Application Servers:

“Web Server Brains” http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s=1611&a=2851,00.asp

Simply put, application servers are the brains behind a Web site. They let sites take data entered into a browser and run custom business logic on that input (looking up customer information in a database, for example). The application server can then output HTML and send it back through the Web server to the end user.

Application servers are quickly gobbling up two other market niches: transaction monitors and enterprise application integration (EAI) products. Transaction monitors such as BEA's Tuxedo or IBM's CICS have traditionally provided connection pooling and state management. These features now appear in application servers. Application servers are also nudging EAI products to the sidelines by providing connectivity to back-end systems such as databases, enterprise resource planning systems, mainframes, and message queuing systems.

CGI is still common on the Web, but because it requires spawning a new instance of a program each time it processes a request, and in the interest of better security, it's giving way to two other types of application servers; page-based and component-based. We evaluate both of them here.

· While page-based applications are quick to implement, component based web servers are the right choices for complex, often team-written Web applications such as high-volume e-commerce sites.

· By far the most common component object framework supported is Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). These come in three flavors: session beans, which perform business logic for an individual client during its browsing session; entity beans, which represent persistent data stored in one row of a database table, and message-driven beans, which use JMS (Java Message Service). Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM+) and the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) component standards are also supported by some products. The Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification (encompassing EJBs, servlets, JDBC and several other technologies) has been astonishingly successful at dominating the application server market and only a handful of vendors; Microsoft being the most notable one; support anything else.

· High-end application servers also tend to be more reliable and scalable. One way to get reliability is through support for application server clusters. If one machine goes down, processing is automatically redirected to other systems without end-user interruption or data loss. Clustering can also help a site scale to handle increasing requests, but some products achieve scalability with multiple CPUs on large symmetric multiprocessing systems.

· Application servers are taking over other tangential markets, too, such as portals, wireless development servers, storefronts, and B2B integration products based on the foundation of their application server technology.

High-End: WebSphere, Page-Based: ColdFusion 4.5

JSP and Tomcat 3.2:

· Company Info: Apache Software Foundation, Forest Hill, MD; fax, 410-803-2258; jakarta.apache.org/tomcat.

· Free download.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· Tomcat 3.2, an open-source application server, puts servlet and JSP Web applications within anyone's reach. For organizations that have onboard expertise with open-source software and want to save on licensing costs, it's a worthy option. But Tomcat is not very easy to use, and its lack of enterprise-level features (in particular, support for EJBs and scalability) will probably discourage larger companies from adopting it.

· Tomcat is an implementation of Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies developed under the Jakarta project at the Apache Software Foundation. Sun adapts and integrates the Tomcat code base into the J2EE Reference Implementation.

· System administrators tackling Tomcat will need to know a good deal about today's Java Virtual Machine (JVM), because, unlike the commercial application servers we tested, there is no command console or browser-based administration module. Instead, Webmasters edit XML-based configuration files.

· Tomcat has no built-in development tools: Programmers can use their favorite IDE or rely on the command line Java compiler from Sun. As with all page-based scripting languages, separating presentation code from business logic requires care in JSP development. But with the proper planning and expertise, it can be done. Reusable tag libraries that keep Java out of sight for less technical Web designers within an organization are one step toward accomplishing this. Tomcat developers can also make use of simple database beans (rather than EJBs) that work as separate components on the middle tier. Integrating these with databases usually requires writing plenty of code using JDBC.

· After deploying code for production systems, administrators will need to fine-tune Tomcat's use of thread pools for each servlet to get acceptable performance.

· For most shops, scaling a system built on Tomcat will mean using one powerful box with multiple CPUs and plenty of memory; there's no load balancing built-in. It is possible to redirect servlets to different servers (and JVMs) for basic clustering support, but this is primitive compared with solutions such as Sybase EAServer, which provides dynamic load balancing and a console to manage clusters.

· The Tomcat FAQ suggests that administrators profile their code with different JVMs to find which is fastest. It's just such a "roll-up-your-sleeves" ethic that will make Tomcat appealing—or not—to an organization.

