Java client-server: what options are there?

This is an issue that I have been pondering and investigating for years, and I wish there was a book, chapter or URL that covered it.

I have to develop client-server systems in which the following is pretty much decided:

• The database is Oracle 9iR2
• The server OSs are Solaris and Linux
• The clients (a few dozen) are Windows (XP?)
• The client side runs on Java

Those are the givens, the rest is up for grabs...

The main undecided part is: exactly how to realize the client-server connection? That's what I would like to hear and read about. What options do I have?

To get the ball rolling, I will share my experiences so far.

First, I tried the JDBC approach, with a standalone application. There was a stored procedure in the server, and it was called from the client. The cons were: the size of the JDBC being much larger than my app, and there was also the issue of performance. I feel that I should move more of the functionality and heavy duty processing to the server side, where I can have plenty of horsepower.

My second attempt was a Java applet which got its data through CGI-BIN from an OCI C program running on the server. The performance was pretty good and I'd like to stick with the OCI part but not with CGI-BIN.

I just began the third approach: using SSH. The server part is a given since it comes ready in Linux, and I got the Java client part from sshtools.com.

I have read about servlets, Tomcat, etc. but it looks like once I get into that stuff (the area seems to be called "Enterprise"), the tools become extremely expensive (for instance I will have to upgrade my $700 Developer JBuilder to a $3500 Enterprise JBuilder).

The issue of performance still worries me (I am a speed freak): I wish I could just use the Unix R-commands (rsh, etc.) so all the encrypting-decrypting doesn't get in the way of client performance (my app is Intranet in a trusted environment) but I guess I can live with the more modern, secure, etc., SSH.

Thanks very much for sharing your expert insight on this, (and if you are a writer deciding on a topic, I'll bet that this one will sell a lot of books! - anyone from O'Reilly out there?)

-Ramon F Herrera Received on Thu Jan 01 2004 - 20:40:27 CST