Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

Travel Plans for Q1 2008 - Fairfax, Little Rock, Orlando, Hyderabad, New York, Las Vegas

Here are my tentative travel plans for the next 3 months:

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Tango Overview - Now Translated in Chinese

"Project Tango: Adding Quality of Service and .NET Interoperability to the Metro Web Services Stack" - The original article, introduced here, provides an introduction to how different Quality-of-Service, such as Security, Reliability and Transactions are enabled in Metro. One of the core benefits of Metro is interoperability with .NET 3.0 and the article describes how that is baked in the Web services stack.

The same article is now available in Chinese at Sun Developer Network China. Thanks to the Globalization Team in China for completing this effort, and Zhen Tao in particular who did the translation!

Metro runtime is available as part of GlassFish v2 UR1 and tooling is available in NetBeans 6.

Let us know if you'll be interested in creating a localized version of this article.

Technorati: metro webservices tango glassfish netbeans china

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Developer.com 2008 Awards Announced - NetBeans, GlassFish and Java SE 6 score well

Developer.com 2008 Awards are announced - NetBeans, GlassFish Metro and Java SE 6 get good ones.

My nominations were announced here and I've recreated the table here along with the winners. 

• Java SE 6 - New parsing and XML to Java object-mapping APIs allow developers to build Web services (now more convenient)
• NetBeans IDE
• Eases development with the best out-of-the box experience and management
• Innovative features such as JRuby/Ruby on Rails and .Net support
• Visual Mobile Designer for rapid development and prototyping

Technorati: survey netbeans glassfish javase developer.com product awards

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GlassFish, Metro and NetBeans @ Delhi University

Agraj, the newly recruited Campus Ambassador @ Delhi University, gave his first presentation to approx 100 students. And it was all about GlassFish, NetBeans and Web services. Here are some key points that he covered in his preso:

• Why NetBeans rocks over Eclipse ?
• Difference between Tomcat and GlassFish
• Web services 101
• Ease-of-Web services development and deployment with NetBeans and GlassFish integration

Technorati: campusambassador delhi netbeans glassfish metro

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Java SE 6 Update 4 is released - "Good Riddance" with JAX-WS Endorsed

Java SE 6 Update 4 is now released. Download it here.

If you are a Metro user (either JAX-WS or WSIT) then this is a milestone release for you because it includes JAX-WS 2.1 API in the rt.jar. This means that, as a user, you no longer you need to copy JAX-WS or JAXB API jars in JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/endorsed as described here, here and here. Hurrah!

After you have downloaded and installed JDK 1.6 U4, java -version shows:

java version "1.6.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_04-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 10.0-b19, mixed mode, sharing)

wsgen -version shows:

JAX-WS RI 2.1.1 in JDK 6

wsimport -version shows:

JAX-WS RI 2.1.1 in JDK 6

Additionally, you can also verify by greping for javax.xml.ws.Endpoint class in JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/rt.jar. This is a new class introduced in JAX-WS 2.1.

Now after you've installed Java SE U4, you can download Metro 1.1, set JAVA_HOME to point to this new Java SE installation and you can easily import a WSDL as:

wsimport -d temp http://localhost:8080/MetroWithJavaSE6/HelloService?WSDL
parsing WSDL...


generating code...


compiling code...

If you try to import the same WSDL with an earlier release of Java SE 6, then you'll see the error message:

You are running on JDK6 which comes with JAX-WS 2.0 API, but this tool requires JAX-WS 2.1 API. Use the endorsed standards override mechanism (http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/standards/), or use -Xendorsed option.

We hope this will make your life simpler :)

Metro 1.0.1 is anyway baked in GlassFish v2 UR1. You can override it with Metro 1.1 as described in TOTD #21.

Technorati: webservices metro jax-ws glassfish endorsed javase6 jdk

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TOTD #21: Metro 1.1 with GlassFish v2 UR1 and NetBeans 6

Metro 1.1 was released last month. This blog describes how to install Metro 1.1 on GlassFish v2 UR1 (which comes with Metro 1.0.1 baked in) and use it with NetBeans IDE.

