An application server is a software engine that delivers applications to client computers or devices, typically through the internet and using the http protocol. Application servers are distinguished from web servers by the extensive use of server-side dynamic content and frequent integration with database engines. In computer science, a software engine refers to the core of a computer program. ... Application has the following meanings: In general, an application is using something general to some more conrete. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The term web server can mean one of two things: a computer responsible for serving web pages, mostly HTML documents, via the HTTP protocol to clients, mostly web browsers; a software program that is working as a daemon serving web documents. ... In computer networking, the term server-side refers to operations that are performed by the server in a client-server relationship. ... In classical hypertext navigation occurs among static documents, and, for web users, this experience is reproduced using static web pages. ... A dfgyfgdcdfgis the underlying component that a Database Management System (DBMS) uses to create, retrieve, update and delete (CRUD) data from a database. ...

An application server handles most, if not all, of the business logic and data access of the application (a.k.a. centralization). The main benefit of an application server is the ease of application development, since applications need not be programmed; instead, they are assembled from building blocks provided by the application server. For example, a wiki is an application server that allows users to build dynamic content assembled from articles. Moreover, Wikipedia is an assembled wiki that delivers an encyclopedia stored in a filesystem, with changes to the encyclopedia stored in a database. Business Logic is a non-technical term generally used to describe the functional algorithms which handle information exchange between a database and a user interface. ... Data Access typically refers to software and activities related to storing, retrieving, or acting on data housed in a database or other repository. ... A computer program is a collection of instructions that describe a task, or set of tasks, to be carried out by a computer. ... Look up Wiki in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In classical hypertext navigation occurs among static documents, and, for web users, this experience is reproduced using static web pages. ... For Wikipedia guidelines, see Wikipedia:What is an article. ... Wikipedia (IPA: , or ( ) is a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization. ... Cyclopedia redirects here. ... See Filing system for this term as it is used in libraries and offices In computing, a file system is a method for storing and organizing computer files and the data they contain to make it easy to find and access them. ... This article is about computing. ...

The term application server applies to all platforms, and there and many variations on the theme, thus making it slightly ambiguous. The term is used to refer to servers of Web-based applications, such as integrated platforms for e-commerce, content management systems, and Web-site builders. One particular and prominent example is the Sun Microsystems J2EE platform. In computing, a platform describes some sort of framework, either in hardware or software, which allows software to run. ... Electronic commerce, EC, e-commerce or ecommerce consists primarily of the distributing, buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. ... A content management system (or CMS) is a system used to organise and facilitate collaborative content creation. ... Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition or J2EE is a Standard (albeit with no ISO or ECMA standard) for developing distributed Multi-tier architecture applications, based on modular components running on an application server. ...

Common features

Application server products typically bundle middleware to enable applications to intercommunicate with dependent applications, like Web servers, database management systems, and chart programs. Some application servers also provide an API, making them operating system independent. Portals are a common application server mechanism by which a single point of entry is provided to multiple devices. This article is about integration software. ... The term web server can mean one of two things: a computer responsible for serving web pages, mostly HTML documents, via the HTTP protocol to clients, mostly web browsers; a software program that is working as a daemon serving web documents. ... A database management system (DBMS) is a computer program (or more typically, a suite of them) designed to manage a database, a large set of structured data, and run operations on the data requested by numerous users. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... API and Api redirect here. ... An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer and provides programmers with an interface used to access those resources. ... ...

History

In the later part of the 1990s, it was thought that a massive transition to centrally served applications was likely, and that the desktop PC would be replaced by lightweight network computers. This would have been a return to the much older model of computing as it was done in the 1960s, with a large central computer being accessed by multiple users using dumb terminals. The difference now was the widespread use of the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Certain products, such as Citrix's WinFrame, became quite popular, allowing standard Windows software to be run on an NT server and accessed from a wide variety of clients, including non-Windows platforms such as Mac and Unix. Currently, the trend is to deliver applications via a browser or other Internet device. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... A network computer is a lightweight computer system that operates exclusively via a network connection. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Data terminal. ... GUI redirects here. ... Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS) is an American technology company, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with subsidiary operations in California and Massachusetts, with additional development centers in Australia, India and the UK. Citrix delivers software and services to secure and optimize delivery of corporate and web-based applications. ... WinFrame was a multi-user version of Windows NT 3. ... Windows redirects here. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®, sometimes also written as or ® with small caps) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ...

