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Note: WebLogic Server 10.3 Tech Preview Highlights
by Will Lyons
11/07/2007
Abstract
We have just released a Technology Preview of BEA WebLogic Server 10.3. This release focuses on three enhancement areas that we believe will improve the developer experience for you if are an existing WebLogic Server developer, or that will attract you to WebLogic Server if you are not currently using the product.
This note summarizes some of the changes in WebLogic Server. We hope to share more with you over the coming months. Please see the References for the download and product documentation.
Lightweight WebLogic Server
The first enhancement area is making WebLogic Server more "lightweight." The term "quot;lightweight" means different things to different people, including characteristics such as quot;faster download,quot; quot;smaller disk footprint,quot; quot;less memory consumption,quot; quot;faster deployment,quot; or quot;faster server startup.quot;
The primary underlying requirement is to enable developers to be more productive by reducing the resources and time consumed by the server and server-related actions. In WebLogic Server 10.3, we're delivering improvements in all of the areas cited above. Here are some examples:
Download time and installation footprint — Over the years, we have included complementary technologies and tools in the WebLogic Server download: JVMs, the Workshop IDE, the Domain and Upgrade Wizards, database drivers, the WebLogic Server console, and more. These optional tools add to WebLogic Server download and installation time and installation footprint. In this Technology Preview release we are giving you more installation options, making the above and other technologies selectable at time of installation. Look for download options as well as we get closer to general availability (GA). Application development round-trip time — Many WebLogic Server developers go through a full application redeployment (or a server reboot) during iterative development whenever they find a problem and make an application change (however small). This can be disruptive and time-consuming to the development process. This Technology Preview includes a feature called quot;FastSwapquot; that leverages Java SE features and enables developers to make changes to a single class or set of classes, recompile and save these changes, and have these changes immediately reflected in a running server without loss of server context. This is a much more responsive and seamless experience than before. Optional service startup — Many developers use WebLogic Server for development of Web applications, and don't use EJB or JMS services. These services are always started by the server, with minor but non-zero impact on server startup and memory consumption. The Technology Preview enables you to specify whether you want to start these services. This capability is a result of ongoing progress in making the WebLogic Server server more modular, to give you more control over which pieces of the server you use. Console performance improvements — The WebLogic Server console offers a rich set of functionality, supporting WebLogic Server configuration and deployment tasks with substantial flexibility for end-user customization. In recent releases, the implementation supporting these capabilities made the console less responsive. In this release you will see notable performance improvements relative to WebLogic Server 9.2 and 10.0 when starting and using the console—on the order of two to three times more responsive. The console look and feel is also much improved. Startup and runtime performance — We have continued to invest in startup time reductions and server throughput improvements to make the WebLogic Server environment more responsive for developers, administrators, and end users.
Programming Model and API Support
The second enhancement area is support for new developer APIs. The primary WebLogic Server value proposition is providing reliability, availability, scalability, and performance (RASP) benefits for enterprise-class Java applications and services. Java EE is the primary programming model used with WebLogic Server; we remain the technology leader in adoption of Java EE standards, and the Technology Preview contains further enhancements to our existing Java EE 5 support, particularly EJB and JPA support.
However, we want to extend the value of our RASP infrastructure to other Java programming models and frameworks used by developers. Here is some of the additional support found in the Technology Preview:
SOA Server-Web services/SCA support — WebLogic Server provides an environment for developing and hosting SOA services, and is the foundation for BEA's SOA offering. WebLogic Server 10.3 delivers new features for developing services and application for Service-Oriented Architectures. First we're enhancing Web services standards support for both JAX-RPC (J2EE 1.4) and JAX-WS (Java EE 5) Web services. Service Component Architecture (SCA) support, which will enable standards-based development of composite applications, is coming soon. This will be made available in coming months in preview form as an add-on to the WebLogic Server 10.3 Technology Preview. We have not yet finalized the packaging for this technology; it may not be included with WebLogic Server 10.3 when WebLogic Server 10.3 is generally available. Spring enhancements — WebLogic Server has supported development and execution of Spring applications since WebLogic Server 9.0, and we continue to provide enhancements in this area. WebLogic Server 10.3 provides improvements to distributed management of Spring applications, and improved integration of Spring security with WebLogic Server. The Technology Preview release currently supports Spring 2.0.2; we intend to upgrade this support to Spring 2.1 by GA. Web 2.0 support — WebLogic Server 10.3 will support the development of AJAX-enabled applications with WebLogic Server through Dojo client support. In addition, we are leveraging Dojo client technology in the implementation of a publish/subscribe infrastructure for HTTP clients. This feature will enable browser and Java clients to establish persistent sessions with WebLogic Server servers, and subscribe to messages published to the server messaging infrastructure. Using this technology, clients can send and receive lightweight data-driven updates on topics and information of interest, without requiring a full HTTP request/response update.
