Jumping Into JBoss

By Thornton Rose and David Thurmond

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JBoss is a free, open source, application server that implements the
complete Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) stack, including Java Server
Pages (JSP), servlets, and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). For J2EE
developers that are getting started with JBoss, this article presents the
basics, including downloading, installation, application deployment,
and data source configuration.
Tools
To run JBoss, you will need the following tools:

Java 2 Standard Edition SDK 1.3.1 or higher

Additionally, to develop applications for JBoss, you may want the

following tools:

Ant 1.5 - Java build tool

XDoclet 1.1.2 - Javadoc plug-in for code generation
JBoss Project Template

Downloading
To get JBoss, go to www.jboss.org. JBoss is available there in two
flavors: the standard bundle, which includes Jetty for web pages and
servlets, and the Tomcat bundle, which includes (you guessed it)
Tomcat instead of Jetty.
As of this writing, JBoss 3.2.1 is the latest stable release.
Installation
To install JBoss, first unzip the distribution file to a directory of your
choice. A directory named JBoss-version should be created, and it
should contain the following directories:

bin -- scripts
client -- client jars
docs -- documentation
lib -- server jars

server -- server configurations

Second, set the following environment variables:

JBOSS_HOME - Set to JBoss installation directory.

JAVA_HOME - Set to Java 2 SDK home directory.

Server Configurations
JBoss comes with three server configurations:

minimal - This configuration includes only logging, the JNDI

service, and the URL deployment scanner. You would want to use
this configuration for starting services that don't require J2EE or
as the base for a custom configuration.
default - This configuration is the default. It includes all of the
J2EE services exception RMI/IIOP and clustering.
all - This configuration includes all JBoss services.

Startup
To start JBoss:

Windows:
1. Open an MS-DOS Prompt or Command Prompt window.
2. cd %JBOSS_HOME%\bin
3. run [-c default|minimal|all]
Unix:
1. Open a shell.
2. cd $JBOSS_HOME/bin
3. ./run [-c default|minimal|all]

If JBoss starts successfully, you should see something like this:

21:11:16,637 INFO [Server] JBoss (MX MicroKernel)
[3.2.1 (build: CVSTag=JBoss_3 _2_1
date=200305041533)] Started in 26s:919ms
Once the server is started successfully, you can verify that all of the
J2EE services are up and running by opening
http://localhost:8080/jmx-console/ in your browser. The JBoss
Management Console will start. It shows all of the services included in

the currently running JBoss configuration and various details about

each service.
JBoss can also run as an NT Service or a Unix service. For more
information on how to do either, see the "JBoss 3.0 Quick Start Guide".
Shutdown
If you started JBoss in the foreground from an MS-DOS Prompt
window, Command Prompt window, or Unix shell, simply press Ctrl-C
in the window where JBoss is running.
To shutdown JBoss in the window or shell where it is running, press
Ctrl-C.
To shutdown JBoss from another window or shell:

Windows:
o Open an MS-DOS Prompt or Command Prompt window.
o cd %JBOSS_HOME%\bin
o shutdown -S or shutdown --server=url
Unix:
o
o
o

Open a shell.
cd $JBOSS_HOME/bin
./shutdown -S or ./shutdown --server=url

Jumping Into JBoss

By Thornton Rose and David Thurmond
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Management
Jboss is managed with a web-based console. To access it, start your
browser and go to "http://localhost:8080/jmx-console". To view or
change the configuration for a particular service, simply click on the
link to it.
Additionally, with the management console, you can invoke public
methods of services. For example, to shutdown the server:

Open the management console.

Scroll down the page to the "jboss.system" section.

Click on the "type=Server" link.

Scroll down to "void shutdown()" section.
Click the "Invoke" button.

