Application assembly and J2EE applications

 

Application assembly is the process of creating an Enterprise Archive file containing all files related to an application, as well as an XML deployment descriptor for the application. This configuration and packaging prepares the application for deployment onto an appserver.

EAR files are comprised of the following archives:

  1. Enterprise bean files (known as EJB modules)
  2. Webapp files (known as Web modules)
  3. Application client files (known as client modules)
  4. Resource adapter files (known as resource adapter modules)

Ensure that modules are contained in an EAR file so that they may be deployed onto the server. The exceptions are WAR modules, which you can deploy individually. Although WAR modules can contain regular JAR files, they cannot contain the other module types described previously.

The assembly process includes the following:

  • Selecting all of the files to include in the module

  • Creating a deployment descriptor containing instructions for module deployment on the appserver.

    As you configure properties using the AAT, the tool generates the deployment descriptor for you. While the AAT graphical interface is recommended, you can also edit descriptors directly in your favorite XML editor.

  • Packaging modules into a single Enterprise archive file, which contains one or more files in a compressed format


Assembling applications
Archive support in Version 5.0
Application Server API