Deploying resources on the application server

There are basically three file types that we work with in Java Enterprise applications, which are as follows:

• JAR: This is the most basic package, which can be used for both application and common resources
• WAR: This is used to package web applications
• EAR: This packages multiple WAR files or contains a set of modules

Besides these, WildFly is able to process the following archives, which provide the application server with additional functionality:

• RAR: This is the resource adapter file, which is used to define a resource adapter component (the resource adapter subsystem is provided by the IronJacamar project; for more information, visit http://www.jboss.org/ironjacamar)
• SAR: This file enables the deployment of service archives containing the MBean services, as supported by previous versions of the application server

In this chapter, we will discuss the first three kinds of archives, all of which constitute the typical packaging solution for Java...