WebLogic Server 8.1 Features and Changes

 

 

Packaging and Deployment Features

 

Custom Classloading for J2EE Modules

Custom classloader hierarchies for an Enterprise Application. Allows for better control over class visibility and reloadability of modules within an EAR file. You achieve this by defining a classloader-structure element in the weblogic-application.xml deployment descriptor file.

 

New Application Lifecycle Events

You can extend the abstract class weblogic.j2ee.ApplicationLifeCycleListener to perform application-specific actions when various application lifecycle events occur. WebLogic Server defines the following lifecycle events:

  • Initialization—WebLogic Server parses the application's deployment descriptors before deploying its module(s).
  • Preparation—WebLogic Server has identified (and in some cases, started) EJBs, webapps, and application-scoped DataSources that are defined in the Enterprise Application.
  • Activation—The application is available for processing client requests.
  • Update—WebLogic Server detects that one of the application's deployment descriptors has changed.

You can perform actions for each of the above lifecycle events by supplying the associated method.

 

Application-Level Class Library

The APP-INF/lib directory helps you organize shared class files in an application. WebLogic Server automatically appends classes included in APP-INF/lib to the end of the application's CLASSPATH; this ensures that all application modules can access the shared classes.

 

Dynamic Descriptor Changes

WebLogic Server supports updating deployment descriptor attributes in deployed module containers.

 

Dynamic Changes to Application-Scoped Pools

WebLogic Server supports updating application-scoped JDBC connection pool properties in the weblogic-application.xml deployment descriptor for deployed applications.

 

enforceClusterConstraints Option Changed

The enforceClusterConstraints option to weblogic.Deployer has changed. You now enable or disable cluster constraints for an entire domain either by providing a startup option to the Admin server or by using an console control.

 

Alternate Deployment Descriptors

You can specify an alternate deployment descriptor file to use when deploying an archive file or exploded archive directory. This ability enables you to change the run-time deployment configuration of an application without having to modify and repackage the contents of the archive itself. To use an alternate deployment descriptor, you use one or both of the following options with the weblogic.Deployer utility:

 

No Support for Deploying Unrelated Modules

WebLogic Server no longer supports deploying multiple J2EE modules without an application.xml file. If you select a directory for deployment, the directory must contain either a standalone J2EE module (an EJB, webapp, or Resource Adapter), or multiple modules with an associated application.xml file (an Enterprise Application).

 

Improved Deployment Performance and Feedback

The speed of J2EE module deployment has improved over previous server versions. You also get additional feedback on the deployment process for both weblogic.Deployer and the console. Feedback is provided by a new JMX notification and filter (weblogic.management.DeploymentNotification and weblogic.management.DeploymentNotificationFilter), which you can use in your own applications.

 

console Deployment Changes

The WebLogic Server console interface has been streamlined to make production-level deployment descriptors available for editing by the administrator. Although full deployment descriptor editing is no longer available in the console, many descriptor elements of interest to Administrators are directly editable via console fields. You can edit these descriptors without repackaging and redeploying the associated module.

Full J2EE module deployment descriptor editing remains available in the WebLogic Builder application for development use.

The console also provides new Deployment Assistants to help you deploy different types of J2EE modules. The assistants guide you through the process of selecting deployment files and target servers, and automates the selection of deployment staging modes.

 

Weblogic.Deployer Changes

The weblogic.Deployer utility now includes the -distribute, -start, and -stop commands identified in JSR88. Command help has also been reorganized for easy access to basic and advanced commands.

 

Administration Features

The following new and improved server administration features are included in WebLogic Server 8.1.

 

JRockit JVM

This version of WebLogic Server includes BEA WebLogic JRockit 8.1, the first commercial server-side Java Virtual Machine.

 

JRockit Monitoring

The console provides additional runtime data for servers running with the JRockit Virtual Machine (VM).

 

Enhanced Configuration Wizard

The Configuration Wizard is a Java application that creates WebLogic Server administration domain and server configurations. With WebLogic Server 8.1, you can now use the Configuration Wizard to configure such resources as database connectivity (JDBC), messaging services (JMS), and security groups, security roles, and user accounts.

In addition, prior to WebLogic Server 8.1 you could use the Configuration Wizard only to create new domains. Now, you can use the wizard to modify existing domains.

 

New Defaults for Development Mode and Production Mode

When you create a domain, you can now indicate whether the domain is to be used in a development environment or a production environment. WebLogic Server uses different default values for various services depending on the type of environment you specify.

 

Message Catalogs

Message catalogs are available in HTML format on e-docs as part of the documentation deliverable. You can search for messages by error number using the search engine.

 

New Logging APIs

This version of WebLogic Server includes support for the JDK 1.4 logging APIs. With these APIs, you can filter the messages that a server instance writes to its local log file, its standard out, and to the domain-wide message log. Prior to WebLogic Server 8.1, you could filter only the messages that a server instance wrote to the domain-wide log file. You could also establish a minimal level of filtering for a server's output to standard out.

