About this task
A Web container handles requests for servlets, JavaServer Pages
(JSP) files, and other types of files that include server-side code. The
Web container creates servlet instances, loads and unloads servlets, creates
and manages request and response objects, and performs other servlet management
tasks. The Web server plug-ins, provided by the WebSphere Application Server,
help supported Web servers pass servlet requests to Web containers.
If
the property to start servlets during application server startup is enabled,
part of its startup process calls the Servlet.init method on its servlets
when you start the Web container. Therefore, when the Web container starts
and calls the init method, other components such as Naming and Work Load Management
may not be fully started yet. As a result, application server related calls
may not work since all of the application server components may not be ready
yet. Once the application server is 'ready for e-business', it is completely
ready. If application server related calls fail during Servlet.init method,
you can either:
- Start the servlet manually when the server is ready for e-business instead
of starting the servlet upon startup or
- You can choose not to make application server related calls in the servlet's
init method.
The Web container is created initially with default properties
values suitable for simple Web applications. However, these values might
not be appropriate for more complex Web applications.
Your application
is considered complex if it requires any of the following features:
- Virtual host
- Servlet caching
- Special client request loads
- Persistent HTTP session support
- Special HTTP transport settings
Transaction class mappings
Make the following configuration changes if you have a complex application: