Migration of JPA applications and bean validation
The Java™ Persistence API (JPA) 2.0 provides support for the Bean Validation API so that data validation can be done at run time. This topic includes best practices when you want to deploy Version 7 Feature Pack for OSGi and JPA 2.0 applications on Version 8.x.
The Bean Validation API is not included with the Version 7 Feature Pack for OSGi and JPA 2.0. Therefore, you must provide and configure the Bean Validation API and implementation in a shared library or package with the application.

- In Version 7.0, the system property, com.ibm.websphere.validation.api.jar.path, is used to direct the feature pack run time to locate the Bean Validation API JAR file. In Version 8.x and later, the Bean Validation API JAR file is built into the product installation, therefore, this system property is ignored. However, the bean validation provider can still be overridden in 7.x, 8.x and 9.x versions when packaged in application or shared libraries. The third bullet describes this usage scenario.
- The bean validation implementation in WebSphere® Application Server is automatically the effective default bean validation provider.
- If standard bean validation features are used by the JPA application, the com.ibm.websphere.validation.api.jar.path system property, and user-supplied bean validation provider can be removed from application deployment.
- If non-specification compliant or provider-specific features are used by an application, the bean validation provider that supports the required features must be packaged, configured, and deployed as a typical, third-party service provider in the user application, the application shared library, and the server associated shared library. Read more about shared library usage in applications for more information.