There are several types of clients that may connect to a Geronimo server:

This chapter covers the last two types of clients (Web Services clients are covered in Chapter 16, Web Services [DRAFT(1.0)], while CORBA clients are covered in Chapter 17, CORBA in Geronimo [DRAFT (1.0)]).

A standard applet, application, or Java Web Start application (also known as a J2SE Application Client) doesn't take advantage of any particular J2EE features to connect to the server. That means the process is somewhat more manual and cumbersome, and the client is restricted to interacting with EJBs on the server. However, the client can be run in the same way as any other Java applet or application.

A J2EE application client, in contrast, is packaged as a J2EE component (in a client JAR), and is run using a J2EE application client container. Running in the client container gives the J2EE application client some advantages -- it can map resources into a private java:comp/env/ JNDI space (like EJBs or web applications can), and it can connect to a wider variety of resources on the server. However, it can't be run as a standalone Java applet or application; it must be run within the Geronimo client container.

The next two sections describe the process of configuring and running J2SE and J2EE application clients.