The Liberty profile is a highly composable, fast to start, dynamic application server runtime environment.
You can install the server as described in Installing Liberty using Installation Manager or Installing Liberty using downloaded files and archives.
Because the Liberty profile does not include a Java™ runtime environment (JRE), you must install a compliant Java implementation (JRE or SDK) beforehand. For more information about supported Java environments, and where to get them, see Minimum supported Java levels.
Features are the units of functionality by which you control the pieces of the runtime environment that are loaded into a particular server. For a list of the main Liberty features, see Liberty features.
You can also create your own features, as described in Extending the Liberty profile.
You can work with the runtime environment directly,
or use the WebSphere Application
Server Developer Tools for Eclipse.
On distributed platforms, the Liberty profile provides both a development and an operational environment. On Mac OS, it provides a development environment.
On z/OS® systems,
the Liberty profile provides an operations environment. You can work
natively with this environment by using the MVS™ console. For application development, consider
using the Eclipse-based developer tools on a separate distributed
system, on Mac OS, or in a Linux shell
on z/OS.
You can organize Liberty servers into collectives to support clustering, administration, and other operations that act on multiple Liberty servers at a time in order to efficiently and accurately deliver application services to your organization. See Liberty profile: Collective architecture for more information.