In addition, if you want your applications to receive log messages from WebLogic Server logging services, you can use the JDK 1.4 logging APIs instead of Java Management Extensions (JMX). The JDK 1.4 logging APIs are easier to use than the JMX APIs.

 

Disabling Remote Exceptions

A new server attribute, setLogRemoteExceptionsEnabled, determines whether server message logs include exceptions that are raised in remote systems.

The default value for this attribute is false. To change the value of this attribute, use JMX APIs or the following weblogic.Admin command:

java weblogic.Admin -username username -password password set -mbean "domain-name:Name=server-name,Type=Server" -property LogRemoteExceptionsEnabled true

For example, on the sample MedRecServer:

java weblogic.Admin -username weblogic -password weblogic set -mbean "medrec:Name=MedRecServer,Type=Server" -property LogRemoteExceptionsEnabled true

 

Timer Service

You can configure the WebLogic Server 8.1 timer service to emit notifications at specific dates and times or at a constant interval. The timer service extends the standard JMX timer service, enabling it to run within a Weblogic Server execute thread and within the security context of a WebLogic Server user account.

 

Automatic config.xml Archiving

The Admin server automatically archives old copies of the domain's config.xml file when you make changes to the configuration. By default, the Admin server saves the five most recent versions of config.xml in the /configArchive subdirectory of the domain. One uses the console to configure the maximum number of archived files to be stored for the domain.

 

New Affinity Policies for Java Client Load Balancing

Three new load balancing algorithms minimize the number of IP sockets opened between external Java clients and server instances in a cluster. The new algorithms preserve server affinity by considering a client's existing server connections when accessing objects in a cluster.

The new policies can be applied to EJBs and other RMI objects, as well as to JMS client applications.

 

Improved Node Manager

The Node Manager is a Java application that starts and manages the life cycle of managed servers. The following features have been added or improved in WebLogic Server 8.1:

  • You can configure the Node Manager process automatically during server installation (using demonstration SSL certificates).
  • When you create a managed server, WebLogic Server adds your WebLogic Server username and password to the server's Remote Start properties. The Node Manager requires this data to start managed servers.
  • Improved logging facilities and monitoring capabilities help you better manage multiple servers in a domain.

 

Improved Network Channel Configuration

The functionality of Network Channels has been enhanced to simplify the configuration process. Network Channels now encompass the features that, in WebLogic Server 7.x, required both Network Channels and Network Access Points. In this version of WebLogic Server, Network Access Points are deprecated.

Network Channels allow you to manage quality of service, meet varying connection requirements, and improve utilization of your systems and network resources. For example, you can use Network Channels to:

  • Segregate different types of network traffic
  • Support varied application or user requirements on the same managed server
  • Prioritize network connections that servers use to connect to other servers in a domain

WebLogic Server 8.1 also has new guidelines that apply to configuring Network Channels.

 

Changes to managed server Independence

managed server Independence (MSI) enables managed servers to start even if the Admin server is unavailable.

In previous releases, if a managed server could not access an Admin server, it retrieved its configuration from a file named config.xml in the managed server's root directory. In WebLogic Server 8.1, a managed server retrieves its configuration from a file named msi-config.xml in its root directory.

If you enable MSI-replication for a managed server, the Admin server creates the msi-config.xml file. This file is a replica of the domain's config.xml file.

You can now enable MSI-replication for a managed server that shares its root directory with the Admin server. Before WebLogic Server 8.1, MSI-replication for a managed server that shared its root directory with the Admin server would have overwritten the domain's config.xml file with the replica.

 

Changes to Discovering managed servers

If an Admin server fails while managed servers continue to run, or if you shut down an Admin server while managed servers continue to run, when you restart the Admin server, it discovers which managed servers are running and re-establishes administrative control.

In WebLogic Server 8.1, Admin servers no longer attempt to discover managed servers that have been gracefully or forcefully shut down. If you shut down a managed server by killing the JVM or killing the command prompt (shell) in which the server was running, an Admin server still attempts to discover the managed server and throws an exception when it determines that the managed server is no longer running.

If the Admin server is unable to discover all managed servers automatically, you can use a new weblogic.Admin command, DISCOVERMANAGEDSERVER. Refer to weblogic.Admin Command-Line Reference in the WebLogic Server Command Reference.

 

JNDI Names in Deployment Descriptors

WebLogic Server 8.1 deployment descriptors do not support the use of equals signs (=) in JNDI names. For example, the following declaration is no longer supported:

<provider-url> ldap://snoopy</provider-url>
<connection-factory-jndi-name>cn=myTest</connection-factory-jndi-name>

Prior to this release, the WebLogic Server deployment subsystem would convert equals signs to underscores (_). Now, the deployment subsystem throws an exception if it encounters a JNDI name with equals signs.