Technology Integration and Standards
The third enhancement area is enterprise technology integration and standards updates. WebLogic Server applications must coexist and interoperate with other technologies via de facto or de jure standards to support development and execution of secure, high-performance, and high-availability enterprise applications. We've updated our support to meet key customer and developer requirements in this area:
C# JMS client for .NET integration — In WebLogic Server 9.2, BEA delivered major improvements to the WebLogic Server JMS subsystem. For example, we delivered huge performance improvements for use cases involving persistent messaging. As a result of this and many other improvements, we're seeing increased adoption of WebLogic Server JMS for enterprise messaging infrastructure, and consequent demand for better direct integration with non-WebLogic Server technologies, like .NET. To meet these requirements in WebLogic Server 10.3, we've developed C# JMS client APIs that will enable .NET applications to interface directly with the JMS subsystem, without requiring any Java on the .NET client. SAML 2.0 — The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is the standard for exchange of security information to enable single sign-on across security domains. This WebLogic Server 10.3 Technology Preview supports the SAML 2.0 standard (and brings forward existing SAML 1.1 support) to enable single sign-on for Web apps as well as Web services. Web Services standards — As noted above, WebLogic Server 10.3 includes new and updated support for Web services standards, especially OASIS WS-* standards such as WS-Security, WS-Policy, WS-Reliable Messaging, and WS-Addressing. Java SE 6 — WebLogic Server 10.3 supports and leverages Java SE 6, the latest release of the Java SE platform. Eclipse support — We intend to provide an updated version of BEA Workshop for WebLogic, our Eclipse-based IDE, to support the GA release of WebLogic Server 10.3. For this Technology Preview, we've updated our WebLogic Server Tools (plug-ins for the Eclipse IDE) on Dev2Dev to enable use of Eclipse for developing applications with the Technology Preview. Other goodies — We continue to provide ongoing innovation and improvement to meet enterprise requirements for manageability and availability. For example, the WebLogic Diagnostic Framework first introduced in WebLogic Server 9.2 provides powerful capabilities for monitoring WebLogic Server servers and applications and diagnosing problems. We're delivering further improvements in the Technology Preview. The Technology Preview also delivers improvements to JMS Service-Level migration. See the Technology Preview documentation.
Summary
We hope this overview provides an understanding of what's new in WebLogic Server 10.3, and encourages you to download and use the software. Try it out and give us your feedback!
References
Will Lyons is Director of Product Management for WebLogic Server, managing the team responsible for driving product requirements and strategy.
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Showing messages 1 through 18 of 18.
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WLS10.3TP for Solaris?
2007-12-11 04:57:24 cdrcdr
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BEA did a great job with 10.3, the tests on XP and Linux clearly show it: thank you soooo much! ;-)
Any plan for a TP running on Solaris? Maybe as Xmas gift?
ciao
carlo
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Enhancement requests
2007-12-05 08:38:15 aplsyn5
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Any plan to add either of the following in new versions ?
a. A tool (or console) which has ability to monitor, store historical data, alert and change JMX parameters.
b. A tool that provide the global view of all the application consoles per ops groups/department. Adding drill down capability to collect more details (health,JMX values) will be great.