· The open source reference implementation for servlets and JSPs. Always supports the latest Servlet API revision. It's written entirely in Java. Source code is available under the excellent (better than GPL) Apache license as part of Project Jakarta. Version 3.2 has been released and 4.0 is in late beta. It's undergoing rapid development (you can help out if you'd like) for future versions

Tomcat 4.0 is out now and the 4.0 servlet container (Catalina) has been developed from the ground up for flexibility and performance. Version 4.0 implements the final released versions of the Servlet 2.3 and JSP 1.2 specifications. As required by the specifications, Tomcat 4.0 also supports web applications built for the Servlet 2.2 and JSP 1.1 specifications with no changes.

FREE

Caucho's Resin Server:

· Company Info: : Caucho Technology, La Jolla, CA; fax, 858 777-3636; www.caucho.com/
· Price: Resin 2.0 core: $500 per server. Resin-CMP CMP and Resin 2.0: $1000 per server. Resin Platinum Edition $2500 per year 
· Resin® is a cutting-edge XML Application Server. It serves the fastest servlets and JSP. It has the fastest XML and XSL engine. Its new Hessian web services bridge EJB power with multilanguage flexibility. 
· Resin is a fast servlet and JSP engine supporting load balancing for increased reliability. Resin encourages separation of content from style with its XSL support. Servlets can generate simple XML and use an XSL filter to format results for each client's capability, from palm pilots to Mozilla.
· Resin will work with most web servers, including Apache, IIS, iPlanet, Zeus, and any web server providing the NSAPI or ISAPI interfaces.
· Resin supports the latest Servlet 2.3 specification from Sun. Its performance, even as a separate process connected by sockets, outperforms native Apache modules like mod_perl and mod_php. 
· Processing of JSP 1.2 files is the simplest use of Resin. JSP mixes Java and HTML (or XML) in a simple text file. File inclusion and forwarding, cleaner and more powerful than Server Side Includes, are directly supported. ASP or PHP users will be immediately comfortable with JSP and immediately gain the ability to create Java components.
· Works great with XSL stylesheets. This really helps if you showing the same content for different mediums. Handheld devices, for example.
· Resin keeps response times low. Fast response times are vital, even for lightly loaded sites. 

Oracle 9i Application Server:

· Company Info: : Caucho Technology, La Jolla, CA; fax, 858 777-3636; www.oracle.com

· Price: Enterprise Edition: $ 80,000
· In today's business climate, some companies are opting for solutions above and beyond a J2EE server. They rely on a complete and integrated e-business infrastructure that addresses the spectrum of characteristics required for an enterprise deployment: performance, reliability, standards support, integration, security, and ultimately cost.
· Oracle9i Application Server includes the industry's lightest and most efficient J2EE server. Oracle9iAS delivers comprehensive J2EE 1.3 support to rapidly develop and deploy high performance applications.
· Oracle9i Application Server is the industry's most complete application server. Oracle9iAS features J2EE, clustering, Web cache, Web services, integration, built-in portals, business intelligence, e-mail, and wireless support — all available pre-integrated in a single product. 
· Extensive support for standards-based security, including encryption, authentication and authorization, enable you to protect sensitive data as it travels over the network. 
· Integrates the solutions of other products, such as BEA Weblogic/IBM Websphere and iPlanet. There are also applications for email, wireless and security included in the Application Server package.

BEA's WebLogic 7.0:

· Company Info: BEA Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA; fax, 408.570.8901; www.bea.com

· Price: $10,000/CPU and $17,00/CPU for clusters

· BEA WebLogic Server™ 7.0 is certified J2EE 1.3-compliant and implements the latest in Web Services standards. Leveraging the latest standards gives developers access to the newest advancements, facilitates product interoperability, and ultimately provides investment protection for those using the standards.

· BEA WebLogic Builder, a new, easy to use graphical tool for assembling, packaging, and deploying J2EE applications to WebLogic Server. This intuitive tool, coupled with new command-line utilities, reduces the number of manual steps necessary to create a deployable J2EE application.

· With the introduction of the new WebLogic Security service, BEA improves productivity by enabling the application developer to leverage this unified security infrastructure to secure interactions between EJBs, Web applications or Java applications, and BEA WebLogic.

· BEA continues to work closely with its development tool partners to ensure tighter integration between BEA WebLogic Server 7.0 and the development community's favorite IDEs, including WebGain, Borland JBuilder, and WebSphere Studio Application Developer.

