We are regularly adding more modules to the two (v2/v3) GlassFish Update Center(s) and it is a bit hard to track what's available there today.

You could just fire your updatetool but I've done some screenshots to save you time and encourage you to use the tool: • v2 Update Center (Clip, Full Window) • v3 Update Center (Clip, Full Window).

PS. I think the right answer is that one should be able to point the browser to the repository to browse; that's coming.

Dick ("Number9"), a happy GlassFish v2 customer (lots of nice content here), has a review of GlassFish v3 TP2. He goes through the user experience of installing, starting and updating (web UI) the application server. It also details simple deployment and where to find documentation.

Dick is very much production-focused (not that it's a bad thing ! ;) so it may be useful to add that GlassFish v3 TP2 also offers an update tool to install one or all of the following: EJB 3.1 preview, jRubyOnRails (no more WAR packaging required), Grails, Jersey, metro, and jMaki.

GlassFish v3 TP2 is available for download from http://glassfish.org/downloads/v3 (21 Megs).

The GFv3 TP2 does not include the SOAP web services stack - Metro - (content) but it has all the required hooks and Metro is available from the v3 download center, as Bhakti explains in her Latest Note. Installation is straight-forward with the new UpdateCenter (ScreenShot). Try it out and let us know how it goes.

BTW, for those curious, you can poke to the IPS repositories through HTTP: windows, linux, mac, solaris SPARC, solaris x86

PS. As you can see, in addition to Metro, the GFv3 repository includes Grails support, Jersey (RESTful Web Services), jMaki/AJAX, and jRuby. Since TP2 already includes the Java Web Tier (Servlet+JSP+JSF) and JPA (EclipseLink), it is actually a very functional release - please share your experiences with it.

Another GlassFish-related announcement from Sun (PR): the Open ESB collection of projects are being aligned under the GlassFish umbrella. An evolutionary rather than a revolutionary move as pieces of OpenESB were already included in GF v2, but will encourage further synergies between the groups and artifacts.

Expect bundles of OpenESB components with GF, as well as community and architectural interactions. A good example of the latter is Project Fuji where the ESB components are delivered as OSGi modules running on GlassFish v3.

Check out GlassFish ESB, the earlier TA entry, and Prakah's Introduction to Fuji and GlassFishESB

JavaOne is proving to be its normal self. I had totally missed the GF v3 Admin Plugin Contest! I think it is a Nazrul/Anil special... Anyhow, thanks to Ken for the tip; go check the rules for the contest so you will have a chance to win a Canon SD1000 camera. And, if you think you have a really cool idea for a plugin, go an submit it to the GAP program; we still have a few openings.

The release of the EJB 3.1 EDR Spec early last month generated good feedback but there is nothing like an implementation to help understand the spec so... Mahesh and the implementation team have just pushed out an EA of EJB3.1 that installs as a container in the newly available GFv3 TP2. Check out the Features Available and How to Install it. Also see Ken's intro to the plugin.

Check it out and please give us feedback. Enjoy!

GlassFish v3 TP2 is now available! Start at the Download Page; the release itself is just 22MB as a ZIP. Check: QuickStart Guide, Content, Tutorial and Documentation Index.

This is the new modular, OSGi-based, version of the GlassFish Server. You will note it starts very fast (you can use "--verbose" for timing info). Once up it is listening on port 8080 (by default) and you get the Up and Running Page. Services are loaded (and downloaded if necessary!) as needed.

For example, if you go request the administration console it will be loaded and you will see the familiar Login Screen, and, behind it, the Administration Tasks.

GF v3 TP2 includes the new IPS-based package tool, and its associated Update Center 2. These tools are written in Python and the python packages will be downloaded on demand. Note that the Python Window kit (wxpython2.8), used by the UC2, is 128MB.

This release is described as a Technology Preview 2, but we believe it is actually quite solid; my hats off to the team for pulling it off!

Added: Also see Ludo's note on GFv3 TP2 and NB 6.1.

More GlassFish v3 news: Vivek is using the Embeddable GFv3 that Kohsuke had been working to Embed GFv3 with Grails. I guess this is not really a pre-announcement because it was not planned; people are just playing around doing demos for CommunityOne... -) So come to CommunityOne to check it out. Added: Also see Kohsuke's Note.

CommunityOne is free but space is limited; register now!

You heard that GF v3 now uses OSGi. A number of things follow from there, for example, you can load GF inside Eclipse! See Ludo's reference in his latest post with the rest of his Busy Schedule. We will show more of GlassFish v3 at different events this next week. The first opportunity is during the C1 GF overview/roadmap session, this Monday at 11, in Esplanade 307 (Special Events). GlassFish (v2 and v3) will also make a number of appearances, in lead and supporting roles, during all of JavaOne.

CommunityOne is a FREE event; you can Register Here.

Moving forward with GlassFish v3 and fresh from Kohsuke's forge: GlassFish v3 just got embeddable. It is pretty neat; a couple of calls and you can start it and deploy and undeploy applications. And very fast too! It is very early but it is good enough that he can run Hudson on it! Come to CommunityOne and JavaOne and see it in action.

Further progress on the Jython and Django on GlasFish using WSGI via Modjy. Frank is making good progress (Part I, Part II) and will show the results at C1 (in S297614).

Frank is collaborating with Jim Baker and Leo who have a related Google SoC project. I'm very interested in the outcome of this project; Python has certainly changed since when I looked at it years ago!

PS. Posts for the last few days have been slow due to preparations for J1, C1, et al.. Will do my best to keep with at least highlights, but we will see.

JFA has done some quick Performance Tests on GFv3 using Faban and they look very good; Static HTTP is faster than v2 and almost up to raw grizzly! This with a pre-Technology Preview 2 release; performance will improve.

I think GFv3 will have a big impact with its modularity, OSGi Support, small footprint, Performance, Startup-Time (stay tuned) and Scripting and JavaEE 6 Support.

We will provide more details on GFv3 during the GF track header at CommunityOne on Monday (May 5th) and then the rest of the week at JavaOne; Register Now, it's free.

The bulk of the GlassFish v3 on OSGi work has been done by Sahoo and in GlassFish V3 on OSGi - Part I, he explains the relationship between HK2 and OSGi, describing the module, component and configuration layers of HK2, and sketches the current thinking on how all these will evolve.

Stay tuned for more details about GFv3 TP2 in the next couple of weeks, running up to its release by CommunityOne.

CommunityOne is free but space is limited; register early.

Anybody that has been in the software industry for any time knows that roadmaps are always "work in progress". With that caveat, here are the latest news: • GFv2 UR2, this Thursday (wiki page, Msg) • GFv2.1, moved out to Fall 08 (wiki page, Harpreet's blog, Msg) • GFv3 TP2, JavaOne 08 (wiki page) GFv2 UR2 has a bunch of bug fixes so you should consider it if you are using GFv2. GFv2.1 will continue to be aligned and driven by Sailfin.

GFv3 TP2 is a "Technology Preview" release; we will provide a sneak peak at CommunityOne and will be demoed at JavaOne.

Added - GFv2 UR2 has been pushed out til Monday.

Davis posted a screencast that shows how to plug GlassFish v3 (pre-TP2) into NetBeans 6.1 (RC). Check out the Note and the Screencast. Total elapsed time for the screencast is 2 minutes. And, if you pay attention you can also see the startup time for this (slow) version of GFv3 TP2 :-)