael's first screencast and I also did some editing to the configuration files while posting them here, so let us know if you see any issues and/or feedback and we will try to fix them. From where I'm at now (an internet cafe with slow connection), I already see:

• You should wait a few seconds for the image to get started in each segment
• Stop/Pause/Resume is either flakey or not working

Sun provides different types of ClassFish Support, including for-fee Professional Services and Engineering Services, free Community Support and a for-fee Enterprise-Quality Sustaining Support. When people ask for "GlassFish Support" they usually mean the latter as a way to support the use of GlassFish in a production environment, so that's where I'll start.

The first thing to understand is the basic release cycle of GlassFish: there are Daily, Weekly, Milestones (frequency varies) and Final Releases. Each Milestone is a mini-release cycle, with its own stabilization phase at the end.

Although Milestone releases are quite stable, they are not intended for production deployment and Sun provides formal Sustaining Support only for final releases. Of course, since this is Open Source so you make your own risk assessment and go on production with, say, a Release Candidate milestone, but we may discover a bad bug that may cause significant changes before the actual final release.

The next thing to understand is the relationship between the App Server builds you can get from the GlassFish web site at Java.Net and those you can get directly from Sun's download pages at Sun.Com (like the Java EE SDK Downloads). As I explained previously in my No Bait and Switch note, there are no differences in the JARs in the two distributions, the only differences are the installer, the presence of a few extra JDBC drivers and that Java.Net has all the builds: daily, weekly, and all milestones and finals, while the Sun.Com distros only have the most stable milestones (called EA, TP, or Betas) and the Final releases.

Now I can describe the sustaining story for GlassFish. We use carefully controlled repositories forked from those of the Final GF Releases into which we contribute fixes for important bugs. We create regular sustaining patches from that repository that are available to commercial subscribers (via SunSolve), as well as the usual 24x7, worldwide support, knowledge database, etc (see my note on Commercial Support) and Alexis's Support for GlassFish - What's in it for me

To ensure that the bugs don't reappear, we also propagate the bug fixes in the sustaining repositories into the public repositories, although the timing and details of this will vary depending on the cycle, and, of course, the public repositories also receive many other changes at the same time, some of which will be new bugs :-(. This process is described in my note on Productizing Open Source - The GlassFish Approach.

Finally, Alexis' Note also explained how sustaining tests the bug fixes, including longevity testing, to ensure the bug fixes are very solid.

With all of this in context, many of the posts in this blog will correspond to individual sustaining (aka patch) releases and will describe the bugs fixed in there. We will start with the patches for the GFv1 branch and then will cover the current, v2, branch.

I hope we have explained the role of the sustaining releases in the support offering. If you are interested in purchasing support, talk to your Sun representative, or Buy Support Online.

This is the first post in a new group news blog: GlassFish For Business.

GlassFish For Busness will provide information on Sun's offerings related to the GlassFish community, including the GlassFish Application Server and OpenMQ Server. We will cover the basics of the subscription offerings from Sun, the differences between the free community releases and the for-fee commercial releases, training (free, for-fee, web-based, instructor-led), consulting-services (professional, engineering), other distributions, Update Center, Sun Partners for GlassFish, etc.

Our goal is to cover all the aspects needed for the successful deployment of GlassFish in production / commercial situations and, over time, we may expand the topics covered here based on your feedback.

This blog complements and builds on other existing blogs, including:

• The Aquarium - focused on the Community activity
• Stories - informal articles on GF in production
• GlassFish Podcasts - interviews and more

There are a number of bloggers that write about GlassFish, some notable mentions include Miles to Go and Bistro!; we try to cover them all at TheAquarium (you can also try the experimental GlassFish Planet). TheAquarium itself is localized to several languages, including English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Russian and Korean.

Like TheAquarium, GlassFish For Business is a Group Blog and several authors will collaborate to cover the different topics and to keep the information current.

This blog will include a series of posts for all the free (public) and for-fee distributions. Moving forward we will try to publish these entries as soon as the releases are available but since a number of these distributions were made available before we started this blog, we will retroactively document them as a reference point for our readers.