 

console Usability Improvements

The WebLogic Server console is reorganized to provide better usability for both novice and advanced users. Some of the many console changes include:

  • Simplified navigation tree in the left pane of the console makes it easier to access configuration tabs for server resources and deployed modules.
  • Reorganized server configuration tabs provide easier access to frequently-used controls.
  • Reorganized SSL and Key Store configuration tabs facilitate enabling SSL security in a domain.
  • Advanced options toggle enables you to access less-common, advanced fields by clicking the Advanced button on the relevant page. By default, the console now displays only the most commonly-used controls on each configuration tab.
  • Improved feedback and exception handling in the console provides better feedback on deployment and other administration tasks. It also provides better access to server log files. Within each server log file, you can click on message ID numbers to view more information about an error or exception in the message catalog.
  • New inline help for console controls provide help text directly on the configuration tab. You can also access more detailed help for a particular page by using the context-sensitive help icon.
  • Deployment Assistants in the console help you deploy different J2EE modules.
  • JDBC Assistants in the console help you configure JDBC Connection Pools and DataSources.

 

weblogic.Admin Features

The weblogic.Admin utility provides new commands:

  • BATCHUPDATE runs multiple weblogic.Admin commands in an uninterrupted sequence. (You no longer have to invoke a separate JVM for each weblogic.Admin command.)
  • CLUSTERSTATE returns the number and state of servers in a cluster.
  • DISCOVERMANAGEDSERVER causes the Admin server to re-establish administrative control over managed servers.
  • QUERY searches for WebLogic Server MBeans whose WebLogicObjectName matches a pattern that you specify.
  • STARTCLUSTER and STOPCLUSTER start and stop all server instances in a cluster.
  • TEST_POOL tests a connection pool by reserving and releasing a connection from it.
  • VALIDATECLUSTERCONFIG verifies the formatting of cluster-related attributes in the domain's config.xml file.

In addition:

 

New Default OOTB Performance Parameter Settings

The following performance-related attributes are adjusted to improve the out-of-the-box performance of WebLogic Server. Optimal WebLogic Server production tuning values vary according to your environment and applications.

  • The production mode default for the execute queue thread pool size (ThreadCount) has been increased from 15 to 25. The development mode default size remains at 15.
  • The default maximum capacity of a JDBC connection pool (MaxCapacity) now equals the default size of the execute queue thread pool: 25 for production mode; 15 for development mode.
  • When native performance packs are used (NativeIOEnabled=true), socket reader multiplexor threads now have their own execute queue and do not borrow threads from the default execute queue, which frees up default execute threads to do application work.
  • The default execute queue no longer performs internal work (for example, http session invalidation, http session invalidation triggers, and server heartbeat triggers), which frees up execute threads to perform application work.
  • The default JDBC connection pool StatementCacheSize parameter is now turned on by default and is set to 10. This setting reduces both network roundtrips and preparation work in the database.

 

Changes to Default Execute Queue Names

The default execute queue has been renamed to weblogic.kernel.Default in this release. The __weblogic_concepts.html_queue execute queue has been renamed to weblogic.admin.HTTP. The __weblogic_admin_rmi_queue has been renamed to weblogic.admin.RMI.

Note: Do not reconfigure or modify the default execute queues.

 

Sample Applications

A new J2EE sample application, Avitek Medical Records (or MedRec), concisely demonstrates all aspects of the J2EE platform. Designed as an educational tool for all levels of J2EE developers, MedRec showcases the use of each J2EE component, and illustrates best practice design patterns for component interaction and client development. Medical Records is available from the Start menu on Windows machines. On Linux and other platforms it can be started from the WL_HOME\samples\server\config\medrec directory.

WebLogic Server sample applications have also been updated to use the PointBase® version 4.3 server as the sample datastore.

 

Security Features

The following new and improved security features are included in WebLogic Server 8.1.

 

Improved Functionality for Creating Roles and Policies

New windows and improved options facilitate managing access to WebLogic resources such as the console, the weblogic.Admin tool, MBeans, applications, COM, EIS, EJB, JDBC, JNDI, JMS, servers, and Webapps.

 

Improved Support for Keystores and SSL Configuration

The SSL implementation of WebLogic Server supports the use of keystores for storing private keys and trusted CAs. Keystores add a level of protection to the flat files used in past release of WebLogic Server.

The default configuration of SSL and demonstration keystores provide users with secure communication out of the box. The configuration of keystores and SSL for a production environment has been simplified by the implementation of a wizard.

 

Support for the Sun Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Package

The Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) is a set of packages that provide a framework for encryption using strong ciphers, key generation and agreement, and Message Authentication Code algorithms.

 

EJB Features and Changes

This release of WebLogic Server introduces the following EBJ features and changes.

 

Performance Monitoring Improvements

This release introduces greatly improved monitoring of performance, via new tab pages in the WebLogic Server console.

Performance monitoring is discussed in detail in EJB Runtime Monitoring in Programming WebLogic Enterprise JavaBeans.

