New in this release
IBM WebSphere Application Server offers a world-class infrastructure for
open e-business platforms. As the foundation of the WebSphere software platform,
WebSphere Application Server provides a rich, e-business application deployment
environment with a complete set of application services including capabilities
for transaction management, security, clustering, performance, availability,
connectivity and scalability.
Several new and improved features are summarized here, with links to more
information.
Features that are new or improved are indicated by release level. Technical
updates are indicated similarly throughout the documentation. Version 3.5
and Version 4 users will know this as the documentation Revision history or What's
New.
See also the Site Map, available in the
top-level navigational view in each online information center. From the Site
Map, you can determine updates relative to the documentation at the V5.0 level.
![[5.0 only]](../../v50.gif)
See also the Site Map, available from the
banner of the online information center. From the Site Map, you can determine
updates relative to the documentation at the V5.0 level.
With your purchase of IBM WebSphere Application Server
for z/OS, Version 5, you are entitled to use three features that ship with
IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment Version 5:
- Edge Components: For Load Balancing, Custom Advisors, Consultants, and
Enhanced Caching
- Application Client: A stand-alone Java program launched from the command
line or desktop, and typically accesses EJB programs running on the J2EE Application
Server
![[5.0 only]](../../v50.gif)
Application Server Toolkit: Provides
the tooling necessary to debug Web applications, JavaScript, Java, and compiled
languages
If you currently own the Network Deployment product, you already have
these three components. You can use the software and adopt the IBM WebSphere
Application Server for z/OS license.
Planning, installation, and product migration
- The product offers production-ready J2EE 1.3 standards and Web services
support.
Multiple node environments are created
by federating multiple WebSphere Application Server installations into cells,
each of which is managed by a deployment manager provided by a Network
Deployment installation.
For more information, see the administrative
agents section of Welcome to System Administration.
- The servlet redirector and remote OSE mechanisms are no longer supported.
Instead, HTTP forwards Web requests from your Web server to an HTTP server or
an HTTP internal transport running inside the appropriate application
server.
- The base WebSphere Application Server product includes a new level of
the IBM HTTP Server powered by Apache 1.3, which is Version 1.3.28. The product
also includes a plug-in option for IBM HTTP Server powered by Apache 2.0.
The installer can configure either Web server.
The installer program requires
you to install IBM HTTP Server into a new directory.
There is a new level of GSKit.
New and improved WebSphere Samples
Gallery
- Technology centered Samples, including EJB, J2EE client, JMS, JSP, and
Servlet Samples.
- The Plants by WebSphere "super Sample," demonstrating multiple
technologies used to build realistic applications.
- Java Petstore Sample
- ANT-based build scripts enabling you to run, modify, rebuild, and run
the Samples again.
- Use of Cloudscape rather than DB2 for the Samples requiring a database.
Cloudscape has a smaller footprint.
For more information, see Samples Gallery.
Servers
- The Application Server now runs with the high
performing:
![[5.0 only]](../../v50.gif)
![[Version 5.0.1]](../../v501.gif)
IBM Developer Kit, Java Technology
Edition, Version 1.3.1 used on AIX, Windows, Linux, and z/OS operating systems
- Java 2 SDK from Sun
on the Solaris Operating Environment
- Java 2 SDK from HP-UX
on the HP-UX operating system
For more information, see Using the JVM.
To confirm that you
have the latest version of the IBM SDK for z/OS, you can use a java -version command.
For more information about build dates and included fixes, see Service summary - IBM SDK for z/OS, Java 2 Technology Edition
- Workload management and clustering
has improved.
- Clusters now can be managed with browser based, scripting, and JMX administrative
clients.
- A new load balancing algorithm has been incorporated to better optimize
the distribution of client requests across cluster members.
- Enhanced failover support provides quicker failover in the case of network
outages and other problems.
You can now use workload management (WLM) across
multiple cells. This means that you can divide your servers into separate
cells, and have them communicate (load balance and failover) with one another
through WLM. As a result, you have more flexibility in designing your system
and keeping it manageable.
The z/OS Workload Management
component in z/OS 1.4 and higher enables incoming HTTP requests that are as
yet without servant region affinity to be distributed evenly across servant
regions. See WLM even distribution of HTTP requests for more information.
For more information, see Balancing workloads with clusters.
- The system name space structure provided by the name server has changed
significantly since the last release, including:
- The Version 5 name space is distributed, meaning that objects are not
all bound under a single context root as with previous versions.
