WildFly 10 is an open source application server compliant with Java EE 7. Once called EJB-OSS and then JBoss, it was always one of the most used in the world. Redhat acquired JBoss and all of the community committed to it in 2005, with effect from version 5. Thanks to an internal Redhat policy, JBoss become WildFly in 2012; since version 8, WildFly is the first implementation of EE 7 by Redhat.
This application server is built with different architectures. Luckily WildFly maintains the same core architecture of the previous JBoss 7, adding some innovation from EE 7, a new set of competitive open source products and a very modular core, which simplify sharing libraries through applications.
So WildFly can be thought of as a set of sub-products all tied together by the same system.
Each of these products has its configuration in an XML file only, so we avoid redundant configurations. There is a web page for each module of these products. Moreover we can use all independent instruments provided if we want a detailed configuration.
The application server is made to maintain applications. A Java application server must be able to manage all classes from the applications; for example, it must deal with duplication classes, managing a more sophisticated class loading system. It must able to cache more frequently used objects to guarantee the fast loading of classes. Since the last enterprise specification, an application server simplifies the developing of real time services providing a wide set of instruments so the developer does not have to write voluminous code to manage asynchronous messages, concurrency, or multi-thread requests.
WildFly remains the best solution as a repository of web applications. These applications become more advanced year after year thanks to a continuous upgrade of the Java enterprise specifications.
This chapter will cover the following points:
- Introduction to the new stuff of Java EE included in WildFly 10, showing the major details in the next chapters.
- The Java EE specification certified by WildFly 10 is Java EE 7. We will cover the main features of EE 7 and the starting points for the next chapters.
- A step by step guide to install the examples.
In WildFly, across configurations, it is very important to be able to develop applications. Many books explain the patterns and strategies of programming, and the user must be able to choose the right developing strategy according the need of the client. Each chapter will get its downloadable examples of web apps and enterprise components, and step by step we will strive to use them.