 

appc Compiler

appc is a single tool for compiling and validating a J2EE ear file, an ejb-jar file or war file for deployment. Previously, a user wanting to compile all modules within an ear file had to extract the individual components of an ear and manually execute the appropriate compiler (jspc or ejbc) to prepare the module for deployment. appc automates this process and performs additional pre-deployment validation checks not previously performed.

appc is discussed in detail in WebLogic Server EJB Tools in Programming WebLogic Enterprise JavaBeans.

 

Batch Operations

WebLogic Server now supports batch updates and deletes, in addition to the existing batch insert (previously known as "bulk insert") support. In addition, the EJB container now prevents exceptions by performing dependency checks between batch operations.

 

Automatic Detection of Database Type

WebLogic Server can now automatically detect the type of database your application employs. This information is used in both automatic table creation and by WebLogic Server's EJB Query Language (EJB QL) compiler.

 

Automatic Table Creation Feature Expanded

Previously, WebLogic Server automatically created database tables if the create-default-dbms-tables element in weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml was set to True. However, if the table already existed, the server did not recreate it. Beginning with this release, WebLogic Server recreates existing tables when underlying table schema change, that is, when any container-managed persistence fields are modified.

 

Preventing Deadlocks for Container-Managed Persistence Beans

In situations of high throughput, applications that use an exclusive concurrency strategy can encounter deadlocks if a transaction that performs a cascade delete needs access to the same bean as a transaction that does not perform a cascade delete. This release includes a feature to prevent deadlocks in this scenario, via the lock-order element in the weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml deployment descriptor file.

 

Finer Granularity for EJB Module Redeployment

During iterative development of an EJB application, developers make many modifications to EJB implementation class files; they typically redeploy an EJB module multiple times during its development.

Previously, in order to redeploy an implementation class, developers had to reload the entire EJB module containing the implementation class, including all other implementation classes as well as utility classes. With this new feature, developers can specify reloading granularity to the level of an individual implementation class.

The WebLogic Application Classloading chapter of Developing WebLogic Server Applications explains this feature in detail.

 

EJB QL Compiler Enhancements

Compiler error messages in EJB QL now provide a visual aid to identify which part of the query is in error and allow the reporting of more than one error per compilation.

 

Performance Improvements

WebLogic Server provides improved performance for EJB bulk updates, optimistic concurrency, field groups, relationship caching, and EJB redeployment.

 

Reloadable EJB Modules

With the Reloadable J2EE Modules feature, you can also redeploy EJBs independently of other components in an Enterprise Application.

 

EJB Deployment Assistants

The console provides an EJB Module Deployment Assistant to help you deploy EJBs.

New Default Values for Several EJB-Specific Deployment Descriptor Elements

Several EJB-related deployment descriptor elements now have new default values, in compliance with the J2EE 1.3 specification.

Table 1-2 New Default Values for EJB Deployment Descriptor Elements
Deployment Descriptor File Element New Default Value

weblogic-ejb-jar.xml

enable-call-by-reference

False

weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml

check-exists-on-method

True

include-updates

True

New dbms-column-type Values

WebLogic Server supports two additional values for the dbms-column-type element in weblogic-cmp-rdbms.xml: LongString and SybaseBinary.

Relationship Caching Functionality Allows Multiple Caching Elements

The caching-element tag in weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml is used in relationship-caching to specify the cmr-field for the related bean, and the group-name in the related bean.

The WebLogic Server EJB container now allows multiple caching-element sub-elements. The relevant DTD entry is: 

<!ELEMENT caching-element ( 
cmr-field, 
group-name?, 
caching-element* 
)>

Previously, the DTD entry read this way:

<!ELEMENT caching-element (
cmr-field,
group-name?,
caching-element?
)>

 

Disabling Deployment Warning Messages

A new feature can disable certain warning messages during deployment, via the new disable-warning element in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml.

 

New Security-related Deployment Descriptor Elements

Two new security-related deployment descriptor elements have been added to weblogic-ejb-jar.xml:

  • The externally-defined element replaces global-role, which has been deprecated in this release.
  • The run-as-role-assignment element is used to map a given security-identity run-as role-name that is specified in the ejb-jar deployment descriptor to a run-as-principal-name.

 

Constraining Optimistic Row Checking

To specify the rows in a table that the EJB container should check when optimistic concurrency is used, use the new verify-rows element in weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml. This element allows you to choose between performing optimistic checking on any row read by a transaction versus only rows updated or deleted by a transaction.

 

Storing Table Creation Scripts

To specify the DDL file name to which the EJB container writes table creation scripts, use the new default-dbms-tables-ddl element in weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml.

 

Assigning a Message-Driven Bean to a Configured Execute Queue

As of this release, you can assign message-driven beans to a configured execute queue, via the dispatch-policy element in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml. Previously, dispatch-policy applied only to session and entity beans.

if the EJB is recompiled—during deployment for example—the setting will not be lost.