- The name space consists of partitions. Some partitions in the name space
contain transient bindings and some partitions contain persistent bindings.
These features and other
new naming features are summarized in Version 5 features for name space support.
APAR PQ87025 added two new
articles on bind specific support. These articles are entitled "Binding to
a specific IP address" and "Configuration considerations in a multiple IP
stack environment". These two new articles replace the existing article entitled
"Multiple IP stacks". Bind specific support applies to Version 5.0.2 and later.
This APAR also adds information on setting DAEMON_protocol_iiop_listenIPAddress,
and clarifies rules for specifying host names.
Applications > EJB modules
Applications > Web modules
- Servlet 2.3 with Filters and Events
- JSP 1.2 with XML Syntax
- Changes in autoRequestEncoding
and autoResponseEncoding
The web container no longer automatically sets
request and response encodings and response content types. The programmer
is expected to set these values using the methods available in the Servlet
2.3 API. If you want the Application Server to attempt to automatically set
these values, set autoRequestEncoding=true in order to have the request encoding
value set and set autoResponseEncoding=true in order to have the response
encoding and content type set. These values can be found in the ibm-web-ext.xmi
file for each web application.
For more information, see autoRequestEncoding and autoResponseEncoding.
- Filters are Java classes that can be configured to operate on (filter)
the request and response data of a requested resource.
The resource to
filter, and filter precedence is specified in the deployment descriptor information
found in the web.xml file of a Web application. Initialization parameters
for filters can also be specified in the web.xml. Filters can be chained and
can be configured to work on a single resource or a group of resources. Typical
usages for filters include logging filters, image conversion filters, encryption
filters, and MIME-type filters (functionally equivalent to the old style servlet
chaining).
For more information,
see Servlet filtering.
- Application lifecycle events give
the application developer greater control over interactions with ServletContext
and HttpSession objects.
Application event objects consist of application
events and application listeners. Servlet context listeners are used to manage
resources at an application level. Session listeners manage resources associated
with a series of request from a single client. Listeners are available for
lifecycle events and for attribute modification events. The listener developer
creates a class that implements the javax listener interface corresponding
to the desired listener functionality.
For more information, see Application lifecycle listeners and events.
- The HttpUtils class is deprecated in 2.3 and its methods are replaced
by new methods in the request object. The HttpUtils class will still be available
for use by servlet writers until a future servlet specification directs its
complete removal.
- The product no longer requires the JSP-enabling servlet
The file
serving enabled check box in the IBM extensions tab of the Web
module properties in the Application Assembly Tool controls this function
for V5, V5.0.1, and V5.0.2. (It is selected by default.)
![[5.0 only]](../../v50.gif)
Adding JSP files
to the WAR file in the Application Assembly Tool or to the appropriate application_name.war directory
of the installed enterprise application causes the JSP files to be served.
![[5.0 only]](../../v50.gif)
Adding
HTML files to the Web archive (WAR) file in the Application Assembly Tool
or to the appropriate application_name.war directory of the installed
enterprise application causes the HTML files to be served.
- New and improved features pertaining
to HTTP session support include:
- Multiple mechanisms for HTTP session state management, plus configuration
options based on scalability and failover requirements from simple, single
server environments to large, high-load clusters:
- In memory
- Persistent to database
- Memory-to-memory
- Replacement of the Session Manager object, which resided underneath each
servlet engine in the WebSphere Application Server Version 4 topology. Its
properties are now part of each Application Server.
- Enhanced support for HTTP Session State failover, as described in Managing HTTP sessions.
- With Version 5, a new option exists for saving HttpSession information
for failure recovery purposes. In addition to a database, IBM WebSphere Application
Server can save a HttpSession in more than one Application Server instance.
Called in-memory session replication, this feature leverages the replication
domain and replicator entry services provided in Network Deployment.
Session support for Wireless Application Protocol
devices.
Applications > Web services
WebSphere
Application Server Version 5.02 introduces support for Web services for J2EE
(JSR-109).
The new Web services standards are
developed for the Java language under the Java Community Process (JCP). These
standards include the Java API for XML-based remote procedure call, JAX-RPC
(JSR-101), and Web services for J2EE.
The
JAX-RPC standard covers the programming model and bindings for using Web Services
Description Language (WSDL) for Web services in the Java language. The Web
services standard for J2EE covers the use of JAX-RPC in a J2EE environment,
as well as the deployment of Web services implementations in a J2EE server.
Both standards are part of the J2EE 1.4 release.