1. Download & Install Metro 1.1.
2. Download, Install & Configure GlassFish (detailed instructions)
   1. Download GlassFish v2 UR1.
   2. Install GlassFish by giving the command:
      
      ant -f setup.xml
   3. Set AS_HOME to the location of GlassFish v2 UR1 directory and install Metro 1.1 by giving the following command in Metro 1.1 directory:
      
      ant -f wsit-on-glassfish.xml install
      
      This will install the latest Metro 1.1 binaries in the GlassFish Application Server instance.
   4. Configure GlassFish in NetBeans 6 by going to the "Services" tab and right-clicking on "Servers" node and selecting "Add Server...".
3. Create a simple Metro Web service by following this tutorial. Create a Secure and Reliable Web service following screencast #ws7. The complete tutorial to add WS-* capabilities to your endpoint is available here.

These instructions can also be used to override Metro 1.0 that is baked in GlassFish v2 Final build.

Please leave suggestions on other TOTD that you'd like to see. A complete archive is available here.

Technorati: totd webservices metro glassfish netbeans

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Santa's Goodie Bag for Developers

Merry Christmas!

And guess what, Santa has been delivering gifts through out December:

• Roller 4.0 (Dec 5)
• JRuby 1.0.2 module on GlassFish Update Center (Dec 12)
• NetBeans 6.0 (Dec 12)
• GlassFish v3 Preview (Dec 13)
• JRuby 1.0.3 (Dec 15)
• jMaki 1.0.3 (Dec 17)
• GlassFish v2 UR1 (Dec 19)
• Metro 1.0.1 & 1.1 (Dec 19)
• JAXB 2.1.6 (Dec 19)
• Grizzly 1.7 (Dec 19)
• JRuby 1.0.3 module on GlassFish Update Center (Dec 20)
• Social Software on GlassFish Update Center (Dec 21)
• SailFin Milestone 3 (Dec 23)

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Metro 1.0.1 and 1.1 are now available

Metro 1.0.1 (integrated in GlassFish v2 UR1) ad Metro 1.1 are now released. Metro contain stable releases of JAX-WS RI and WSIT. Read Vivek's blog for more details.

Even though Metro 1.1 is a stand-alone release, it can be easily installed on an existing GlassFish instance (for example override on v2ur1). A later release of Metro 1.1 will be integrated in GlassFish v2.1. Metro Roadmap provides all the details.

Please send us your feedback on users@metro or Forum. A pleasant change that happened earlier today was that cross-posting was enabled between user's list and forum. So all the questions posted on user's list are cross-posted to Forum and vice versa. This enables wider audience for your questions and more engineers to respond back :)

Technorati: webservices metro jax-ws wsit glassfish v2ur1

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GlassFish v2 UR1 now available

Technorati: glassfish v2ur1

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GlassFish @ Delhi University

I presented on GlassFish and related technologies (Metro, JRuby-on-GlassFish and jMaki) at the Department of Computer Science, Delhi University last week. The slides are available here. The talk was very well attended with approximately 120 students and 4 faculty members. The students were pretty excited and had great a interactive session.

Being an alumni of the school (many years ago ;), it was great seeing the new building of the department, meeting the faculty and interacting with the students. I reached there an hour earlier so that I can mingle with the staff and students and it was a lot of fun.

The department faculty proposed to use GlassFish instead of Tomcat for their next semester assignment. I believe this is a great move as it will allow the students to understand the simplicity and power of a great open-source and Java EE 5 compliant Application server.

I initiated the process of recruiting a Campus Ambassador from Delhi University and this will help establish a better relationship between this University and Sun Microsystems.

Here are the questions and answers that were asked during the session:

1. Amongst the different Java training courses, how do I decide which one to pick ?
   
   Sun Learning defines several Learning Paths for different Java technologies (EE, SE, ME, Web Services and Web 2.0). Pick an appropriate learning path depending upon your interest. In addition, Sun Training Catalogue (click on your country) shows different events conducted by Sun Learning in the local geogrpahy.
2. How does Sun make money with GlassFish being open sourced ?
   
   That's true, GlassFish is 100% open-source and totally free to use. The business model for Sun is that of selling support and services:
   • Support subscription starting from $4500 for 4 sockets.
   • Consulting & Training
3. What are the dis-advantages of GlassFish ?
   