 

EJB Features Deprecated in This Release

The following EJB features have been deprecated in this release.

 

console Deployment Descriptor Editor

This release of WebLogic Server deprecates the console Deployment Descriptor Editor.

The majority of deployment descriptor elements can now only be edited using a text or XML editor. A small subset of elements—those related to administering and tuning EJBs—can still be viewed, modified, and persisted to the descriptor file via the console using the Descriptors tab.

 

ejbc Compiler

The ejbc compiler has been deprecated. Use appc in its place.

 

sql-select-distinct

This version of WebLogic Server deprecates the sql-select-distinct element in weblogic-cmp-rdbms-jar.xml. Use the DISTINCT clause directly in finder queries instead of this deployment descriptor element. For finder queries that have a DISTINCT clause, the container defers duplicate elimination to the database if FOR UPDATE is not used and filters duplicates if FOR UPDATE is used.

 

global-role

This version of WebLogic Server deprecates the global-role element in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml. Use the externally-defined element instead.

 

run-as-identity-principal

This version of WebLogic Server deprecates the run-as-identity-principal element in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml. Use the run-as-principal-name element instead.

 

stateless-bean-methods-are-idempotent

This version of WebLogic Server deprecates the stateless-bean-methods-are-idempotent element in weblogic-ejb-jar.xml. Use the idempotent-methods element instead.

 

J2EE Connector Changes

The DTD for the WebLogic Server Connector deployment descriptor, weblogic-ra.xml, has changed in this version.

The Connector implementation now makes connections shareable unless a suitable "hint" is specified at deployment time. EJB 2.0 uses the res-sharing-scope deployment descriptor (with values Shareable or Unshareable) to specify this hint.

 

jCOM Features

In this release. you configure COM packet timeout values and the maximum length of COM message packets via a different location in the console.

These changes are summarized in the following table.

Table 1-3 Changes to COM Packet Configuration Values
Value Configured this way in 7.0 Configure this way in 8.1

COM packet timeout value

Set the COM Message Timeout property under Server -> Connections -> jCOM in the console

Set the Complete Message Timeout property under Server -> Protocols -> General -> Advanced Options in the console.


The maximum length of COM message packets

Set the COM Max Message Size property under Server -> Connections -> jCOM in the console

Set the Complete Maximum Message Size property under Server -> Protocols -> General -> Advanced Options in the console.

 

JDBC Features

WebLogic Server provides the following new JDBC features, along with internal performance enhancements in the JDBC subsystem.

 

JDBC Assistants

The console includes the JDBC Connection Pool Assistant and the JDBC Data Source Assistant. These assistants help ease database connectivity configuration by prompting you for database, JDBC driver, and connection pool information, and then constructing the connection attributes required by your JDBC driver.

 

JDBC Connection Pool Attributes

JDBC connection pools include several new attributes and features that you can configure from the console or MBean attributes using the JMX API, including among others:

  • Connection Reserve Timeout—Enables connection requests to wait for a connection from a connection pool when all connections are currently in use.
  • Connection Creation Retry Frequency—Enables WebLogic Server to retry to create a database connection after the original attempt to create the connection failed.
  • Test Created Connections—Enables testing and initialization of physical database connections when each connection is created.
  • Test Pool—Tests a JDBC connection pool by reserving and releasing a connection.

 

Enhanced Support for JDBC Extensions

Some database vendors provide additional proprietary methods for working with data from their DBMS. These methods extend the standard JDBC interfaces.WebLogic Server provides enhanced support for vendor extensions to JDBC by supporting most extension methods exposed in a public interface in the vendor's JDBC driver.

 

Physical Connection from a Connection Pool

When you get a connection from a connection pool, WebLogic Server provides a logical connection rather than a physical connection so that WebLogic Server can manage and maintain the connection. In some cases, you may want to use a physical connection, such as if you need to pass the connection to a method that checks the class name of the object for a particular class. WebLogic Server includes the getVendorConnection() method in the weblogic.jdbc.extensions.WLConnection interface that you can use to get the underlying physical connection from a logical connection.

 

Support for RowSets

WebLogic Server includes support for RowSets, which are a JDBC 2.0 extension to ResultSets. RowSets allow a user to read and modify a cached query result and then commit the resulting changes back to a database. RowSets use a disconnected model which uses optimistic concurrency control to ensure database consistency. This allows work to be performed without holding open long transactions or database and application server resources.

 

Statement Caching

The statement cache for JDBC connection pools was enhanced to include a Least Recently Used caching algorithm and controls for clearing the statement cache.

When you use a prepared statement or callable statement in an application or EJB, there is considerable processing overhead. To minimize the processing costs, WebLogic Server can cache statements used in your applications in the statement cache. When an application or EJB calls any of the statements stored in the cache, WebLogic Server reuses the statement stored in the cache, which reduces CPU usage on the database server, and thus improves performance for the current statement and leaves CPU cycles on the database server for other tasks.

