WildFly Configuration, Deployment, and Administration - Second Edition: Build a functional and efficient WildFly server with this step-by-step, practical guide , Second Edition

Travelling has downsides. Especially when coming back to the office to catch up with all the tasks being actively postponed. One of them has been sitting here for too long: It took me a while to get this latest review for Packt Publishing out the door. But this is the good side of traveling, you have plenty of time to read and educate yourself on topics.AbstractWildFly 8 is a modular, lightweight, Java EE-compliant application server. Application deployment and management is simplified with WildFly's centralized and easy-to-use administration interface. It supports high availability and latest web technologies, such as web sockets and a non-blocking API. There was previously a lack of a system-administration-free platform that allowed the scaling of Java EE applications, but WildFly 8 in combination with OpenShift fills that gap.The book starts with an explanation of the installation of WildFly and application server configuration. Then, it moves on to the configuration of enterprise services and also explores the new web container Undertow. It then covers domain configuration, application deployment, and application server management. By the end of the book, you will have a firm grasp of all the important aspects of clustering, load balancing, and WildFly security. This guide is invaluable for anyone who works with or is planning to switch to WildFly.About the AuthorChristopher Ritchie (@ChrisRitchie123|blog) is a Sun Certified Programmer with over 10 years of software experience. Having worked in both the UK and South Africa markets, he has worked on a variety of software applications, ranging from online gaming to telecoms and Internet banking. He has a keen interest in the WildFly application server and is an advocate of Java EE technologies. He currently works as a technical lead at the company he confounded, Sports Science Medicine Software, in South Africa. The company's core product is a research-based application that allows the profiling of soccer players through injury and exposure assessment.The Content353 net pages without intro and appendix is a good deal for this book. Eleven chapters cover nearly every aspect of WildFly. This includes basics, like installation and goes all the way to cloud computing with WildFly on OpenShift. The separate chapter on securing WildFly is my personal highlight here. The book was build on top of WildFly version 8.x which fully supports Java EE 7 development on top of Java SE 7.Chapter 1: Installing WildFlyChapter 2: Configuring the Core WildFly SubsystemsChapter 3: Configuring Enterprise ServicesChapter 4: The Undertow Web ServerChapter 5: Configuring a WildFly DomainChapter 6: Application Structure and DeploymentChapter 7: Using the Management InterfacesChapter 8: ClusteringChapter 9: Load-balancing Web ApplicationsChapter 10: Securing WildFlyChapter 11: WildFly, OpenShift, and Cloud ComputingWriting and StyleGenerally the instructions are clear and the many screen-shots are helpful. The overall level of detail and mixed in complexity is appropriate and in case you need it you can download the source code from Packt. I like the clear English writing which identifies the author as a native speaker. I would have wished for more command line examples and a little less XML snippets. The conceptual pictures in the book could be a bit clearer and bigger. But this is pretty much everything I have to criticize.Conclusion and recommendationIf you are looking for a most complete introduction and you're tired about trying to find the bits and pieces in the online documentation, this book is for you. Also, if you are the kind of person which needs examples and screenshots this book is for you. The very appealing writing style helps in getting all the points across. The unique selling point obviously is the end-to-end coverage of all related topics in a detailed enough way to let you experience WildFly installed locally and on OpenShift.

I liked this book very much because it's written on a simple language that anyone with some knowledge about Java EE can understand, learn and administer an wildfly environment. I never work with WildFly before and the book helped me to deploy the WildFly into a very important customer. Although the book seems to be superficial it explains very well the concepts, in a clear and objective language.