Web services development tools have been enhanced
and are now based on the Java API for XML-based remote procedure call (JAX-RPC)
1.0 and on the Web services for J2EE, Version 1.0 (JSR-109) specifications.
See Implementing Web services for
an introduction to the new documentation based on these specifications.
Web services enable businesses to connect
applications to other business applications, to deliver business functions
to a broader set of customers and partners, to interact with marketplaces
more efficiently, and to create new business models dynamically. To that extent,
the product provides four protocols that support Web services:
- Web Services Description Language (WSDL), an XML-based description language
that provides a way to catalog and describe services
- Universal Discovery Description and Integration (UDDI), a global, platform-independent,
open framework to enable businesses to discover each other, define their interaction,
and share information in a global registry
- SOAP, a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized,
distributed environment
- eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which provides a common language for
exchanging information.
- Enhanced Web Services, including WSIF and Web Services Security. New and
improved features in Web services support include:
- An open source implementation of a Web Services Invocation Framework (WSIF),
new in this release. It includes protocol isolation and dynamic invocation
(no stubs)
- The following new features added
by WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment and WebSphere Application
Server for z/OS:
- AXIS has improved performance and flexible architecture.
- Newly-enhanced Web services capabilities of WebSphere Studio (sold separately)
for developing Web services.
Web services security functionality that is based
on standards included in the Web services security (WS-Security) specification.
Web services security is a message-level standard, based on securing SOAP
messages through XML digital signature, confidentiality through XML encryption,
and credential propagation through security tokens. See Securing Web services based on WS-Security for
information on securing Web services.
Applications > Application services
- Changes and improvements in naming
support are described in Version 5 features for name space support.
They include:
- The way that the system binds objects into the name space has changed
significantly.
Before WebSphere Application Server Version 5.0, all objects
were bound relative to a single root context. Now they are bound to a context
that is specific to the server associated with the object. This context is
referred to as the server root context. Each server has its own server root
context. An initial context can be any server root context. This means that
jndiName values in deployment descriptors and lookup names in thin clients
must be qualified when the object associated with the name is bound under
a server root context different from the initial context.
For
more information, see Name space logical view and Lookup names support in deployment descriptors and thin clients.
- Changes and improvements in dynamic caching include:
- Internationalization support enables applications to become global
by determining the client locale and changing supported attributes, such as
currency, character sets, and so on. For
information about the localizable-text API, see Internationalizing applications.
- Class loaders are new and improved as of Version 5.0. For more information,
see Class loading.
Resources > Messaging
- Java Message Service (JMS) through embedded provider
- Supports point-to-point and publish/subscribe styles of messaging
- Used for message-driven bean support
- Integrated with transaction manager (JMS with XA)
- Used for messaging within a cluster or cell
- Support for plugging in other JMS providers, including MQ Series
- Messaging and e-mail interfaces through JavaBeans Activation Framework
(JAF), Remote Method Invocation over Internet InterORB Protocol (RMI/IIOP),
the JavaMail API, and Java Messaging Service (JMS) with the help of IBM MQ
Series
- Integrated JMS, as described
in Using asynchronous messaging
Resources > Data access
The administrative console pages for configuring
data sources now contain options for testing the data source connections.
- All connector access is through J2C.
- JDBC access managed via J2C relational resource connector
- Legacy JDBC support is provided
- Data access support provides a complete implementation of the JCA 1.0
specification, including support for:
- Connection sharing
This version fully supports the res-sharing-scope
tag within the resource reference (resource-ref) element, so the product
supports both shareable and unshareable connections.
- Get/use/close and get/use/cache programming models for connection handles
The
product supports the Web container. Both EJB and Web components can utilize
the J2EE Connector Architecture.
- XA, local, and No transaction models of resource adapters, including XA
recovery
- Security options A and C per the specification
- Res-auth settings of either application or container.
In Version 4,
the res-auth setting was disregarded. That is, it was treated as if the value
of res-auth was set to application. If your existing applications had res-auth
set to container, you might get different behavior if you install them into
the new environment without any changes.
Applications must be packaged as J2EE 1.3 applications.
Security
- The Tivoli Access Manager for WebSphere Application
Server provides container-based authorization and centralized policy management
for WebSphere Application Server applications.
When integrated with WebSphere
Application Server, Tivoli Access Manager for WebSphere Application Server
is responsible for all role mappings to principals or groups.
Tivoli
Access Manager also provides a migration utility (migrateEAR5) to import role-to-principal
or role-to-group mappings from a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
deployment descriptor into a Tivoli Access Manager security schema.
