Sun Java System Web Server

The Sun Java System Web Server is the only Web server your company needs. In addition to static Web serving, the Java System Web Server can be used to power Java applications and other popular Web technologies, enhance the performance and security of expensive Java application servers, and create secure Web infrastructures.

Use Case #1: Java Applications

If your Web application relies exclusively on Java Servlet or JavaServer Pages technology, then the Java System Web Server may be the ideal deployment platform, especially when compared to expensive application servers. The Java System Web Server includes a fast, in-process, pluggable Java virtual machine (JVM) implementation and supports the following Java specifications:

To learn about the difference between the Java System Web Server and the Java System Application Server, please read this article.

Use Case #2: Enhancing Application Servers

The Java System Web Server can enhance existing application server deployments (e.g., IBM WebSphere, BEA WebLogic) by boosting overall application performance and improving security. Due to its robust security features and scalable keep-alive connection handling, the most popular use of the Java System Web Server is as a secure proxy to the application server:

The cost of application servers from IBM and BEA is significant. By 'offloading' JavaServer Pages and Java Servlet processing to the Java System Web Server, the workload on the application server is significantly reduced, effectively reducing the number of application server instances (and licenses) required:

BEA WebLogic customers: BEA provides the proxy plug-in for the Java System Web Server (it's called the Netscape Enterprise Server Plug-in). It can be found in the WL_HOME/server/lib or WL_HOME/server/bin directories of the WebLogic distribution (the files are lib/linux/i686/libproxy.so (Linux), lib/solaris/libproxy.so (Solaris), and server/bin/proxy36.dll (Windows)). Information on installing and configuring the plug-in can be found online.

Specific versions of the Java System Web Server are certified for use with WebLogic. To identify the appropriate versions, information is available for users of WebLogic Platform 8.1, and WebLogic Platform 7.0.

IBM WebSphere customers: IBM provides the plug-in for the Java System Web Server. The plug-in configuration file is located at install_root/config/cells/plugin-cfg.xml. Information on configuring this file can be found in the WebSphere installation guide under "Configuring Web Server Plug-ins".

Specific versions of the Java System Web Server are certified for use with WebSphere. To identify the appropriate versions, information is available for users of WebSphere 5.1.1, and WebSphere 5.0.2.

Use Case #3: Dynamic Web Application Platform

The Java System Web Server supports Active Server Pages (ASP), PHP, and other dynamic technologies. ASP is a free plug-in provided by Sun, and provides support for ASP 3.0. High-performance PHP processing is provided by Zend (the creators of PHP), which offers the PHP Enabler, an NSAPI plug-in using the FastCGI architecture.

The Java System Web Server also supports Macromedia's ColdFusion MX. Plug-ins and configuration information is available online.

Use Case #4: Secure Web Infrastructure

The Java System Web Server, in combination with the Java System Web Proxy Server, Directory Server, and Access Manager, can be used to create a secure Web infrastructure for Web application deployment: