Chapter 11. Migrating to Enterprise Application Platform 5
This chapter provides information for administrators who plan to move their enterprise servers from JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 4.2 or 4.3 to the new Enterprise Application Platform 5.
The first section covers new features available in Enterprise Application Platform 5. The second section covers the changes to configuration, administration, and application deployment between Enterprise Application Platform 4.x and Enterprise Application Platform 5.
If you require further information, refer to the relevant guides provided in this release.
Note
JBoss Enterprise Application 5 is a major release, and includes major changes from JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 4.3. With the release of JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5.1.1 onwards, an RPM upgrade path from JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 4.3 is no longer available.
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 4.3 customers that want to upgrade to JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 should back-up their production systems and proceed with installing the platform using an installation option described in Part I, “Installing JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5”.
11.1. What's New in Enterprise Application Platform 5
This section provides an overview of the components of Enterprise Application Platform 5, and the changes to each component between version 4.x and 5.
11.1.1. JBoss Application Server 5 GA
JBoss Application Server 5 is the next generation of the JBoss Application Server built on top of a new kernel architecture, the JBoss Microcontainer. The JBoss Microcontainer is a lightweight container for managing the deployment, configuration and life cycle of Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs). While remaining compatible with the 4.x-based JMX kernel, the Microcontainer integrates with the JBoss framework for Aspect Oriented Programming, JBoss AOP. JMX support remains strong in EAP 5, and MBean services written against the old Microkernel work as expected. Further, it lays the groundwork for Java EE 6 profile-oriented configurations and embedded EAP, which will allow for fine grained selection of services for both unit testing and embedded scenarios.
11.1.1.1. ProfileService-based Deployment Configuration
Definitions for both non-kernel deployers and their deployment are now contained in a Profile obtained from the ProfileService. The ProfileService replaces EAP 4.x server configuration. In EAP 4.x, a server configuration was a collection of services and applications loaded from the
deploy directory by the deployment scanner service. Enterprise Application Platform 5 uses more active profiles, which may depend on other sub-profiles.
The main profile is the server profile, which is based on the
${jboss.server.name}. This profile has three sub-profiles:
- bootstrap — representing
conf/jboss-service.xml - deployers — the
deployers/directory - applications — a hot-deployment profile for the
deploy/and additional user directories
A profile generally represents a named collection of deployments on a server. A profile can also apply certain behaviors to the deployments that it manages. Some profiles, such as the
application profile, provide hot-deployment checks and allow remote distribution of deployed applications via the DeploymentManager. Other profiles can provide a farming service to distribute deployments over a cluster. The ProfileService also provides the ManagementView for ManagedDeployments/ManagedObjects used by the Enterprise Application Admin Console (admin-console).
11.1.2. Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) 3.0
JBoss EJB 3.0, an implementation of the latest revision of the EJB specification, is a deep overhaul and simplification of earlier versions of the EJB specification. It simplifies development, facilitates a test driven approach, and focuses more on writing POJOs rather than coding against complex EJB APIs.
11.1.3. Java Enterprise Edition 5 Compliance
JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 5 is a fully-certified Java EE 5 implementation. It uses the microcontainer to integrate enterprise services with a Servlet/JSP container, EJB container, deployers and management utilities, providing a standard Java EE environment with the flexibility to deploy additional services on top of Java EE to give you the functionality you need. For further compatibility details, read http://java.sun.com/javaee/overview/compatibility.jsp page.
11.1.4. Seam 2.2.0.GA
Seam is an application framework for Java Enterprise Edition. It integrates technologies such as Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), JavaServer Faces (JSF), Java Persistence (JPA), Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0 (EJB) and Business Process Management (BPM). Seam enables developers to assemble complex web applications using simple annotated Java classes, a rich set of UI components, and very little XML.
11.1.5. RESTEasy 1.1.GA
RESTEasy provides several frameworks to help you build RESTful Web Services and RESTful Java applications. It is a fully-certified, portable implementation of the JAX-RS specification, which defines a Java API for RESTful Web Services over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
11.1.6. Enhanced Enterprise GUI Installer
The Enterprise Installer retains the familiar Enterprise Application Platform 4.3 interface but includes enhancements to provide you with a complete Enterprise Application Platform 5 installation. The installer is localized and provides you with secure JMX, Web and Admin Consoles.
The new Enterprise Installer also presents users with the opportunity to install the optional Native package, which includes JBoss Native and mod_jk. The Native package helps users who wish to use Tomcat or JBoss Web with the HTTP daemon.
11.1.7. Enterprise Application Platform Admin Console
A new Admin Console is being introduced in this Enterprise Application Platform release. The admin-console enables configuration and management of a single Enterprise Application Platform server instance. See Section 11.3, “Admin Console” for more information about this new management console.
11.1.8. JBoss Transactions includes Java Transaction Service
JBoss Transactions now includes the Java Transaction Service and the XML Transaction Service. The Java Transaction Service handles distributed, interoperable transactions between Enterprise JavaBean containers. The XML Transaction Service handles transactions for Web Services.
11.1.9. Distribution with Red Hat Signed JARs
JAR files included with JBoss Enterprise Application Platform are digitally signed by Red Hat. This gives you an additional level of security about the source and identity of the code executing on your systems.
For the complete technology matrix and information on the revision level of included components please refer to the Release Notes.
