Featured White Papers

• What Developers Want: The End of Application Redeploys

Sponsored Links

• Career opportunities at Harman- Careers That’ll Rock Your Socks Off.

  Learn More!

• Developer-friendly Java PDF libraries by Qoppa Software

  Live Demos

• Stop blaming your app! Diagnose Java performance issues.

  Free tool >

• UrbanCode: Go From Continuous Integration to
  Continuous Delivery

  Learn More!

Sponsored Links

Optimize with a SATA RAID Storage Solution
Range of capacities as low as $1250 per TB. Ideal if you currently rely on servers/disks/JBODs

High-priced iAS 6.0 difficult to justify

iPlanet's Application Server 6.0 sports speedy performance, J2EE certification, and good Windows NT integration, but it'll cost you dearly

By Tom Yager, InfoWorld, 06/12/00

TEXTBOX:

TEXTBOX_HEAD: The Bottom Line

iPlanet Application Server 6.0

Business Case
At 5,000 per CPU, iAS 6.0 is the most expensive Java application server we've reviewed. Although its J2EE implementation is solid (and Sun-certified), iPlanet's fee seems unjustifiably dear.

Technology Case
iPlanet's integrated LDAP and Web servers ensure speediness and help boost the product's overall value. Despite claims of independence, iAS 6.0 is the first application server to pass Sun's J2EE specification.

Pros

• Good integration with Windows NT
• Bundled high-performance (non-Java) Web and LDAP servers
• Close ties to Sun

Cons

• High cost relative to other J2EE servers
• Confusing installation and management

Cost
5,000 per CPU

Platforms
Solaris 2.6, Windows NT 4.0

Sun-Netscape Alliance, Mountain View, Calif.; (650) 254-1900

:END_TEXTBOX

Several vendors, including BEA Systems, Inprise, and SilverStream, have licensed J2EE from Sun and implemented it in their application server offerings. Each of these vendors has found ways to work within the J2EE specification while offering benefits not found in other implementations.

Sun-Netscape Alliance (aka iPlanet) just released its own commercial implementation of J2EE called iPlanet Application Server (iAS) 6.0. Although this is a powerful software bundle, I rate it Good because of its high price and inadequate integration.

Users of the prior Netscape Application Server (NAS) may not recognize iAS 6.0; iPlanet wisely retained NAS functionality, including C++ interfaces to application services. Besides switching from C++ to Java, you might have to switch operating systems. NAS's impressive roster of supported platforms, a list that included many of Sun's Unix competitors, has been trimmed to two: Solaris 2.6 and Windows NT 4.0. We can expect future iAS support for Linux and Windows 2000. It will likely be up to J2EE licensees to extend coverage to non-Sun Unix systems.

Most J2EE implementations are either pure Java or very close to it, but some licensees use non-Java components to improve performance. For example, J2EE requires a database manager for its internal use. SilverStream bundled a desktop version of Sybase, whereas Inprise crafted a sleek SQL database in Java. iAS 6.0 includes a runtime version of the LDAP-enabled iPlanet Directory Server and uses its data engine to store iAS housekeeping data. The use of this engine, written in C++, boosts iAS 6.0's performance noticeably.

Version 4.5 of what used to be Netscape Enterprise Server for the Web is included in iAS 6.0. Java purists may blanch at non-Java components, but handling these performance-critical services with C++ instead of Java aids iAS 6.0's scalability. With faster, better-established servers available, the Java Web server in the J2EE reference implementation is not an option.

For more enterprise computing news, visit InfoWorld. Story copyright InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.