Thanks
Ravi (AOL)
r.saraswathiamma@corp.aol.com
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Enhancement requests
2007-12-11 15:24:41 wlyons
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Ravi -
Thanks for your questions. To elaborate on Jon's comments:
A) In WLS 9.X we added the WebLogic Diagnostic Framework (WLDF):
http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs100/wldf_configuring/intro.html#wp1062080
WLDF can be used to monitor and store/archive data on running servers. It also provides a watch and notification (alerting) service to send notifications via JMX, JMS, SMTP, SNMP, or diagnostic image when specified conditions or thresholds are reached. WLDF also provides a console extension for visualization of WLDF information. As Jon suggests, you could use WLDF to send notifications with either manual instructions to be executed by the administrator, or automated actions to be taken by JMX, or a wlst script, etc.
In addition, BEA has also announced Liquid Operations Control (a presentation on the product is available at the BEAWorld site). The essential concept is you define services/apps, resource pools (machines, etc) available for service execution, and operational policies, rules and SLAs for service execution. LOC will monitor the services/apps against the policies, rules, and SLAs you have defined, enabling either manual or automated adjustment to resource allocations as service requirements dictate. LOC will use WLDF under the covers.
B) LOC will also provide an application/service-level management view across WLS domains and applications. So this will address the cross-domain health monitoring capability you're looking for.
We are looking into expanding our capabilities in this area to support use cases like the one you cite above, but do not have specific plans right now.
I would be interested in your comments on whether A meets your requirements (or what are your key unmet needs). Also interested in your comments on LOC.
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Enhancement requests
2007-12-11 11:55:48 wlyons
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Ravi -
Thanks for your questions. To elaborate on Jon's comments:
A) In WLS 9.X we added the WebLogic Diagnostic Framework (WLDF):
http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs100/wldf_configuring/intro.html#wp1062080
WLDF can be used to monitor and store/archive data on running servers. It also provides a watch and notification (alerting) service to send notifications via JMX, JMS, SMTP, SNMP, or diagnostic image when specified conditions or thresholds are reached. WLDF also provides a console extension for visualization of WLDF information. As Jon suggests, you could use WLDF to send notifications with either manual instructions to be executed by the administrator, or automated actions to be taken by JMX, or a wlst script, etc.
In addition, BEA has also announced Liquid Operations Control (a presentation on the product is available at the BEAWorld site). The essential concept is you define services/apps, resource pools (machines, etc) available for service execution, and operational policies, rules and SLAs for service execution. LOC will monitor the services/apps against the policies, rules, and SLAs you have defined, enabling either manual or automated adjustment to resource allocations as service requirements dictate. LOC will use WLDF under the covers.
B) LOC will also provide an application/service-level management view across WLS domains and applications. So this will address the cross-domain health monitoring capability you're looking for.
We are looking into expanding our capabilities in this area to support use cases like the one you cite above, but do not have specific plans right now.
I would be interested in your comments on whether A meets your requirements (or what are your key unmet needs). Also interested in your comments on LOC.
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Enhancement requests
2007-12-06 03:48:45 jonmountjoy
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Hi aplsyn5 - can't WLDF and wlshell help you with a) above?
Regards, Jon
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WLS 10 - Production Usage
2007-11-27 14:20:02 peterinman
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Would you happen to know if there are many production users of WLS10 running yet? Sounds an odd question, but we've spent 4 years putting a WLS8.1 system live and are looking for where to go next....9.* or 10.*
It will be some time (say next october) before we are in a position to deploy on a new platform, so whatever I do, I have to be able to develop on 9/10.* and deploy on 8.1 for at least the next year.
My feeling is that we should go to 10.*, but I've not done any full tests on development on 10 and deploy 8.1 at the moment apart from migrate my application and get it running.
Compared to 8.1, 9.* looks extremely good and 10.* looks even better!
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WLS 10 - Production Usage
2007-11-29 09:29:59 wlyons
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The question of which version to upgrade to comes up frequently, and I will write separately on this general topic and some specific considerations. But I generally encourage users who are upgrading to upgrade to the most current GA release (10.0 in this case), unless there is a specific reason to "hold back" and upgrade to an older release (9.2 in this case).