· Wizard-based Deployment Configuration wizards are available to easily create new domains, clusters, and configurations. The configuration wizard reduces the complexity involved in the deployment process by navigating the user through multiple configuration features and validating each step in the configuration process.

· Open and Extensible Administration

· 54% of the market share. Most mission-critical systems implement with WebLogic.

Zeus 4.0:

· Company Info: Zeus Technology Ltd., 408-350-9400, www.zeus.com

· Price: $1,700 per server

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

Plus: Very fast; enterprise scalability; supports open standards; nice interface
Minus: Relatively expensive; small market share; no U.S. support

· Zeus Web Server 4.0 combines extensive features, a superb user interface, and formidable performance, making it a compelling choice for Unix platforms.

· Installing Zeus is easy: Just answer a few text-mode prompts and you're up and running. The excellent browser-based administration interface makes a wide range of features readily accessible. You can set up virtual servers, assign them to groups, and modify configuration of the virtual servers individually or in combinations of your choosing. You can even go a step farther and set up identical subservers within virtual servers to facilitate mass hosting.

· Zeus queues up changes until you explicitly apply them, but its graphical server-status page also provides a clear indication of which servers have changes pending. When you apply changes, you can view an audit list showing their details. Reconfiguration is dynamic, so you don't have to restart the server to apply your changes.

· Zeus provides bandwidth throttling on the virtual-server and subserver levels. Clustering and fail-over support are provided as well for use in server farms.

· Zeus supports SSL, with wizard-like interfaces that make it easy to get and set up a certificate.

· Zeus positions its Web server partly as a solution for sites migrating from other Web servers, and to that end, it provides a variety of programming interfaces for compatibility.

iPlanet Application Server 6.0:

· Company Info: iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, Palo Alto, CA; 888-786-8111; www.iplanet.com

· Price: Standard, $2,995 direct per CPU; Enterprise (tested version), $19,995; Enterprise Pro, $39,995.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· iPlanet's development team has emphasized fault tolerance and scalability since the beginning of the product's life.

· iPlanet provides very flexible session handling, load balancing and clustering.

· The product is heavily geared toward Java. The iPlanet administration tool offers real-time performance monitoring and includes a Simple Network Management Protocol agent. The administration tool is Java-based rather than HTML-based, making it less accessible.

· The LDAP-based iPlanet Directory Server is included with the product, as well as the iPlanet Web server.

· iPlanet's weakest link is its tools strategy: A series of half-baked development tools over the years has been abandoned.

· iPlanet's enterprise version includes a built-in transaction monitor (IBM's TXSeries)–a significant value-add, since it lets the server safely drive distributed transactions between different databases.

· The Enterprise Pro Edition adds Web-based process-management software. It also includes connectors to IBM's CICS and BEA Systems' Tuxedo transaction monitors as well as SAP AG's and PeopleSoft's ERP packages.

Borland AppServer 4.5:

· Company Info: Borland Software Corp., Scotts Valley, CA; 800-457-9527, 831-431-1000; www.borland.com/appserver

· Price: $12,000 list per CPU; JBuilder 4 Enterprise, $2,999.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· Borland’s AppServer gets top marks for development environment and compatibilities. But difficulties during testing concerned us about its ability to scale for enterprise applications.

· Easy setup and support for the latest CORBA and J2EE standards help make Borland AppServer 4.5 suitable for any smaller to midsize Web initiative. Though AppServer lagged in PC Magazine’s performance testing, it offers several strengths, including excellent interoperability with other systems and the industry-leading developer tool, JBuilder.

· AppServer's interface and the quality of its verifier's feedback are outstanding. It checks for missing bean interfaces and classes, as well as incompatible XML descriptor settings (such as transaction and security options).

· Wizards make generating client-side EJB JARs (which programmers need in order to create clients) a far less painful task than it might otherwise be. We also liked the clear and comprehensible online help and tutorials, which walked us through basic administration tasks and introduced the big picture of creating and using EJBs in Web applications.

· JBuilder 4 Enterprise Java IDE has first-rate EJB development features and a powerful modeling wizard that can generate components based on database tables. We liked its ability to join EJB components. Besides targeting Borland AppServer EJBs, JBuilder can also target JAR files for BEA's WebLogic 5.1 (with support for IBM's WebSphere and other app servers in the works).

