This section provides shortcuts to information for obtaining a high level understanding of the
product, then getting started quickly.
- Learn about WebSphere applications: Overview and new features
- Use the Learn about WebSphere applications section as a starting point to study technologies
used in and by applications deployed on the application server.
- Learn about WebSphere programming model extensions
- Use this section as a starting point to investigate the technologies used in and by
applications that you deploy on the application server.
- What is new in this release
- This topic provides a high level overview of what is new and changed in this version. The audience is anyone who is evaluating or planning to use this version, particularly users of previous versions or editions.
- Common Critieria (EAL 4) support
- The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) has developed Common Criteria to ensure you have a safe
option for downloading software to use on your systems. Many consumers of IT lack the knowledge, expertise or resources
necessary to judge whether their confidence in the security of their IT products or systems is appropriate, and they may
not wish to rely solely on the assertions of the developers. Consumers may therefore choose to increase their
confidence in the security measures of an IT product or system by ordering an analysis of its security
(in other words, a security evaluation).
- Federal Information Processing Standard support
-
Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) are standards and guidelines issued by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for federal government computer systems. FIPS are developed when there are compelling federal government requirements for standards, such as for security and interoperability, but acceptable industry standards or solutions do not exist. Government agencies and financial institutions use these standards to ensure that the products conform to specified security requirements.
- IPv6 support
-
The product includes both IPv6-only and IPv4/IPv6 mixed-mode dual stack support,
with the restrictions that are described on the Support site.
- Fast paths for WebSphere Application Server
- This topic describes the most quick and simple paths to deploying an application, with links that
pinpoint the relevant information for reaching your goals quickly. It also describes the audience roles
and tasks assumed by this documentation. The fast path described in this topic is intended to help you
gain a little experience. It does not showcase the advanced product features that some users need or want
to use in their production environments.
- WebSphere platform and related software
- This topic provides links for exploring other WebSphere and IBM products.
- Product architecture
- This topic introduces the parts of the WebSphere Application Server product. The following diagram shows a product installation.
- Using the administrative clients
- The product provides a variety of administrative clients for deploying and administering your applications and application
serving environment, including configurations and logical administrative domains.
- Guided activities for the administrative console
-
The topic describes the guided activities that are available in the administrative console.
Guided activities lead you through common administrative tasks that require you to visit multiple
administrative console pages.
- Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and J2SE
-
This topic describes the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification that is the
foundation of the application programming model for WebSphere Application Server. WebSphere
programming model extensions add value by extending the J2EE programming model. Read this
topic for a brief overview of key J2EE concepts, including the parts of the J2EE runtime
environment and J2EE application packaging and deployment.
- Tutorials
-
This topic describes how to find tutorials and their accompanying Samples, for
learning how to accomplish your goals with the product.
- Accessing the Samples (Samples Gallery)
-
This topic describes how to install and access the Samples Gallery, which offers a set of Samples that
demonstrate common Web
application tasks. The Gallery also contains descriptions of where to find additional Samples
and coding examples.
- Web resources for learning
-
This topic familiarizes you with the many Web sites containing technical information for
understanding and using your WebSphere Application Server product. A wealth of online
information is available to complement the product documentation.
- Packaging
- This topic describes the family of WebSphere Application Server products.
- Hardware and software requirements
- This topic describes prerequisites for installing WebSphere Application Server products.
- Assembly tools
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WebSphere Application Server supports three tools that you can use to develop, assemble, and
deploy J2EE modules: Application Server Toolkit (AST), Rational Web Developer, and Rational
Application Developer (RAD). These tools are referred to in this information center as the
assembly tools.