   GlassFish provides an open source, production-quality and Java EE 5 compatible application server. It has world class performance ([1], [2]), .NET interoperable Web services stack, out-of-the-box clustering, load balancing and high availability support. However instead of identifying dis-advantages, here are some areas for improvement:
    
   • Feature-wise: The footprint for GlassFish v2 is higher than some non-full JavaEE containers (like Tomcat). This problem will disappear with GlassFish v3 which is small (< 100 kb), fast (starts up < 1 sec) and modular (load only required containers).
   • Ecosystem-wise
     • Community is not as well developed as Tomcat or JBoss because we have not been around as long. However the adoption is continuously increasing.
     • We are not yet as transparent as Tomcat, but we are more transparent than anybody else (including JBoss). Transparency will continue to improve in the future.
     • Our governance is still in transition.
4. Any comparison between NetBeans and Eclipse ?
   
   Why NetBeans ? explains the top reasons to use the NetBeans IDE. Some specific points are:
   • Consistent UI across all platforms where as Eclipse runs best on Windows
   • A friendlier environment for people who are new with links to sample apps and docs accessible from within the IDE.
   • An easy to use website with tons of quality docs and screencasts.

   Here are couple of more links that provide a comparison between the IDEs:

   • Move over Eclipse: NetBeans 6 rocks!
   • NetBeans vs Eclipse: this time with a attitude
5. What are the main features of Ruby as compared to Java ?
   
   A comparison of Ruby and Java is explained in this blog.
6. Why Ruby when there are many other languages ?
   • Ruby is getting popular due to Rails.
   • Ruby-on-Rails very popular among web developers.
   • JRuby is a pretty mature implementation of Ruby in Java, running on JVM and able to use existing Java libraries.
   • Complete deployment story on Solaris -- customer can chose native RoR or JRuby on Rails on GlassFish.
7. What is the difference between Tomcat and GlassFish ?
   
   Tomcat is a Servlet container that can host JSP and Servlets. GlassFish is a Java EE 5 compliant application server that includes implementation for a Web services stack (Metro), EJBs, Java Persistence and many others incuded in the Java EE 5 specification. In addition to this, GlassFish also provides out-of-the-box clustering, high availability and load balancing capabilities that are required for enterprise applications. Read more about Why use GlassFish ?
8. What does Sun offer to students ?
   
   The offerings are described in detail here.
9. What is java.net ?
   
   java.net is a premier web-based, open community created to facilitate Java™ technology collaboration in applied areas of technology and industry solutions. java.net is a central gathering place for Java technology enthusiasts and existing communities across industries, platforms, and interest groups. Read more about java.net in the FAQ.
10. How do I create a brand new jMaki widget ?
    
    This is explained in TOTD #20.
11. What are the main differences between GPL and CDDL ?
    
    A detailed difference between EULA, GPL, CDDL and BSD in terms of copyright and patent rights is explained here.
12. What are the different options of doing a collaborative research in association with Sun Microsystems ?
    
    The Collaborative Research program is explained here.
13. What is the difference between GlassFish v2 and Sun Java System Application Server 9.1 ?
    
    There are three key differences:
    • Commercial Support (more here)
    • Indemnification
    • Sun brand

    The detailed differences are highlighted here.

14. What are the different ways GlassFish can be configured in NetBeans ?
    
    Two ways:
    • If you download a full version of NetBeans IDE then GlassFish comes pre-bundled and is installed for you.
    • You can configure an existing GlassFish installation on your machine in the Services tab. If the Services tab is not visible, then select "Windows" menu item and then "Services". Right-click on "Servers", select "Add Server...", select "GlassFish V2" in the "Choose Server" dialog box. Click on "Next" and follow the instructions.

The complete album is here:

Technorati: conf glassfish webservices metro ruby jruby jmaki web2.0 delhiuniversity delhi netbeans q&a

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Screencast #WS8: Tango with NetBeans 6

David Coldrick recorded a screencast for Australian Developer Days. The demo shows how NetBeans 6 allow Web services to be easily created and deployed on GlassFish.

It is similar to screencast #ws7 but good to see somebody else creating these videos :)

Technorati: screencast glassfish webservices metro tango netbeans

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GlassFish @ Bangalore, Chennai and Pune - Metro, jMaki & JRuby

I presented on GlassFish and other related technologies (Metro, jMaki and JRuby) in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune last week. The slides used during the preso are here. And here is the list of questions (along with answers) for you:

1. What does WSIT offer ?
   
   WSIT stands for Web Services Interoperability Technology. It is a component of Metro - the Web services stack in GlassFish. WSIT specifically provides support for Security, Reliability, Transactions and interoperability with .NET 3.0. A number of screencasts are available to get you started with Metro and enable all the enterprise features mentioned using NetBeans IDE.

2. Is Metro plugin available for NetBeans version < 6.0 ?
   
   Yes, Metro plugin is available for NetBeans 5.5.1. This is clearly explained in screencast #ws4. NetBeans 6.0 is now released and is the recommended version of the IDE.

3. How do I use LDAP for authentication while using Metro based web service (with Security Token Service) interoperating with .NET web service?
   
   Security Token Service (STS) can be configured for LDAP authentication. STS service end can be protected with Sun Java System Access Manager web service agent (JSR 196 plugin). It can validate and authenticate the incoming user name token (username / password) against configured LDAP store at STS service side (when Access Manager is hosted as STS) and then issue the corresponding SAML token. You could also write AuthenticationValidator plugin to STS service, that can access and validate incoming username / password against Access Manager LDAP store using Access Manager Client SDK.
4. Do Metro support Kerberos?
   
   Metro 1.0 does not support Kerberos. However the latest nightly builds of Metro provide Kerberos support.
5. I want to contribute to GlassFish. Which areas can I contribute?
   
   Yes, GlassFish is 100% open source and encourage committers. Some of the ideas are available here. Please feel free to suggest any contributions at dev@glassfish.dev.java.net.
6. What Ruby features are getting into Java language?
   
   If Java closures proposal is accepted then that will be a Ruby feature.
7. Does jMaki take care of browsing history ?
   
   jMaki does not support browser history yet but this feature will be made available as an extension in the near future.
8. Is jMaki extensible ?
   
   Yes, read how jMaki framework can be extended as explained here.
9. What is the performance impact of using jMaki ?
   
   jMaki.js is the initialization script (18kb) for jMaki that is loaded when the web application is loaded. This script provides multiple features, included but not limited to:
   • support for common event model between widgets from multiple toolkits (using publish/subscribe)
   • Dynamic Container at component level - allows to resize the component within <div> and iframe
   • doAjax call (allows to asynchronously invoke services from back end)
   • JSON.serialize (serializes JavaScript objects to JSON)
   • inspect (2-level deep inspection of object)
   • logger & debugging (log all publish/subscribe events and other messages to enable debugging)
   • namespace API  (allows to namespace all the widgets for clean separation)

   The jMaki wrapper is a minimal code that needs to be written anyway to invoke the code anyway so there is no additional overhead there.

10. Is Comet supported in GlassFish/jMaki?
    
    Yes, read about Comet support in GlassFish The Grizzly Comet and Writing a Comet application using GlassFish. Also try a simple sample that demonstrates how jMaki and Comet (read the explanation) work nicely with each other.

11. Can GlassFish deploy EJB 2.0 apps ?
    
    GlassFish is Java EE 5 compliant which maintains backwards compatibility with J2EE 1.4 and so EJB 2.0 applications can be deployed.

12. Do GlassFish support Active and Passive cluster ?
    
    In GlassFish the cluster instances talk to each other for health monitoring through GMS (of Shoal). The buddy instances talk to each other for replication of the session state. When a failure is detected the LoadBalancer can failover the request to any instance in the cluster. The session in question will be fetched from a replica to this instance in order to continue the conversational state of the session. In this sense, we have an active cluster.
    
    GlassFish does not have a concept of a standby or passive cluster which will take over when an active cluster fails altogether. That is usually considered a high cost approach for redundancy and not advisable. 
    
    Read more discussion here.

13. Can we add a Metro Web service wrapper be created around EJB 2.0 ?
    
    Nope, Metro Web service wrapper can be created around EJB 3.0 only.

14. How can an application deployed on WebLogic be migrated to GlassFish ?
    
    Migrate2GlassFish helps automate the migration of J2EE/Java EE applications to GlassFish.

15. Can Entity beans be configured only as read-only beans - caching server for these beans ?
    
    Yes, read about the characteristics, good practices, how to deploy and refresh read-only beans.

16. How can jMaki applications run behind the firewall ?
    
    Add the following Servlet parameters to web.xml:
    
    <context-param>
  <param-name>proxyHost</param-name>
  <param-value>PROXY_HOST</param-value>
</context-param>
<context-param>
  <param-name>proxyPort</param-name>
  <param-value>PROXY_PORT</param-value>
</context-param>
    
    This is described in detail at https://ajax.dev.java.net/xmlhttpproxy.html.

