jeudi mars 27, 2008 
jeudi mars 27, 2008 Sun AppServer (GlassFish) / MySQL bundle now available
It's only been a few weeks since Sun announced the close of the MySQL AB acquisition (which really didn't take long) and we now have a bundle of Sun Application Server 9.1 (GlassFish v2) together with MySQL.
The full distro is less than 150 MB (double that once installed on disk). It includes the open source GlassFish v2ur1 app server (Sun App Server 9.1ur1), MySQL Community Server 5.0 and of course the MySQL JDBC driver (version 5.1.16). You can get the bits off of
The database default "SMALL" install option corresponds to a system using 64 MB memory or less (typically a developer platform).
Once installed (interactive and silent installs available), the application server can be started using this simple command (or simply during the install process) :
% INSTALL_HOME/bin/asadmin start-domain
The application server documentation is here.
... it takes the following few set of commands (documented here) to get MySQL going :
% sh INSTALL_HOME/mysql/scripts/mysql_install_db (to initialize the grant tables)
% INSTALL_HOME/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
% INSTALL_HOME/mysql/bin/safe_mysqld [--defaults-file=install-dir/mysql/mysql.ini --user=root] &
The mysql.ini config. file is located in INSTALL_HOME/mysql.
To find more information on working with MySQL: Getting Started, Full Documentation.
Creating a connection pool to the MySQL DB using the web console is pretty simple (command-line equivalent is % asadmin create-jdbc-connection-pool ...):
No separate JDBC driver to install :
Testing the connection is always worthwhile (command-line equivalent is % asadmin ping-connection-pool ...) :
Support for Sun Application Server/GlassFish starts at $4500 for 4 sockets while unlimited supports calls for MySQL Enterprise starts at $1999 per server. Access to patches (sustaining branch) is included in both support plans.
I have very regular discussions with GlassFish clients, system integrators, ISVs, and OEMs and the most common question (a fairly valid one too) I've been getting is this - "Great product experience and great roadmap, but how serious are you about this Open Source model?". Needless to say that I haven't heard the question since the MySQL acquisition.
( mars 27 2008, 09:42:00 AM CET ) Permalink Comments [4]Post a Comment:
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Sounds good but what about Derby ? In the download list I can't see the basic GlassFish+Derby installation. It would be good to have the option between MySQL or Derby.
Posted by Antonio Goncalves on mars 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM CET #
I like the idea. Though the setup procedure by now still looks somewhat "rough" (mysql configuration and start/stop should be integrated with the "regular" SJSAS installer to "feel good" ... ;) ), it's still quite a good starting point. So far, a strong DB/appserver integration and the benefits coming from that can only be achieved while goin' for the Oracle/OAS combo which one doesn't always want to. :) I wonder however why it took Sun to acquire MySQL AB to get here - couldn't something like this have been achieved already by now, using postgreSQL which Sun seems to be "kinda committed to", as well?
Posted by kawazu on mars 27, 2008 at 10:56 AM CET #
@Antonio: Derby (JavaDB) is still there. In fact, it's used for internal purposes (things like CallFlow). "asadmin start-database" actually starts JavaDB.
@Kawazu: yes, I agree, this is a first step. Tighter integration features are planned for future versions. As to your "why now question", that's probably above my pay grade but I'd also like to point out the JavaDB integration for developer purposes we've had for a while (see answer above) and to the Postgres SPECjAppServer benchmarks (and thus production optimisations we've made).
Posted by Alexis MP on mars 27, 2008 at 11:45 AM CET #
thanks nevertheless for pointing this out. :) actually, yes, JavaDB has been tightly integrated with glassfish/SJSAS for quite a while now, but I still consider this to be a first step into new terrain, at least assuming that, speaking of "enterprise DBs", people are more likely to think of MySQL than of JavaDB... though I so far am using neither one of them for server purposes.
Posted by kawazu on mars 27, 2008 at 12:07 PM CET #