 

JTA Features

WebLogic Server 8.1 provides the following new JTA features.

 

Manual Completion of Current Transactions

In some cases, a transaction may not complete normally due to system or network failures. In such situations there may be locks held on behalf of the pending transaction that are inhibiting the progress of other transactions. You can use the console or methods on the JTA runtime MBean to manually complete transactions that did not complete normally.

Non-XA-Compliant Resource Participation in a Global Transaction

A single, non-XA-compliant resource adapter can participate in a global transaction with other XA-compliant resources. WebLogic Server uses a last agent commit optimization so that after all participating XA-compliant resources are prepared, the result of the local transaction for the non-XA resource is used to determine the outcome of the global transaction. The resource adapter must provide local transaction semantics. You can use this functionality with the WebLogic Server J2EE Connector architecture to enable non-XA legacy systems to participate in a global transaction.

 

JMS Features

WebLogic Server 8.1 provides the following new JMS features.

 

JMS Thin Client

At approximately 400KB, the JMS thin application client (wljmsclient.jar) file provides full WebLogic JMS functionality, yet greatly reduces the client-side WebLogic footprint by using a smaller library that contains only the set of supporting files required by client-side programs. The JMS thin client also requires using the standard WebLogic thin application client JAR (wlclient.jar), around 300KB, which contains the base client support for clustering, security, and transactions, and failover.

 

Simplified Access to Remote WebLogic Domains or Third-Party JMS Providers

Using the Foreign JMS Server node on the console, you can quickly map a third-party JMS provider so that its connection factories and destinations appear in your WebLogic Server JNDI tree as a local JMS objects. A Foreign JMS Server configuration can also be used to reference remote instances of WebLogic Server in another cluster or domain in your local WebLogic JNDI tree.

 

Easier Access to JMS Via EJBs and Servlets

New "wrappers" for JMS connection factories make it easier to use JMS inside a J2EE container, such as an EJB or servlet. By using a resource-ref element in the deployment descriptors to define your connection factories, the wrappers make it easy to access local or remote WebLogic JMS objects, and can even be used to access third-party JMS providers. This feature also provides automatic pooling of JMS connection and session objects (and some pooling of message producer objects as well); automatic transaction enlistment for JMS providers that support XA; monitoring of the JMS connection and re-establishment after a failure; and security credentials that are managed by the EJB or servlet.

 

Better Expired Message Handling

Active message expiration ensures that expired messages are cleaned up immediately. Moreover, expired message auditing gives you the option of tracking expired messages, either by logging when a message expires or by redirecting expired messages to a special destination.

 

Improved Message Flow Control by Blocking Producers

The "Blocking Send" features help you avoid receiving message quota errors by temporarily blocking message producers from sending messages to a destination (queue or topic) when the destination has exceeded its specified maximum message quota.

 

Ordered Redelivery of Messages

As per the JMS Specification, all messages initially delivered to a consumer from a given producer are guaranteed to arrive at the consumer in the order in which they were produced. WebLogic JMS goes above and beyond this requirement by guaranteeing the correct ordering of redelivered messages as well.

 

Dynamically Deleting Queue or Topic Destinations

New JMS Helper extension methods enable you to delete JMS destinations dynamically. The JMS server removes the deleted destination in real time; therefore, it is not necessary to redeploy the JMS server for the deletion to take effect.

 

ServerSessionPoolFactory Class Deprecated In weblogic.jms Package

The ServerSessionPoolFactory class in the weblogic.jms package has been deprecated in WebLogic Server 8.1. It has been replaced by the ServerSessionPoolFactory class in the weblogic.jms.extensions package. BEA recommends using the new version in the weblogic.jms.extensions package when binding a ServerSessionPoolFactory into JNDI. However, for this release you can still perform the JNDI lookup with either version.

 

webapp Features

WebLogic Server 8.1 includes the following new webapp features and changes.

 

Performance Improvements

Performance is improved for JSP string handling as well as JSP compilation time.

 

Security Principle for init Method

Use the new init-as-principal-name element in weblogic.xml to declare a principle name for running a servlet's init method.

 

Allow Access to WEB-INF on forward/include

You can now call one servlet from inside another servlet. This is accomplished using either a forward or an include request from within the original servlet. Should you forward to a second servlet, all future action takes place according to the second servlet, as with any forward. Including a second servlet allows you to gather data from a source already accessed by another servlet without having to rewrite all the code.

 

Integrated jspc Functionality into appc

The appc compiler now incorporates the functionality of jspc. You can use appc to compile and generate both EJBs and JSPs for deployment.

 

Class Reloading for Servlet Filters

When responding to a request for a servlet, WebLogic Server checks the time stamp of the servlet class file prior to applying any filters associated with the servlet, and compares it to the servlet instance in memory. If a newer version of the servlet class is found, WebLogic Server re-loads the servlet class before any filtering takes place. You can configure the interval at which WebLogic Server checks the timestamp using the Server Reload attribute.

