| Chapter 1. About Apache Geronimo [DRAFT (1.0)] | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Part I. Getting Started |  |
| Chapter 1. About Apache Geronimo [DRAFT (1.0)] | ||
|---|---|---|
| | Part I. Getting Started | |
Table of Contents
Geronimo is a free, open source J2EE™ application server. It comes with everything you need to run standard J2EE applications developed against the J2EE 1.4 specifications, and it is also backward-compatible to J2EE 1.3 and J2EE 1.2. Furthermore, its modular design makes it easy to customize, extend, or replace core server features. And thanks to the open source license, you can download the source code for troubleshooting, to help with enhancements, or just as a matter of record.
At heart, the Geronimo architecture consists of a small core, and many services loaded on top of that core. Application components and resources are in turn loaded into the services. There are several advantages to this layered approach:
It is possible to configure a very compact server, running only the services, resources, and applications that are strictly necessary.
It is easy to add new custom services to the server environment, which can be configured, managed, and accessed by applications just like the default services.
It's possible to replace the default implementation of any service with an alternative, so long as it implements the same interfaces.
Geronimo provides all the capabilities required by the J2EE 1.4 specification. In particular:
Geronimo includes a web application container supporting J2EE web applications. The web container itself supports basic configuration such as network ports and SSL options, and each web application WAR may include Geronimo-specific configuration information as well. Web applications participate in the Geronimo security infrastructure, so authenticating to a web application allows access to secure EJBs and Connectors as well.
Geronimo includes an EJB container supporting Session, Entity, and Message-Driven beans, including new J2EE 1.4 features such as Web Services and the EJB Timer service. It is also backward-compatible and supports EJB 2.0 applications. EJBs can be accessed both within the same application and by remote clients (over RMI or IIOP). An EJB JAR may include Geronimo-specific configuration information in addition to the standard J2EE deployment descriptor.
Geronimo includes a Connector container supporting both inbound and outbound Resource Adapters. Outbound connectors are the typical gateways to enterprise information systems, while inbound connectors allow external systems to deliver asynchronous messages to Message-Driven EJBs running in Geronimo. Connectors can be deployed as part of the server configuration (available to all applications) or as part of a specific application's configuration. A Connector RAR may include Geronimo-specific configuration information in addition to the standard J2EE deployment descriptor. Geronimo is also backward-compatible and supports J2EE Connector 1.0 Resource Adapters.
Geronimo provides a client container for running application clients in a managed environment. This allows a client application to access all the resources in the server environment using the same JNDI environment mapping techniques available to other application modules. All communication with the server is transparent to the application, minimizing the amount of custom code required. An application client may include Geronimo-specific configuration information in addition to the standard J2EE deployment descriptor.
Geronimo supports packaging all of the module types listed above into a single EAR file per application. Applications can be customized to configure and deploy specific Geronimo services when the application itself is deployed. Application dependencies can also be expressed, making it easier to handle groups of related applications.
Geronimo provides database connection pools for standard JDBC drivers. Database connection pools can be deployed as part of the server configuration or as part of a specific application's configuration.
Geronimo provides JMS connection factories and destinations. JMS resources can be deployed as part of the server configuration or as part of a specific application's configuration. The JMS provider may be configured for in-memory operation for maximum performance, or it may use clustering or persistent storage for enhanced reliability.
Geronimo provides JavaMail sessions allowing an application to send or receive e-mail (though as of v1.0 third-party transport plugins are required for POP and IMAP support).
Geronimo allows you to plug in a variety of security realm implementations, including file, LDAP, and database sources for authentication and authorization information. All the application modules can take advantage of this common security infrastructure.
The Geronimo infrastructure leverages JMX for configuration and management. If anything, looking at a running Geronimo server with a JMX client will probably show more JMX objects than you know what to do with, but is does provide extensive configuration and management options.
Building on the JMX foundation of Geronimo, the server and all application modules are exposed via the Management EJB. The J2EE management API includes a detailed object model for the manageable components in an application server, but does not detail the information or functions available for each component. Geronimo exposes robust management features for each managed component (including application modules, JDBC, JMS, and JavaMail resources, etc.).
Working in conjunction with the management API, the deployment API allows new application modules to be configured, deployed, started, stopped, redeployed, etc. All Geronimo-specific application configuration can be performed through the deployment API, and then the fully-configured application modules can be deployed to the server.
Geronimo supports both user-managed and container-managed transactions.
Geronimo includes the required JAXP, JAX-RPC, JAXR, and SAAJ APIs for XML, SOAP, and Web Services. Geronimo provides full Web Services support for J2EE components, including the ability to map and invoke external Web Services as well as the ability to expose certain application modules as Web Services.
| |  | |
| Part I. Getting Started |  | 1.2. Vendor and License |