The difference between standalone and domain reflects in the directory layout of the application server is shown in the following diagram:

As you can see in the preceding diagram, the WildFly directory layout is divided into two main parts: the first one is pertinent to a standalone server mode and the other is dedicated to a domain server mode. Common to both server modes is the modules directory, which is the heart of the application server.

WildFly is based on the JBoss Modules project, which provides an implementation of a modular (nonhierarchical) class loading and an execution environment for Java. In other words, rather than a single class loader that loads all JARs into a flat class path, each library becomes a module, which only links to the exact modules it depends on and nothing more. It implements a thread safe, fast, and highly concurrent delegating class loader model, coupled with an extensible module resolution system. This combines to form a...

WildFly provides three different means to configure and manage servers: a web interface, a command-line client, and a set of XML configuration files. No matter what approach you choose, the configuration is always synchronized across the different views and finally persisted to the XML files. After saving the changes using the web interface, you will instantly see an updated XML file in your server's configuration directory.

Now that we have added at least one user, we can launch the web console at the default address, http://<host>:9990/console (keep in mind that you have to start the server first, for example, with standalone.bat or standalone.sh).

The login screen will be prompted. Enter data into the User Name and Password fields, which we had formerly created. This is shown in the following screenshot:

Once logged in, you will be redirected to the web administration main screen. The web console, when running in the standalone mode, will be divided into three main tabs: Configuration, Runtime, and Administration. This is shown in the following screenshot:

The Configuration tab contains all the single subsystems that are part of a server profile. So, once you select the Configuration tab on the left frame, you can access all the subsystems and edit their configurations (in the previous screenshot, we saw the Data Sources subsystem).

The other tab named Runtime can be used for...

In order to test launch our first application, we will create a HelloWorld web project using Eclipse. The main part will be a servlet class, used to generate HTML markup. So, launch Eclipse and choose to create a new web project by navigating to File | New | Dynamic Web Project. This is shown in the following screenshot:

Choose a name for your application and check the Use default location box if you want to create your project within the same location of your Eclipse workspace. If you have correctly configured a new WildFly server in Eclipse, you should see the WildFly 8.0 Runtime option selected by default, and Target Runtime and Default Configuration for WildFly 8.0 Runtime preselected in the Configuration box.

Select 3.1 as the Dynamic web module version, which makes development easy by using the Servlet 3.1 specifications, and also leave the EAR membership and Add project to working sets checkboxes unselected.

Click on Finish to continue.

Now...