Without giving specific numbers, yes we do have users running in production on WLS 10.0, and many users are adopting the general approach above.
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Migration on Weblogic
2007-11-21 23:38:15 rahulmahajan28
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I have migrated an application from WL 7.0 to WL8.1 but I think WL 9 is more comlicated. They have added eclipse and other useful features but we have not been able migrate from WL 8 to WL 9 ..Infact bea has also raised its hand..saying it not possible now..we'll directly migrate to WL 10 :)
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Migration on Weblogic
2007-11-28 05:31:04 peterinman
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I'm just interested - what was difficult about the 8.1 - 9.* migration that made it not work?
Pete
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answer
2007-11-13 11:03:25 kosta
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Workshop 10.1 cannot be used with WLS 10.3 Technology Preview release. You can use WebLogic Server Tools plugins that I wrote about in an earlier comment, but there are no plans to make a Technology Preview version of Workshop available.
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answer
2007-11-13 12:13:33 kane81
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so when 10.3 become a released version, will workshop 10.3 come out with it?
or will we have to wait a few months for workshop 10.3?
how long would the wait be for 10.3 workshop?
also when is 10.3 planned for release?
thanks
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answer
2007-11-20 08:33:32 wlyons
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Our intent is for Workshop to be included with WLS 10.3 when it is GA. The current target for WLS 10.3 is March. Specific dates and packaging can change.
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question
2007-11-12 23:22:38 kane81
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can you use workshop 10.1 eclipse IDE and projects with weblogic server 10.3? or do we have to wait for a workshop 10.3 IDE to be released?
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Congratulations
2007-11-08 19:17:04 stanoislav
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Our early tests show a significant performance increase by switching from 10.0 Mp1 to 10.3 TP.
Thank you!
s.
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WebLogic Server Tools for Eclipse 3.3
2007-11-08 08:35:29 kosta
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For any Eclipse users out there who are eager to try WLS 10.3 Technology Preview release, you should download WebLogic Server Tools for Eclipse 3.3, which has full support for WLS 10.3 TP release.
https://dev2devclub.bea.com/updates/eclipse-3.3/wls-plugins/
If you are a current user of WebLogic Server Tools v1.1, you should note that a critical patch for that release has been issued this morning to address compatibility issues with the final 10.3 TP release. To get the patch, simply use Eclipse to search for updates to the WebLogic Server Tools feature.
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Very very good news!
2007-11-07 21:52:26 myfear
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A big "Thank you" from my side! This are very great news!
I personaly was looking for the following features since 9.x:
- Application development round-trip time
- Optional service startup
- Console performance improvements
- Startup and runtime performance
You finally came back to the no1 choice for development and production!
And I promise. Before this post I was still taking on any bet that WLS will get as big and unusable than the other 3-letter-company solutions ...
Don't forget the developers and come up with more news!!
btw: are you BEA people thinking about different console versions? Roles-based perhaps? One for developers, one for admins, etc ... That is the last feature on my wish list for now :)
Best Rgds
Markus
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Very very good news!
2007-11-08 09:32:03 wlyons
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Markus -
Thanks for the for the positive feedback (or a big "you're welcome").
Regarding your question on "different console versions", are you familiar with the default groups and roles as described at:
http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs100/secwlres/secroles.html
- Do these groups and roles cover the roles you would envision for Admin console users?
- The console presentation is sensitive to the console user's role. Have you used the console in this more restricted manner and do you have feedback?
We do have thoughts on how these existing capabilities might be extended, but I'd be interested in your reaction to what is available today.
Thanks again.
Will
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Very very good news!
2007-12-11 05:00:08 cdrcdr
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maybe what we are missing is the good old WLS8.1 console, where deploying an application or changing the LogLevel did not require clicking through 5-7 screens, like it is the case since WLS9. It looks faster and more "lightweight" on 10.3 anyway and it is very good.
regards
carlo
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