 

FileServlet File Sorting Options

WebLogic Server introduces new weblogic.xml deployment descriptors to provide sorting options for directory listings. The new element, index-directory-sort-by has valid sorting styles of NAME, LAST_MODIFIED, and SIZE. For example, to enable directory listing sorted by file size, the XML would look similar to: 

<weblogic-web-app>
<index-directory-enabled>true</index-directory-enabled>
 <index-directory-sort-by>SIZE</index-directory-sort-by>
</weblogic-web-app>

 

Web Services Features

The following new Web Services features are available with WebLogic Server 8.1.

 

Digital Signatures and Encryption

You can configure data security for Web Services and Web Service clients using new elements in the web-services.xml deployment descriptor.

 

Reliable SOAP Messaging

Reliable SOAP messaging is a framework whereby an application running in one WebLogic Server instance can asynchronously and reliably invoke a Web service running on another WebLogic Server instance.

 

SOAP 1.2

WebLogic Server supports SOAP 1.2 as the message transport when a client invokes a Web Service operation.

 

JMS Transport Protocol

You can optionally configure a Web Service to use JMS as the transport protocol (in addition to HTTP/S, the default protocol) when a client accesses the service.

 

Asynchronous Invocation of WebLogic Web Services

The clientgen Ant task can now generate stubs for invoking a Web service operation asynchronously. The stub contains two methods: the first invokes the operation with the required parameters but does not wait for the result; later, the second method returns the actual results. One uses this asynchronous client when using reliable SOAP messaging.

 

Portable Stubs

You can now use portable stubs (versioned client JAR files used to invoke WebLogic Web services) to avoid class clashes when invoking a Web service from within WebLogic Server.

 

Implementation of the SOAP With Attachments API For Java (SAAJ) 1.1

SAAJ enables developers to produce and consume messages conforming to the SOAP 1.1 specification and SOAP with Attachments note. This specification is derived from the java.xml.soap package originally defined in the JAXM 1.0 specification.

 

wsdlgen Ant Task

The wsdlgen Ant task generates a WSDL file from the EAR and WAR files that implement your Web Service. The EAR file contains the EJBs that implement your Web Service and the WAR file contains the web-services.xml deployment descriptor file.

 

Additional Functionality in Existing Ant Tasks

The existing Web Service Ant tasks have the following new attributes and elements:

  • autotype—The autotype Ant task has the following new attributes: keepGenerated and overwrite.

    The Ant task also has a new command-line version.

  • clientgen—The clientgen Ant task has the following new attributes: generateAsyncMethods, generatePublicFields, and keepGenerated.
  • servicegen—The servicegen Ant task has the following new child elements: <handlerChain>, <reliability>, and <security>.

    The main servicegen Ant task has the following new attributes: keepGenerated and mergeWithExistingWS.

    The <service> child element of the servicegen Ant task has the following new attribute: useSoap12.

  • The source2wsdd Ant task has the following new attributes: ejblink, mergeWithExistingWS, overwrite, and wsdlFile.
  • The wsdl2Service Ant task has the following new attribute: overwrite.
  • The wspackage Ant task has the following new attribute: utilJars.

 

Web Service Changed Features In This Release

The following Web Service features have changed in this release.

 

wsdl2Service Ant Task

The wsdl2Service Ant task now generates a Java interface that represents the implementation of your Web Service. In the previous release, this Ant task generated a Java source file that partially implemented the Web service.

 

JMS-Implemented Web Services

BEA no longer supports using JMS Topics as the destination type for JMS-implemented WebLogic Web Services. This functionality was deprecated in release 7.0 of WebLogic Server.

 

Command-Line Version of the servicegen Ant Task

BEA no longer supports the command-line version of the servicegen Ant task.

 

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector Features

WebLogic Server 8.1 provides the following new WebLogic Tuxedo Connector features.

 

Enhanced Security Administration

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector provides to users the ability to select one of the following APPKEY generators to access Tuxedo services:

  • TPUSER plug-in—Enables users to use a tpuser file to provide user information to the Tuxedo authentication server.
  • LDAP—Enables users create a single source of security administration by allowing WebLogic Server embedded LDAP information to be used by a Tuxedo 8.1 authentication server.
  • Custom—Enables users to create a custom APPKEY to generate user information to access Tuxedo services.

 

WLEC to WebLogic Tuxedo Connector Migration Guide

The guide outlines how to migrate applications using WLEC to the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector. WebLogic Tuxedo Connector provides support for FactoryFinder objects using the find_one_factory_by_id method. WLEC to WebLogic Tuxedo Connector migration requires minor application modification:

  • WLEC applications require modification of the portions of application code that use or call environmental objects.
  • Existing CORBA C++ server objects do not require server application changes.