Deploying Applications
Deploying applications to JBoss could not be easier. Simply copy your
application archive file -- .jar, .war, or .ear -- to the deploy directory of
the server configuration that is running. JBoss will detect the file,
extract the contents, and load the application.
Here is an example of deploying an application to the default server
configuration:

Windows:

copy rotmachine.ear %JBOSS_HOME%\server\default\deploy

Unix:
cp rotmachine.ear $JBOSS_HOME/server/default/deploy

During deployment, JBoss logs messages to the console and

log/server.log, which is located in the server configuration directory. If
deployment is successful, you should see a message like this:
22:21:44,730 INFO [MainDeployer] Deployed package:
file:/C:/jboss-3.2.1/server/default/deploy/rotmachine.ear
Additionally, if you open the JBoss Management Console, you should
see your application listed in the "jboss.j2ee" section.
Undeploying Applications
Undeploying applications is even easier than deploying them. To
undeploy a application, delete the application archive file from the
deploy directory. JBoss will notice that the file has been deleted and
undeploy the application.
When undeploying an application, JBoss logs messages to the console
and server.log. If undeployment is successful, you should see a
message like this:
22:59:41,500 INFO [MainDeployer] Undeployed
file:/C:/jboss-3.2.1/server/default/deploy/rotmachine.ear

Data Sources
If your application is going to connect to a database using JBoss, you
will need to configure a data source for the database. Here is how to
configure a basic data source:
1. If the JDBC driver library for your database is not in lib directory
of the server configuration you are using, copy it there, then
restart JBoss.
2. Create a data source descriptor for your database, e.g. oracleds.xml.
3. Deploy the data source descriptor as you would deploy an
application.
Here is an example of a descriptor for an Oracle data source:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<datasources>
<local-tx-datasource>
<jndi-name>OracleDS</jndi-name>
<connectionurl>jdbc:oracle:thin:@oracle.somewhere.com:1521:DB</connectionurl>
<driver-class>oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver</driver-class>
<user-name>dev</user-name>
<password>secret</password>
</local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>
Additional examples of data source descriptors can be found in
JBOSS_HOME/docs/examples/jca.
Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs)
EJBs are constructed for JBoss like they would be constructed for any
other J2EE application server, with the addition of a JBoss EJB
deployment descriptor, jboss.xml. Here is an example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE jboss PUBLIC "-//JBoss//DTD JBOSS//EN"
"http://www.jboss.org/j2ee/dtd/jboss.dtd">
<jboss>

<enterprise-beans>
<session>
<ejb-name>Processor</ejb-name>
<jndi-name>ejb/Processor</jndi-name>
</session>
<entity>
<ejb-name>Data</ejb-name>
<jndi-name>ejb/Data</jndi-name>
</entity>
</enterprise-beans>
</jboss>
Note that, unlike other J2EE servers, JBoss does not require generation
of stubs and skeletons. It handles EJB usage dynamically.
Clients
As mentioned above, JBoss does not require client stubs. You will need
to provide only the following to clients:

The EJB home and remote.

Any classes that are passed between the client and the EJB.
A copy of JBOSS_HOME/client/jbossall-client.jar.

Here is an example of connecting to an EJB deployed in JBoss:

// Create env.
Hashtable env = new Hashtable();
env.put("java.naming.factory.initial",
"org.jnp.interfaces.NamingContextFactory");
env.put("java.naming.factory.url.pkgs",
"org.jboss.naming:org.jnp.interfaces");
env.put("java.naming.provider.url",
"localhost");
// Create naming context.
InitialContext context = new InitialContext(env);
// Find home.
CipherHome home = (CipherHome)
context.lookup("ejb/org/rotmachine/Cipher");
// Create remote.
Cipher cipher = home.create();

Jumping Into JBoss

By Thornton Rose and David Thurmond
Go to page: Prev 1 2 3
Example Application
To help you further investigate JBoss, an example application called
RotMachine is included with this article. See the Resources section
below for a link.
RotMachine is a simple J2EE application that includes an EJB (stateless
session bean), a web client, and a command-line client. It was built
using the JBoss project template, so you will want to get the additional
tools listed in the Tools section above.
To install the RotMachine source, unzip the archive file to a directory of
your choice.
To build and deploy RotMachine:

Windows:
1. Open an MS-DOS Prompt window or Command Prompt
windows.
2. cd (RotMachine install dir.)
3. ant deploy-server
Unix:
1. Open a shell.
2. cd (RotMachine install dir.)
3. ant deploy-server

To test RotMachine using the command-line client:

Windows:
1. cd build\bin
2. run-client
Unix:
1. cd build/bin
2. ./run-client.sh

To test RotMachine using the web client:

1. Open your browser and go to

"http://localhost:8080/rotmachine/index.jsp".
2. Enter some text in the form.
3. Click the "Go!" button.
Resources

Example Application - RotMachine

JBoss
JBoss 3.0 Quick Start
JBoss Project Template
The J2EE Tutorial
Ant
XDoclet