New York
University
Computer
Science Department
Courant
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Application
Servers Comparison
Course Title: Application Servers Course
Number: g22.3033-011
Instructor: Jean-Claude Franchitti Session: 7
There are many different application servers available on the market today. Below is a point and time analysis of the features marketed by each of several different application servers. Note that the information for this document was obtained from marketing material provided by the vendors.
Key |
|
+ |
Specifies that a specific feature is support. |
- |
Specifies that a specific feature is not supported. |
Text |
Used when more explanation is necessary. |
In the table, a + is used to indicate that the specific feature is supported, a – indicates that the feature is not supported. Text is used when more explanation is necessary.
The companies and products that are being evaluated are
q IBM WebSphere 3.0 (note: this evaluation incorporates both the Websphere Advanced and the Websphere Enterprise products.)
q BlueStone Saphire
q Sun Microsystems NetDynamics 5
q BEA Systems Weblogic 4.5.1
q Silverstream Silverstream Application Server 2.5
q Forte Synergy
q Persistence Powertier 5 for EJB
q Sybase Sybase EAS 3.0
q
Company. The name of the company who produces the
application server.
q
Product. The name of the application server.
q
Ease-of-Use. Does the product advertise that a developer
can learn to use the product rapidly.
Does the product provide wizards and other tools to facilitate
development?
q
Hardware / OS. Which operating systems does the product
support?
Company |
Product |
Ease of Use |
Hardware/OS |
IBM |
WebSphere 3.0 |
+ |
Windows NT, Solaris, IBM AIX (Other versions available for Linux,
Netware, OS/390, AS/400) |
BlueStone |
Sapphire/Web |
Difficult learning curve |
Windows NT, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, AS/400, OS/390 |
Sun Microsystems |
NetDynamics 5 |
+ |
Windows NT, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Irix |
BEA Systems |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
GUI deployment tool.
However, our tests showed it to be buggy and unwieldy. Extensive use of properties files. |
Windows NT, Solaris, HP-UX, IBM AIX, OS/400, Linux |
Silverstream |
2.5 |
+ |
Developer –
Windows NT; Server –
Windows NT,
Solaris,
HP-UX |
Forte |
Synergy |
+ |
Development –
Windows NT; Application Server
Windown NT,
Sun Solaris,
"Other Java2 Certified Platforms" |
Persistence |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
+ |
Solaris, Windows NT, HP-UX, IBM AIX |
Sybase |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
+ |
Windows NT, Solaris, HP-UX |
q
Transaction
Processing Monitors. Does the
product provide integration with popular TP Monitoring products?
q
EJB. Does the application server support the
Enterprise JavaBeans specification?
q
CORBA. Does the application server support the
CORBA standard?
q
COM. Does the application server support
integration with COM, DCOM, and/or COM +?
q
Other Standards and Value Add Integration supported.
Does the application server support any other APIs which may assist with
integration?
q
Legacy Support. Does the application server provide
interfaces to common Legacy applications.
Product |
TPM |
EJB |
CORBA |
COM |
Other |
Legacy Support |
WebSphere 3.0 |
+ Tx Series |
+ |
+ |
COM/CORBA Bridge |
MQ Series (future), Servlets |
CICS, IMS |
Sapphire/Web |
+ Integration modules for Tuxedo, MTX |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Sapphire/Integration modules for MQ, LDAP directories |
CICS, |
NetDynamics 5 |
+ Tuxedo |
+ |
+ |
+ |
MQ Series |
CICS, IMS, AS/400 |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
+ Tuxedo |
+ |
+ |
+ |
RMI, JMS-Java Messaging Service, JSP-Java
Server Pages, JNDI, Servlets, JTS |
CICS, IMS (future) |
Silverstream 2.5 |
+ Through custom data source objects. |
+ |
+ |
+ |
MQ Series, Servlets, JNDI, LDAP, |
Peoplesoft, SAP, Lotus Notes, CICS |
Synergy |
? (See Legacy Support) |
+ |
+ |
+ |
JSP, JMS, JTA, JNDI, Servlets, JNI, COS
Naming |
"Adapters available for popular
application packages and middleware technologies" |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
? (See Legacy Support) |
+ |
+ |
+ |
JSP, Servlets, JNDI, COS Naming Service,
LDAP, JMS, JTS |
? "CORBA clients, existing
applications, mainframes and TP/Monitors via IIOP " |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
+ Tuxedo |
+/- (future) |
+ |
+ |
- |
CICS, Oracle/Sybase Stored Procs |
q Fail-over. If a service fails will the application server handle the error seamlessly, forwarding the request to another service?
