Re: Oracle Application Server vs. Apache+Tomcat vs.built-in Java

Rick Denoire schrieb:
> I was requested to install and maintain OAS in order to enable an
> environment for Web based database applications using Java technology,
> mostly Applets, and perhaps Servlets.

OAS is capable for what you discribe.

> I am convinced that the developers do not really need such a big
> animal, but I can't mention the reasons.
>
> Shouldn't Apache+Tomcat be enough? Which would be the conceptual
> disadvantages of this simpler solution then?

Maybe. Apache is a web server for static content (e.g. html pages and applets, which are binary content delivered to the client - like a gif image). Tomcat is as servlet container - it can run server side java (servlets and jsps) as well as static content.

So maybe you only need Tomcat. You can combine Tomcat with Apache to have Tomcat run the dynamic part (e.g. jsps) and Apache serve the static content.

> I am not specially aware of the extra functionality offered by the OAS
> beyond the Servlet capability, but some could exist which could be
> raised by the developers as an unconditional argument to support the
> use of the OAS. I need the contra-arguments. I try not to use tools
> that are more complicated that needed.

OAS is a J2EE application server, that is, it offers services beyond Tomcat (e.g. EJB support). Tomcat is the reference implementation for only the Servlet and JSP spec.

http://www.oracle.com/technology/sample_code/tech/java/j2ee/javacookbook/java9ias.html

There is no contra-argument if they use either special Orcale (not standard spec) features in a servlet environment or if they need a full J2EE environment.

> In my opinion, if no other Oracle tools are being used, then there is
> no real need for OAS. Well, at least if you are not going to deal with
> hundreds of users of your Internet Application spread all over the
> world. The application itself should fulfill high security standards,
> but is comparably small, does not use distributed components, does not
> need any interaction with other applications. In one word, is has a
> simple architecture.

Maybe. Maybe they use Oracle extensions, maybe they can use them with Tomcat, maybe this is a license problem, ... If you know, what they need... I do not have your application requirements, architecture and whatever documents.

> By the way, isn't Oracle itself able to run Java? So why should one
> need anything else (besides Apache itself) at all? (I mean, not even
> Tomcat should be needed then).

Oracle is able to run Java, but there is more than one Java (Standard, Enterprise, Oracle extensions, ...). You need a servlet container if servlets need to be run (server-side).

> Any comments before I dive into the lengthy OAS documentation?
> (at this time, I only need some general orientation).

There must have been time planned into the project for getting you to know OAS.

Kai-Uwe Received on Sun Jan 09 2005 - 17:41:23 CST