 

Asynchronous tpacall

The asynchronous tpacall method allows you to send a request to a Tuxedo service and release the thread resource that performed the call to the thread pool. This allows a very large number of outstanding requests to be serviced with a much smaller number of threads.

 

Runtime WTC ORB

This release of WebLogic Tuxedo Connector implements a new WTC ORB which uses WebLogic Server RMI-IIOP runtime and CORBA support. Previous releases used a JDK based WTC ORB. A wrapper is provided to allow users with legacy applications to use the new WTC ORB without modifying their existing applications.

 

Enhancements to FML Interface

Several performance enhancements are provided in the Java Application-to-Transaction Monitor Interface Field Markup Language (JATMI FML Interface). Enhancements include:

  • The addition of a Fadd method to add objects to a fielded buffer
  • Performance enhancements for the Fchg and Fdel methods

 

VIEW Buffer Example

The simpview example demonstrates the ability of WebLogic Tuxedo Connector to allow WebLogic Server to interoperate with Tuxedo using VIEWs. WebLogic Tuxedo Connector code examples, if installed, are located in the SAMPLES_HOME\server\examples\src\examples\wtc directory of your WebLogic Server installation, where SAMPLES_HOME is the location of all examples for the WebLogic Platform.

 

Changes to WTC in the Navigation Tree

The terminology used to reference the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector Service and nodes in console has changed:

  • The WebLogic Tuxedo Connector node is now WTC.
  • The Local WLS Domains node is now Local Tuxedo Access Points.
  • The Remote Tuxedo Domains node is now Remote Tuxedo Access Points.
  • A WTCServer instance is now a WTC Service instance.

 

XML Features

You can now use the WebLogic XPath API to perform XPath matching against an XML document represented as a DOM, XMLNode, or XMLInputStream.

 

Developer Tools

The following new developer tool features are available in WebLogic Server 8.1.

 

New appc Compiler

The appc compiler compiles and generates EJBs and JSPs for deployment. It also validates the descriptors for compliance with the current specifications at both the individual module level and the application level. The application level checks include checks between the application-level deployment descriptors and the individual modules as well as validation checks across the modules.

New J2EE Client .JARs

Prior to version 8.1, client applications that incorporated WebLogic Server functionality required the entire WebLogic Server distribution (weblogic.jar and weblogicaux.jar) on the client machine. WebLogic Server now provides two new client .jar files that include only the functionality needed for small-footprint J2EE client functionality. The new files are:

  • wlclient.jar for basic WebLogic functionality such as clustering, security, and transactions.
  • wljmsclient.jar for basic WebLogic functionality plus JMS features.

The new client .jar files are located in the /server/lib subdirectory of the WebLogic Server installation directory (for example, c:\bea\weblogic81b\server\lib). The new client .jar files are not supported with JDK 1.3.x or earlier.

 

Builder Changes

The following features and changes apply to the WebLogic Builder tool.

 

Deployment Descriptor Editing

Use the Builder tool to edit J2EE module deployment descriptors. Deployment Descriptor editing features are no longer available via the console.

 

Optimistic Concurrency

It is now possible to configure your CMP entity beans to use optimistic concurrency for parallel transactions using Builder.

 

Internationalization Features

WebLogic Server introduces the following changes to internationalization utilities:

  • weblogic.i18ngen has updated command line options.
  • weblogic.i10ngen has updated command line options.
  • weblogic.gettxt is a new command line utility.
  • weblogic.i18ntools.GetText is a new API.
  • weblogic.MsgEditor has an updated GUI. The main Message Editor window also provides the ability to retire and unretire messages. Retiring a message does not mean that the message is deleted from the master catalog. It simply means it is hidden from user view. This feature is useful for removing obsolete messages. If you need to bring a retired message back into view, you can unretire it.

 

 

Other Available Resources

Here are some pointers to useful information related to this release. The hyperlinks require Internet access.

 

Fast Track Procedures

High-level procedures to help you quickly deploy an HTML file, JSPs, and servlets, are available at http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs70/quickstart/quick_start.html.

 

Examples

Code examples, if installed, are located in the SAMPLES_HOME\server\src\examples directory of your WebLogic Server installation, where SAMPLES_HOME is the location of all examples for the WebLogic Platform. By default, this location is c:\bea\weblogic81b\samples. Examples are also available from the Start menu for Windows users.

 

Introduction

 

Additional Documentation

The full documentation set for BEA WebLogic Server 8.1, including administration, programming, and reference guides, is provided on the BEA Web site at http://e-docs.bea.com/wls/docs81/index.

 

Newsgroups

BEA WebLogic Server newsgroups provide community support for BEA products. Information about BEA-related newsgroups can be found at http://newsgroups.bea.com/ and news://newsgroups.bea.com.

 

Dev2Dev Online

The BEA site Dev2Dev Online provides resources to make your e-commerce development easier and faster. To reach Dev2Dev online, go to http://developer.bea.com/.

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