ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the market, the architecture, and the packaging of application servers. It describes some of the characteristics that should be designed into an enterprise infrastructure that includes application servers. The chapter discusses some real-world implementation issues, highlights some case studies, and provides an overview of some of the application servers available today. It deals with a brief description of the capabilities of many of the application servers available on the market. Application servers are complex products that encompass many different technologies. Often described as middleware, application servers sit in the middle of diverse technologies and provide the glue to create a unified whole. The application server market is rapidly evolving and growing. New vendors enter the market regularly. Vendors are attempting to differentiate themselves from the pack by offering a range of application servers targeted to different environments and also offering a range of solutions that extend the application server.
