This version offers many new and exciting improvements, whether
you are new to the product, or making the transition from a prior release.
WebSphere Application Server is a proven, high-performance
transaction engine that can help you build, run, integrate, and manage dynamic
business applications. It excels as the foundation for a service-oriented
architecture (SOA) with these main benefits:
- Simple, rapid development and deployment
Improve time to value and make the most of existing technology skills
with easy to use features designed to get you to production fast.
- Secure and scalable SOA runtime
Rest assured that applications and data are safe and that you can eliminate
lost business opportunities with near-continuous uptime for mission-critical
applications.
- Extensible communication services
Increase your return on investment and improve the flexibility of your
business by making application services more reusable and accessible to new
users in new ways.
- Effective application management
Focus resources on innovation instead of maintenance, and reduce the
costs of managing your environment with effective and easy-to-use management
tools.
The following articles catalog the most notable new and changed features,
routing you to appropriate information for learning more about each one.
Skip ahead to the details that interest you, or continue reading this
topic to obtain a higher level view first.
Simple, rapid development and deployment
Improve
time to value and make the most of existing technology skills with easy-to-use
features designed to get you to production fast. Key features include:
- WebSphere Application Server Toolkit to help you create, test, and deploy
applications; including a rapid-deployment feature for testing applications
in the Version 6.1 runtime environment
- Tight integration with Rational tools for additional application-building
functionality
- Java Server Faces—a framework that eases the development of Java-based
Web applications
- Service Data Objects—a data-centric, disconnected, XML-integrated, data-access
mechanism that provides a source-independent result set
WebSphere Application Server,
Version 6.1 highlights include:
Secure and scalable SOA runtime
Rest assured that
applications and data are safe and that you can eliminate lost business opportunities
with near-continuous uptime for mission-critical applications.
WebSphere Application Server,
Version 6.1 highlights include:
- Portlet programming model for developing reusable Web modules that run
on a portal server and provide access to Web-based content, applications,
and other resources
- Common Criteria
Assurance Level 4 security certification
- Default security configurations set out-of-the-box
- Identity-management capabilities through integration of virtual member
manager
- High-availability
and scalability improvements
Extensible communication services
Increase your
return on investment and improve the flexibility of your business by making
application services more reusable and accessible to new users in new ways.
- Powerful messaging engine. JMS support enables applications to exchange
messages asynchronously with other JMS clients by using JMS destinations (queues
or topics)
- Extensive Web services support, which makes it easier to integrate applications
inside the enterprise as well as externally with customers, partners and suppliers
- Tight integration with WebSphere MQ for diverse environments
- Ability to plug in the WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus for service mediation
WebSphere Application Server,
Version 6.1 highlights include:
- Web Services Notification, which enables Web service applications to utilize
the "publish and subscribe" messaging pattern
- WS Interoperability Basic Security Profile to provide transport-neutral
mechanisms to address Web services and to facilitate end-to-end addressing
- Web Services security updates
- WS Business Agreement
- Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Servlet support for applications that
support real-time collaboration
Effective application management
Focus resources
on innovation instead of maintenance, and reduce the costs of managing your
environment with effective and easy-to-use management tools.
- Web-based administrative console
- Integrated Solutions Console
- Java Management eXtensions (JMX)
- Tivoli Performance Viewer
- Tight integration with Tivoli software
WebSphere Application Server,
Version 6.1 highlights include:
- Console command assistant
- Integrated development environment for scripted administration in WebSphere
Application Server Toolkit
- ISC profiling
- Debugging enhancements in IBM Java 5 SDK
- IBM Support Assistant (ISA) bundled for self-help
- Simplified administration with simpler panels and more wizards
- Standalone thin administrative client
64-bit JVM under z/OS (available
in Version 6.1.0.4)
6.1.0.4 updates
6.1.0.4
details are mentioned because these capabilities go beyond the usual fixes.
For details about all available service levels, consult the Support site.
6.1.0.4
introduces these significant features:
- Support of IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server on z/OS platforms
IBM
HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server, which is powered by Apache,
now runs on z/OS platforms. IBM HTTP Server on z/OS supports 64-bit architecture
and IPv6. See the IBM HTTP Server for WebSphere Application Server documentation
for details.
- 64-bit addressing support on WebSphere Application Server for z/OS
Now
you can configure a server running on the z/OS platform to use either 31-bit
or 64-bit addressing. Whether a server is configured to use either 31-bit
or 64-bit addressing does not affect its ability to interoperate or coexist
with servers from this or earlier releases. When you configure a server to
run in 31-bit mode, each server address space can access a maximum of 2 gigabytes
(2G) of virtual memory. When you configure a server to run in 64-bit mode,
each server address space can access a maximum of 16 exabytes (16 thousand
million gigabytes) of virtual memory.