Java application servers

Java EE Servers

Following the success of the Java platform, the term application server sometimes refers to a Java Platform--Enterprise Edition (J2EE) or Java EE 5 application server. Among the better known Java Enterprise Edition application servers are WebLogic Server (BEA), JBoss (Red Hat), WebSphere (IBM), JRun (Adobe), Apache Geronimo (Apache Foundation, based on IBM WebSphere), Oracle OC4J (Oracle Corporation), Sun Java System Application Server (Sun Microsystems) and Glassfish Application Server (based on Sun Java System Application Server). The Java platform is the name for a bundle of related programs, or platform, from Sun Microsystems which allow for developing and running programs written in the Java programming language. ... Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition or J2EE is a Standard (albeit with no ISO or ECMA standard) for developing distributed Multi-tier architecture applications, based on modular components running on an application server. ... Owned by BEA Systems, Inc, BEA WebLogic is a J2EE Platform product family that includes a J2EE application server- WebLogic Server, an enterprise portal - WebLogic Portal, an Enterprise Application Integration platform, a Transaction Server and Infrastructure - WebLogic Tuxedo, a Telecommunication Platform - WebLogic Communication Platform and also an HTTP web server... BEA Systems, Inc. ... JBoss (pronounced Jay Boss) is an open source Java EE-based application server implemented in Java. ... For other uses, see Red Hat (disambiguation). ... WebSphere refers to a brand of proprietary IBM software products, although the term also popularly refers to one specific product: WebSphere Application Server (WAS). ... For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation) and Big Blue. ... JRun is an Macromedias J2EE application server. ... Renewal of the surface coating of an adobe wall in Chamisal, New Mexico Adobe is a natural building material composed of sand, sandy clay and straw or other organic materials, which is shaped into bricks using wooden frames and dried in the sun. ... The Geronimo project is an open source application server developed by the Apache Software Foundation and distributed under the Apache license. ... The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit corporation to support Apache software projects, including the Apache webserver. ... This article lacks information on the importance of the subject matter. ... Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) is one of the major companies developing database management systems (DBMS), tools for database development, middle-tier software, enterprise resource planning software (ERP), customer relationship management software (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) software. ... Sun Microsystems is a computer, semiconductor and software manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ... GlassFish is an open source (released under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) v1. ...

To give an example JOnAS application server was the first non-commercial, open source application server to have achieved official certification of compliance with the Java Enterprise Specification. BEA delivered the first Java EE 5 certified application server followed by Sun Microsystems' reference implementation GlassFish. JOnAS is an open source implementation by ObjectWeb of the J2EE specification. ... BEA Systems, Inc. ... In computing, GlassFish is the name of an application server project by Sun Microsystems for the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) platform. ...

The Web modules are servlets and JavaServer Pages, and business logic is built into Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB-3 and later). The Hibernate project offers an EJB-3 container implementation for the JBoss Application server. Tomcat from Apache and JOnAS from ObjectWeb are typical of containers into which these modules can be put. The Java Servlet API allows a software developer to add dynamic content to a web server using the Java platform. ... // JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a Java technology that allows software developers to dynamically generate HTML, XML or other types of documents in response to a Web client request. ... Simple EJB Architecture Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) is a managed, server-sided component for modular construction of enterprise applications. ... This article refers to the process of hibernation in biology. ... JBoss (pronounced Jay Boss) is an open source Java EE-based application server implemented in Java. ... Apache Tomcat is a web container, or application server developed at the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). ... Apache Software Foundation Logo The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is a non-profit corporation (classified as 501(c)(3) in the United States) to support Apache software projects, including the Apache HTTP Server. ...

A Java Server Page (JSP) is a servlet from Java that executes in a Web container—the Java equivalent of CGI scripts. JSPs are a way to create HTML pages by embedding references to the server logic within the page. HTML coders and Java programmers can work side by side by referencing each other's code from within their own. JavaBeans are the independent class components of the Java architecture from Sun Microsystems. Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is an important World Wide Web technology that enables a client web browser to request data from a program executed on the Web server. ... HTML, an initialism of Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for web pages. ... JavaBeans are software components written in the Java programming language. ... Sun Microsystems, Inc. ...

The application servers mentioned above mainly serve Web applications. Some application servers target networks other than the Web: Session Initiation Protocol servers, for instance, target telephony networks. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying, and terminating sessions with one or more participants. ...

Java-Based, but Non-Java-EE Servers

Java EE is a specification for a particular type of Java application server, the Enterprise JavaBean. Java EE servers also deal with many other aspects of integration in the context of an enterprise such as the Java Transaction API, Java EE Connector Architecture, and Java API for XML Web Services. Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition or Java EE (formerly also J2EE) is a programming platform — part of the Java platform — for developing and running distributed multi-tier architecture applications, based largely on modular components running on an application server. ... Simple EJB Architecture Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) is a managed, server-sided component for modular construction of enterprise applications. ... The Java Transaction API (JTA) is one of the Java EE APIs allowing distributed transactions to be done across multiple XA resources. ... Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) is a Java-based technology solution for connecting application servers and enterprise information systems (EIS) as part of enterprise application integration (EAI) solutions. ... The Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS) is a Java programming language API for creating web services. ...