This book covers the breadth and depth of WildFly 8 application server and talks about topics such asInstallation and configuration of WildFly, its subsystems, Enterprise services and containers as well as Undertow (web container)Domain configuration, application deployment, high availability and security managementOpenShift cloud (PaaS) platformChapter 1: Installing WildflyThis lesson is a gentle introduction to Wildfly. It’s aimed at helping you get up and running with an environment so that you can work on the server. It discusses basic topics and covers- Details around installation of Java and Wildfly application server- Basic administrative operations such as startup, shutdown and reboot- Set up of Eclipse (for Java EE) and JBoss Tools (Eclipse plugin)- Wildfly file system (server installation directory) along with kernel and server modulesFor me, the highlight of the chapter were the sections around Wildfly Kernel and Modules. It provides a great launching pad for upcoming topics!Chapter 2: Configuring the Core WildFly SubsystemsThis chapter provides an overview of Wildfly configuration which is composed of several sub systems which are configured as a part of the standalone.xml or domain.xml (configuration file)- Server subsystems such as Extensions, Profiles, System properties, Deployments etc- Thread pool system – discusses configuration revolving around thread factory and thread pools such as bounded queue thread pool, scheduled thread pool, queueless thread pool etc- Dwells into the server logging configuration discusses different handlers of the logging subsystem – console, async, size-rotating, custom handlers and moreChapter 3: Configuring Enterprise ServicesThis lesson discusses Wildfly subsystems corresponding to Java EE services and their respective configurations- JDBC driver and Datasource configuration- EJB container configuration including session, stateless, MDB and EJB timers related details- Configuring the JMS/Messaging system- JTA (transaction manager) configuration- Tuning and configuring container resources related to Concurrency utilities API – Managed thread factory, Managed Executor service and managed scheduled executor serviceChapter 4: The Undertow Web serverAs the name indicates, this chapter introduces the basic concepts of Undertow (new web container implementation in Wildfly) as well as its configuration related artifacts.- Quick tour of the Undertow component architecture- Configuration of server listener. host along with servlet container components- Walkthrough of creation and deployment of a Maven based Java EE 7 project along with components like JSF, EJB, CDI, JPAChapter 5: Configuring a Wildfly DomainChapter 5 is all about the concept of a domains in Wildfly and the nuances related to their configuration. It concludes with a section which helps the reader configure a custom domain and apply the concepts introduced in the lesson- An overview of domains and related configuration in Wildfly and administrative basics such as start/stop- Configuration related to core facets of a domain – host.xml, domain.xml, domain controller etc- Tuning domain specific JVM options- Configuration of a test (custom) domainChapter 6: Application Structure and DeploymentThe chapter discusses important topics such as application package structure of different Java EE components and how to deploy various flavors of Java EE applications on Wildfly- Review of application packaging options – JAR, EAR, WAR- Deployment of applications on Wildfly – standalone and domain mode using both command line and Admin console- The chapter ends with a solid section covering Java EE classloading requirements and how Wildfly handles itChapter 7: Using the Management InterfacesAgain, as evident in the name of the chapter itself, its not surprising to know that this lesson covers the management options available in Wildfly- Usage of the command line interface for execution of various tasks- The Wildfly Web Console and the options it offersChapters 8,9: Clustering and Load-balancingChapters 8,9 cover Wildfly clustering, HA and load balancing capabilities in detail.- Basic setup and configuration of a Wildfly clusters- Infinispan subsystem configuration along with details of Hibernate cache setup- Clustering of JMS system, EJBs and JPA entities- Installation and configuration of Apache web server and modules like mod_jk, mod_proxy and mod_cluster- Using CLI for mod_cluster and web context management as well as troubleshooting tipsChapter 10: Securing WildflyThis chapter covers- Introduction to the Wildfly security subsystem and details of commonly used Login Modules – Database and LDAP- Securing Java EE components – Web tier, EJBs and web services- Protecting the Web Admin console along with configurations related to transport layer securityChapter 11: WildFly, OpenShift and Cloud ComputingThis lesson is dedicated to Cloud Computing as a technology and how OpenShift- Overview of Cloud Computing – basics, advantages, types, options- Introduction to OpenShift and setup process of the client related tools- Walkthrough of cartridge installation and the process of building and deploying a sample application to OpenShift- Log management and basic administrative tasks using CLI tools- start, stop, restart etc- Using OpenShift with Eclipse and instructions on how to scale your applicationsStandout featuresSome of the points which in my opinion were great- We often spend years working with containers (application servers, web servers etc) without really knowing what’s going on beneath. There is a reason behind this – the core concepts (application kernels, modules, container configuration, threading setup etc) are pretty complex and often not that well explained. This book does a great job at covering these topics and presenting the core of Wildfly in a simple manner- Intuitive and clear diagrams (lots of them!)- Enjoyed the chapter on OpenShift – provides a great platform for exploring PaaS capabilities and getting up and running with OpenShift- The reader will also benefit a lot by picking up a lot of Java EE related fundamentals as well as cutting edge features of Java EE 7.

This book is very simple to read, the organization from the basic to advanced steps it can help even those who nerver had any contact with WildFly application server. I liked the advanced topics that explain how to create an scalable environment using cluster and a load balance as solution for High Availability. Another very interesting topic is about OpenShift, the red hat Cloud platform. I highly recommend this book for people trying a deeper overview of WildFly, focus on administration, configuration and installation steps. This book is not a manual, nor a WildFly seller book. It's recommended for technical people, including developers who want to know more about WildFly and advanced topics used in this application server.

At the beginning, I had some misconception about this book. When I was starting to read this book, I saw that the material have a good variety of information about wildfly. The book start describing the base information that a developer or administrator need to begin understand this great application server for J2EE (Wildfly). And each chapter delved into all necessary important conception about Wildfly. I strongly recommend this book.