Technorati: conf webservices web2.0 ruby jruby projecmetro glassfish netbeans q&a

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GlassFish Book Review

A book on GlassFish: "Java EE 5 Development using GlassFish Application Server" by David Heffelfinger, was released last month. The publisher sent a courtesy copy for review, thank you for that. I read good part of the book on my several flights in past two weeks. First of all, I'd like to thanks the author, publisher and rest of the team for writing this book. Overall I liked the book because of it's simplicity and a good flow through out the book. This is a great book for first timers!

Here are some of the points that I'd like to highlight:

1. Community is a very strong aspect of GlassFish. And "Who's Who ?" of this book endorses that point. The Author, Reviewer, Editor or anybody else is not involved with Sun. That is a good community feeling and we hope to see more books on the similar lines with a different perspective.
2. The GlassFish-specific notes sprinkled through out are very helpful. Even though the book is mainly about Java EE 5 concepts but the notes allow to think from GlassFish perspective. For example, there are GlassFish admin console screenshots at relevant points.
3. The book uses simple English to explain the concepts. The flow of the chapters is easy to understand and very good for the Java EE 5 first timers. This is very clearly marked in the beginning sections of the book which says "This book is aimed at Java developers wishing to become proficient with Java EE 5, who are expected to have some experience with Java and to have developed and deployed applications in the past, but need no previous knowledge of Java EE or J2EE. It teaches the reader how to use GlassFish to develop and deploy applications."
4. Some book authors take the approach of building a complete application from scratch and explain the concepts using that application. This approach typically requires to understand the application and the actual technology details may get lost. I personally like the Hello World approach with small and simple samples. This book follows that approach and I personally feel it's more beneficial where the readers can focus on the technology.

Here are some potential improvements:

1. The first chapter provide a very simple explanation of GlassFish installation with different screenshots. The different alternatives to deploy and undeploy an application are discussed in very simple language. However only the asadmin-way to create JDBC connection pools & resources is explained. It would be nice to provide asadmin commands to do the same tasks as well.
2. NetBeans and GlassFish integration is explained in 2 pages only. The NetBeans IDE provides a much tighter integration with GlassFish including deploying/undeploy apps, monitoring and configuration. Multiple screencasts and docs explain that relationship already but it would be nice to provide a slightly more detailed overview in this book. OTOH, Eclipse integration is still using an older version of Eclipse. The screencast #ws6 shows how Eclipse 3.3 can be used to integrate GlassFish and create simple applications.
3. I understand the time/resource balance but feel the Web services chapter is pretty minimal. It merely introduces the basic Web services support in GlassFish and does not talk about about any of the Security, Reliability, Transactions and .NET 3.0 interoperability. Anyway, you can find the details in tutorial and numerous screencasts about Metro (the Web services stack in GlassFish).
4. A minor nitpick - The GlassFish on the book's main page is looking right where as the GlassFish logo is looking left.

Send feedback to feedback@packtpub.com, making sure to mention the book title in the subject of your message.

In a nutshell - Great book, must buy for first timers, buy your copy here.

Happy reading!

Technorati: glassfish book eclipse netbeans webservices metro

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Vote for Product of The Year 2008 @ Developer.com

It's that time of the year, time to cast your vote for the favorite product of the year. The voting ends Dec 21.

In order to make it easy for you, here are my choices :)

Technorati: survey netbeans glassfish javase developer.com product awards

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New Java Web Services Instructor-led Training Courses

New Instructor-led classroom training sessions on Java EE 5 Web Services are now available.

• Creating Web Services Using Java Technology (course #DWS-3111-EE5)
• Designing Java Web Services (course #DWS-4112-EE5)
• Developing Secure Java Web Services (course #DWS-4120-EE5)

These courses teach how to design, implement, deploy and maintain Web services using Java EE 5 platform. NetBeans 5.5 IDE and Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 9.0 (GlassFish v1) are used to perform the lab sessions. If the existing schedule does not meet your request, then click on "Request A Class" button.

Stay tuned, new courses based on GlassFish v2 are being developed and will be released soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy screencast #ws7 that shows how to create, deploy and invoke a Secure and Reliable Web service using NetBeans 6 and GlassFish v2.

View the entire Java Web Services learning path.

Technorati: webservices glassfish training learning course metro netbeans

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