· There's excellent support for end-to-end debugging, including a nifty feature that generates code for testing all your EJBs before integrating them into a Web application. One missing item, however, is a visual interface for creating JSPs. Though they can target other application servers with JBuilder, developers will appreciate the integration between this Java IDE and AppServer.

Macromedia JRUN 3.1:

· Company Info: Macromedia, Inc., San Francisco, CA; 415 252-2000; www.macromedia.com/software/jrun

· Price: Advanced: $1,995 Enterprise: $4,995

· Certified J2EE compatible, Macromedia JRun Server 3.1 is the easy-to-use Java application server that empowers you to develop and deploy Java applications quickly using JSP, Java Servlets, EJB, JTA and JMS. You can rely on JRun for greater productivity, enhanced application performance and exceptional configuration flexibility.

· JRun 3.1 is also packed with new features: hot and auto deployment, improved samples and documentation, enhanced support for EJBs, SSL support, easier administration and an extensible JSP custom tag library featuring build-your-own custom tags using JSP syntax- without writing a line of Java code.

· Ideal for heterogeneous computing environments, JRun fully supports Windows 2000/NT/98/95, Solaris, Linux, HP-UX, IBM AIX, SGI IRIX, and Compaq Tru64.

· Manage server deployment from virtually any computer with the JRun Management Console (JMC), an easy-to-use, web-based server administration tool.

· Intergration with Flash: But while Macromedia Flash can display and manipulate data in a browser, this capability is much more powerful when coupled with an application server. By providing database connectivity and a server-side scripting environment, application servers allow you to dynamically generate the content or data that will be displayed using Macromedia Flash.

Enhydra:

· Company Info: Lutris Technologies, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA; fax: 831 471-0957; www.enhydra.org

· Price: Free

· Enhydra, which is an open source application server that uses Tomcat's technology internally.

· The first open-source Java/XML application server. It supports interactive user interfaces with Flash 5 via an exchange of XML data

· Enhydra contains an XML engine, XMLC (XML compiler typically used to compile HTML into a DOM based object model), Database Connection Pooling, object-to-relational mapping tools, and more.

· The platform contains just about all enterprise level services to build extreme high volume web sites. One of the most talked about features of Enhydra is its XMLC technology - an object-oriented standards based replacement for JSP that completely separates the designer and developer. Rather than force a development environment, Enhydra provides plug-ins for the leading IDEs such as Borland's JBuilder. In addition to all this, Enhydra includes object-to-relational mapping tools, clustering web server extensions and much more.

· Enhydra allows the input of a pure markup language. The user can use XHTML or standard HTML. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

· 8-10 times faster than WebLogic

FREE

IBM WebSphere 3.5:

· Company Info: IBM Corp., Somers, NY; 800-426-4968; www.ibm.com.

· Standard, $795 list per CPU; Advanced (tested version), $10,000 per CPU; Enterprise, $35,000 per CPU.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· IBM WebSphere comes with DB2

· WebSphere includes speed-enhancing caching techniques, rock-solid load balancing and failover handling, and a complete complement of developer tools for creating Web applications. Its management console offers minute control over settings; support for a multitude of operating systems and Web servers sets WebSphere apart. Excellent performance in our testing is the icing on the cake.

· WebSphere's wizards can make creating, testing, installing, and operating Java-based e-business applications easy, but its tools also offer minute control over advanced server settings for experts.

· The application server is just a single part of the whole. A host of e- commerce offerings, such as personalization and wireless servers, that sit on top of WebSphere are available from IBM and third parties. WebSphere Studio Advanced ($1,999 list), a complete development environment, lets programmers create and maintain a Web application's logic and look.

· VisualAge for Java (VAJ) Professional Edition ($149) is a complete visual IDE for developing servlets, JSP, JavaBean components, and HTML.

· After creating EJBs, you'll need to package them as JAR files for transfer and import them into the application server. VAJ uses a repository for code management with role-based security and privileges.

· WebSphere Studio lets site builders integrate Web assets such as graphic files, HTML, Java Server Pages, and page templates with Enterprise JavaBean e-business logic. It supports team development using check-in and check-out security at the file level or an external source code manager such as Merant PVCS or Rational's ClearCase.

· This process makes running a cluster much easier than trying to keep each machine in sync individually.