See Configuring Tivoli Access Manager for WebSphere Application Server for more information.
The z/OS SecureWay LDAP server is now supported,
using the same configuration as that of IBM SecureWay LDAP. The z/OS SecureWay
LDAP server functions just like any other LDAP server currently supported
by IBM WebSphere Application Server.
- Four administrative roles are now available for securing the administrative
console.
For more information,
see Administrative console and naming service authorization.
- Enhanced security features include:
- JAAS
- CSIv2 interoperability
- Java2 security
- Support for third party Security Providers
For more information, see Welcome to Security.
- Distributed systems management, security, and directory support
- J2EE security
support, including JAAS programming model and CSIv2 for CORBA interoperability
- Web services security includes signatures and credential propagation
- Support for third party security providers (prior to JSR 115)
- A new UserRegistry interface, to which Version 4 users should consider
migrating from the deprecated CustomRegistry interface that was introduced
in V4.
- The Trust Association Interceptor interface remains backward compatible
with that of Version 4.
- The application login helper functions provided in Version 4 and prior
releases are deprecated, but still supported.
- The login helper functions are replaced by the JAAS LoginContext and subject-based
programming model in Version 5.
- APAR PQ87788 corrected the instructions for encoding plain text passwords.
For more information, see Protecting plain text passwords.
- APAR PQ87587 removed the article entitled "Creating
a Secure Sockets Layer repertoire configuration entry". For information on
this subject, see Steps to create a new System SSL repertoire alias.
Environment
- Configurable plug-ins for popular Web servers.
The Web server (or HTTP
Server) plug-in enables communication between the HTTP server and the Application
Server. It uses the industry-standard HTTP transport protocol for non-secure
transports and HTTPS for secure transports.
- The plugin-cfg.xml file location has changed to install_root/config/cells/plugin-cfg.xml.
For more information, including
format changes, see Configuring Web server plug-ins.
- HTTP server capabilities embedded within the base product.
For
more information, see Configuring transports.
- New variable support. Variables are configuration properties that can
be used to provide a parameter for any value in the system.
For
more information, see Variables.
- New shared library support.
For
more information, see Shared library files.
System administration
- Terminology for distributed
systems management:
- A cell is a collection of machines that you are managing together.
- A node is a machine on which you are running an Application Server.
- A server is the Java virtual machine running the Application Server containing
your applications.
- New, scalable XML-based administrative
infrastructure:
- All configuration data is stored in XML for standard deployment descriptors,
and XMI format for product-specific configuration documents. These documents
are stored on each node. No relational database is required. See Working with server configuration files.
- The Server configuration API is provided for manipulating product configuration
files. See WebSphere
configuration documentation (Javadoc)
.
- Servers load directly from configurations in XML documents.
- Application binaries are managed as part of the configuration repository.
- In clusters, the product manages
synchronization of documents across machines. This feature is configurable,
as described in File synchronization service settings.
- JMX support:
- Multiple protocol support (SOAP
by default, but also RMI/IIOP)
- Support for alerts
- Message routing between machines,
providing cell-level view
- Support for MBeans that you
define and register
- Run-time attributes and access to run-time operations, configurations,
and performance data
For more information, see Deploying and managing using programming.
- Scripting support:
- Based on Bean Scripting Framework (BSF), supports multiple scripting languages;
- Parallel capability between scripting and Web-based administrative console
- Interactive and script modes
- Multiple connection styles (SOAP, RMI)
- Remote administration support
- Ability to access any MBean registered in any server in the cell
- Run-time attributes and access to run-time operations, configurations,
and performance data
For more information, see Deploying and managing using scripting.
- WebSphere administrative console:
For more information, see Using the administrative console.
- Many command line tools are now available for specific tasks. For more
information, see Managing using command line tools.
Monitoring and tuning performance
- Performance features include:
- Dynamic, multi tier caching, which is set up per node or Application
Server using XML files. Such caching is most effective for non-user-specific
output, such as mutual fund prices.
- Dynamic reloading of enterprise beans.
- JNDI caching, which improves performance by caching expensive lookups.
See JNDI caching.
- Caching of dynamic content, such as servlets and JSP files, to improve
throughput.
- The product can be tuned from the WebSphere administrative console.
Troubleshooting
Enhanced problem
determination features include:
Searchable topic ID:
rovr_whatsnew_main
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 9:56:50 PM CDT
WebSphere Application Server for z/OS, Version 5.0.2
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