q Load Balancing. Does the application server allow horizontal scalability by providing for multiple instances of the application server to share the workload without levying a routing requirement on the client.
q Automatic Restart After Failure. Will the application server automatically attempt to restart a failed service, or is user intervention required?
Product |
Failover |
Load Balancing |
Automatic Restart |
WebSphere 3.0 |
+ |
+ |
- |
Sapphire/Web |
State Mirroring Feature |
Dynamic Load Balancing |
- |
NetDynamics 5 |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
At web page and component level |
At web page and component level |
- |
2.5 |
+ Server and Session level |
+ |
+ |
Synergy |
+Component Level Failover with customized
alters to warn that a system failed. |
+Component Level Load Balancing, Performance
based Load Balancing algorithm |
+ |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
+ |
+ |
- |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
State Information Replication but lacks
connection level failover |
+ but lacks dynamic load balancing |
- |
q Scalability. Can the application server take advantage of additional processors?
q Performance. Has the application server been proven to support a large number of concurrent users? Whenever possible, benchmark figures have been supplied.
Product |
Scalability |
Performance |
WebSphere 3.0 |
+ |
WebSphere Performance Pack |
Sapphire/Web |
+ |
+ Benchmarked at e-commerce site with 100
million interactions per day |
NetDynamics 5 |
+ Nearly linear scalability up to 64
processor Solaris servers |
Performance tuning features |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
Web Page Clustering and Component
Clustering |
+ |
Silverstream 2.5 |
+ |
+ |
Synergy |
+ |
+ |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
+ |
+ 1,000 concurrent users performing 490
complex transactions per minute |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
EAServer clusters |
+ 9.9 million business transactions per
day |
q Languages. Which development languages does the application server support?
q XML. Does the application server claim to take advantage of the XML standard.
q Other Scripting Tools. Does the application server integrate with other scripting languages like HTML, JSP, and Servlets.
q Debugger. Does the application server support debugging in the development environment?
Product |
Languages |
XML |
Other Scripting tools |
Development Tools |
Debugger |
WebSphere 3.0 |
Java, C++, ASP |
+ |
HTML, Java Server Pages |
VisualAge, WebSphere Studio |
+ Debugger with local and remote
capabilities |
Sapphire/Web |
Java, C, ActiveX |
+ |
HTML, DHTML, JavaScript, VBScript etc |
Weak GUI development tools in the past.
New EJB Bean Builder, wizards and content generators |
- |
NetDynamics 5 |
Java |
- |
HTML |
Java Development Studio 400 reusable classes Team development using PVCS |
+ Debugger with local and remote
capabilities |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
Java, Microsoft languages, PowerBuilder
via COM support |
- |
TOPLink (Object to relational mapping),
Java Server Pages |
- But all Java IDE's, Packaged Java Beans,
specific support for Symantec Visual Café |
- |
Silverstream 2.5 |
Java, Propriatary HTML builder |
? |
HTML |
Silverstream Designer |
+ |
Synergy |
Java |
+ |
HTML, Java Server Pages |
Synergy development environment |
+ |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
Java |
|
HTML pages via JSP & Servlets |
Persistence wizards, Symantec Visual Café |
+ |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
Java, PowerBuilder, C, C++, COM/ActiveX |
+ |
Power J, HTML, DHTML |
Power J |
- |
q Management GUI. Does the application server have it’s own GUI based server management console?
q SNMP Support. Does the application server integrate with SNMP management facilities?
q Support and Training. Does the company offer technical support and training for the product?