· The aggressive use of caching contributed to the fastest search results we saw. Adjustable caches exist at many levels in WebSphere, including those for database queries, Java objects, pages, and graphics.

· Though its developer tools simplify creating Web applications, optimizing WebSphere implementations requires deep knowledge of Web servers, app servers, database servers, and the operating environment. Companies will need a highly qualified support staff to deploy applications, but the reward for that investment will be a highly scalable, robust, enterprise-class e-business delivery platform.

ColdFusion Server 4.5:

· Company Info: Macromedia Inc., San Francisco; 800-457-1774, www.macromedia.com.

· ColdFusion Server 4.5 Enterprise for Windows, $4,995 direct; ColdFusion Studio 4.5, $495.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· Cold Fusion has rich development environment, out-of-the box interoperability, and powerful Web-based server administration tool are without peer in other page-based systems.

· It combines a full-featured server engine with a language that's powerful, extensible, and easy to learn; it also has some of the best development tools around.

· Site builders can write ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), the product's scripting language, in any text editor, but they're much better off using ColdFusion Studio. Conveniences such as right-clicking any CFML tag to display all tag options make this tool a pleasure. Studio works with HTML, too, and even includes a decent style-sheet builder. Studio also lets programmers develop in ASP, CSS, Java, JSP, Perl, PHP, SQL, vScript, and WML.

· For team development, Studio plugs into any SCCI-compliant revision control system. Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev, can also generate CFML.

· ColdFusion's server engine falls short of JSP performance for most applications because it's interpreted, rather than compiled, but the Enterprise version of ColdFusion Server contains software-based clustering, improving both the performance and the reliability of ColdFusion sites. Another weak spot is ColdFusion's simple text logging in place of detailed performance monitoring.

· ColdFusion Administrator is one of the server's great strengths. The interface is completely Web-based, so you can administer using a browser from any system that can reach the server.

· In addition, a graph generator in the server lets you create images and Macromedia Flash graphics dynamically. (The recent merger should result in even more integration with Macromedia products.) According to the company, there are also plans for future versions to embrace J2EE standards.

Microsoft IIS, COM+, and ASP:

· Company Info: Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA. 800-426-9400; www.microsoft.com.

· Windows 2000 Advanced Server, $3,999 direct; Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition, $1,619.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· Microsoft doesn’t actually have an application server, but a great many sites are using Microsoft technologies to do the very things that application servers do. One advantage to this approach is that if you're using Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, you've already got the engine for application server functions.

· ISA can improve the performance of a Web site by caching frequently accessed static content. It handles requests directly, without having to contact an upstream Web server. ISA servers can also be configured in arrays, for fault tolerance and load balancing. Application Center helps administrators work with clusters, letting them, for example, change configuration settings on all servers or perform rolling upgrades of applications.

· One of the key innovations in COM+ is the concept of attributes. An attribute is data that declares what services a component needs at runtime.

· Another important service that COM+ provides is its thread and database connection pools.

· COM+ also provides a simple, transparent security model. A component can request that COM+ perform access checks prior to having its methods invoked.

· IS can broker incoming HTTP requests and hand them off to COM+ components for processing. COM+ applications bypass an extra network round-trip to a separate application server, resulting in increased throughput. This is why logical three-tier, physical two-tier designs are popular in COM+ systems.

· Testing of Microsoft showed COM+ performing on a par with the fastest J2EE products when using Oracle and even faster with Microsoft SQL Server.

PHP and ZEND:

· Company Info: Zend Technologies, Baltimore; 877-936-3872; www.zend.com.

· Price: PHP, free download from www.php.net. Zend IDE, $250 direct; Zend Cache, $1,500; Zend Encoder Unlimited, $2,400; Zend Optimizer, free.

· PC MAGAZINE: Editor Rating:

· Though PHP thrives on hosted servers, it's too immature for a high-traffic business environment.

· PHP is a scripting language with an engine for running the scripts. It comes with no tools at all.

· Version 4 of PHP (we tested 4.04 patch level 1) significantly improved the power of the language, including adding easy access to Java code.

· But PHP has some strange features. The normal way to do database programming is through an abstraction layer such as ADO or JDBC. But the PHP way is to use a database-specific API. There's support for over a dozen databases, including Oracle and Sybase, and the open-source MySQL and PostgreSQL. PHP proponents argue