There are other types of Java based application servers that comply with different specifications, for example the Plain Old Java Object application server uses the Java language as its specification, and is also named after the component it runs, namely a Java application. Java EE application servers are based on a large set of Java Specification Request that was elaborated by the Java Community Process to guarantee interoperability for Java-based enterprise infrastructure building blocks of the Java EE. POJO is an acronym for Plain Old Java Object, and is favoured by advocates of the idea that the simpler design, the better. ... The Java Community Process or JCP, established in 1995, is a formalized process which allows interested parties to be involved in the definition of future versions and features of the Java platform. ... The Java Community Process or JCP, established in 1995, is a formalized process which allows interested parties to be involved in the definition of future versions and features of the Java platform. ...

Microsoft platform

Microsoft's contribution to application servers is the .NET Framework. This technology includes the Windows Communication Foundation, .NET Remoting, Microsoft Message Queuing, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, and Internet Information Services. ^[1] The Microsoft . ... This subsystem is a part of . ... . ... Microsoft Message Queuing or MSMQ is a technology developed by Microsoft and deployed in its Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. ... ASP.NET logo ASP.NET is a web application framework marketed by Microsoft that programmers can use to build dynamic web sites, web applications and XML web services. ... ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that can be used by programmers to access data and data services. ... Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS, formerly called Internet Information Server) is a set of Internet-based services for servers using Microsoft Windows. ...

Other platforms

The term application server has also been applied to many non-J2EE and non-Java offerings. Open source application servers are available from other vendors. Examples include Appaserver, Base4 and Zope. A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is a set of computer software programs and data structures which implements a specific virtual machine model. ... Appaserver management in a browser. ... Base4 an open source application server for generating, sharing and re-using . ... Zope management interface in a web browser window. ...

Different platforms including non-Java ones typically have their own specifications, and do not in general interoperate with one another. As a result, interoperability between different products based on different platforms is poor compared to restricted to a single family (such as interoperability between Zope applications alone, or only brtween of Java EE based products alone). To address these shortcomings, specifications for enterprise application integration and service-oriented architecture were designed to connect the many different products. These specifications include Business Application Programming Interface, Web Services Interoperability, and Java EE Connector Architecture. Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) is defined as the uses of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications. ... Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an architectural style that guides all aspects of creating and using business processes, packaged as services, throughout their lifecycle, as well as defining and provisioning the IT infrastructure that allows different applications to exchange data and participate in business processes regardless of the operating systems... BAPI is Business API. It is used in mySAP to achieve business related functionalities. ... The Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) is an industry consortium chartered to promote interoperability amongst the stack of web services specifications. ... Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) is a Java-based technology solution for connecting application servers and enterprise information systems (EIS) as part of enterprise application integration (EAI) solutions. ...

Advantages of application servers

Data and code integrity 

By centralizing business logic on an individual or small number of server machines, updates and upgrades to the application for all users can be guaranteed. There is no risk of old versions of the application accessing or manipulating data in an older, incompatible manner.

Centralized configuration 

Changes to the application configuration, such as a move of database server, or system settings, can be done centrally.

Security 

A central point through which access to data and portions of the application itself can be managed is considered a security benefit, devolving responsibility for authentication away from the potentially insecure client layer without exposing the database layer.

Performance 

By limiting the network traffic to performance tier traffic, it is perceived that the client-server model improves the performance of large applications in heavy usage environments.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) 

In combination, the benefits above are considered to represent a cost saving to a company when developing enterprise applications. In practice, however, the technical challenges of writing software that conforms to that paradigm combined with the need for software distribution to distribute client code somewhat negate these benefits.

In computer science and telecommunications, the term data integrity has the following meanings: The condition in which data is identically maintained during any operation, such as transfer, storage, and retrieval. ... This article describes how security can be achieved through design and engineering. ... Computer Performance is characterised by the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system compared to the time and resources used. ... In software engineering, multi-tier architecture (often referred to as n-tier architecture) is a client-server architecture, originally designed by Jonathon Bolster of Hematites Corp, in which an application is executed by more than one distinct software agent. ... Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate designed to help consumers and enterprise managers assess direct and indirect costs commonly related to software or hardware. ... Enterprise application software is application software that performs business functions such as accounting, production scheduling, customer information tracking, bank account maintenance, and the like. ... A software distribution is a bundle of a specific software (or a collection of multiple, even an entire operating system), already compiled and configured. ...

See also

• Server
• Web server
• Client-server
• Standalone server
• Comparison of application servers See this article for a list of web application servers listed by programming language.

In information technology, a server is an application or device that performs services for connected clients as part of a client-server architecture. ... The inside/front of a Dell PowerEdge web server The term Web server can mean one of two things: A computer program that is responsible for accepting HTTP requests from clients, which are known as Web browsers, and serving them HTTP responses along with optional data contents, which usually are... Client/Server is a network application architecture which separates the client (usually the graphical user interface) from the server. ... Standalone servers are compilations of programs that run on a single PC, but emulates what the same set of programs will do when run on a server over the Internet. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

References