Product |
Management GUI |
SNMP Support |
Support and Training |
WebSphere 3.0 |
Browser based Management, Deployment
Manager |
Tivoli ready modules |
+ |
Sapphire/Web |
Sapphire/Application Manager |
SNMP agents |
+ |
NetDynamics 5 |
Command Center manages connections under
one platform |
SNMP agents |
+ |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
Graphical Management Console, Zero
Application Client (ZAC) |
- Tivoli has modules for Tuxedo |
+ |
Silverstream 2.5 |
Silverstream Management Console |
+ |
+ |
Synergy |
Zero Administration Client
Facilities. Browser based management
console with performance monitoring of over 200 performance metrics |
+ |
+ |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
Powertier Command Center - Graphical
Mangement Tool |
- |
+ |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
Graphical Management Tool |
? |
Support but no specifics on training |
q Native Database Support. Does the application server provide value add database support? If so, for which databases?
q Database Connectivity. In addition to the native database support, does the application server support any “generic” database interfaces?
Product |
Native Database Support |
Database Connectivity |
WebSphere 3.0 |
DB2 |
JDBC |
Sapphire/Web |
Oracle,
MS SQL Server, Informix, DB2, Sybase |
JDBC, ODBC |
NetDynamics 5 |
Oracle, MS SQL Server, DB2, Informix, Sybase |
JDBC, ODBC |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
Oracle, Informix, Sybase, MS SQL-Server |
JDBC |
Silverstream 2.5 |
DB2, Oracle, SQLServer, Informix, SQL Anywhere, Sybase through Jconnect |
JDBC |
Synergy |
? |
JDBC |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
Oracle, Sybase, Informix, SQLServer |
Native Support Only |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
Sybase, Oracle |
ODBC, JDBC |
q SSL. Does the application support the SSL security standard?
q Encryption. Does the application server support data encryption? If so, which standards are supported?
Product |
SSL |
Encryption |
WebSphere 3.0 |
+ |
SSL |
Sapphire/Web |
+ |
X.509 certificate support in Security
console |
NetDynamics 5 |
+ |
Security Server component SSL encryption Certificates |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
+ |
Firewall support Optional RSA SSL, X.509 certificates and
ACL |
Silverstream 2.5 |
+ |
X.509 Certificates |
Synergy |
+ |
X.509 Certificates, LDAP support |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
+ |
X.509 certificates |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
+ |
SSL, RSA encryption, X.509 certificates,
user access control |
q Dynamic Relocation and Reconfiguration. Can applications and services deployed on the application server be rearranged without shutting down the application server?
q Auto-Notification. Does the application server have any build in automatic notification facilities in case of errors.?
q Report Generation. Can the systems management console generate reports about the applications.
q Cost. How much does the product cost?
Product |
Dynamic Relocation and Reconfiguration |
Auto-Notification |
Report Generation |
Cost |
WebSphere 3.0 |
Dynamically reloads servlets |
- |
Logs can be viewed online |
$6,000 per CPU for Advanced version |
Sapphire/Web |
+ |
+ |
+ |
$20,000 per CPU license |
NetDynamics 5 |
Upgrade under load feature |
- |
Log viewer and statistics monitor |
$25,000 per CPU $15,000 for a development server |
Weblogic 4.5.1 |
+ |
- |
Logs can be viewed from a web browser or
the management console |
$10,000 per processor |
Silverstream 2.5 |
|
|
|
$500 per developer; packages for 5 or 10
developers available. ($2500 & $5000); Deployment $10,000 per CPU |
Synergy |
+ |
+ |
+ |
? |
Powertier 5 for EJB |
- |
- |
Logs can be viewed from the management
console |
? |
Sybase EAS 3.0 |
- |
- |
? |
$595 for a developer seat |