Early draft of OSGi Service Platform Release 4.2 specification now available

Engineering | Adrian Colyer | September 01, 2008 | ...

The OSGi Alliance have posted an early draft of release 4.2 of the Service Platform specification.  SpringSource employees are active members of both the Core Platform Expert Group (CPEG) and the Enterprise Expert Group (EEG) within the Alliance. My personal involvement has been largely with the EEG, and particularly with RFC 124 "A Component Model for OSGi".

RFC 124 is a standardization of the core ideas behind Spring Dynamic Modules. If you look at the configuration schema, you'll see that it very closely resembles the "osgi" namespace provided by Spring Dynamic Modules (DM).  RFC 124 takes…

Who is the Chief of the Apache projects?

Engineering | Mark Brewer | August 22, 2008 | ...

The answer is the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), a non-profit, meritocracy-based organization made up of individuals (not companies) who contribute code, bug fixes, answers to user questions, their time, and sometimes even their money to ensure that the software they are delivering addresses real-world requirements, along with being robust, secure, and widely adopted.

ZDNet’s Dana Blankenhorn’s response to Dave Rosenberg’s blog regarding companies selling support for technologies they don’t own or contribute to inspired me to set some things straight about Apache projects and companies that “support�? them. SpringSource which, through its acquisition of Covalent, is a significant contributor to a number of Apache projects. I agree with Dave that vendors who are attempting to monetize open source projects by merely selling “support�? around those technologies, while not contributing to the software, are little more than parasites. Not only do these companies not contribute to the projects, but their lack of involvement results in inferior support, which harms users and, ultimately, the reputation and acceptance of the projects.

In Dana’s post he noted that SpringSource was a “Third Party Support�? provider for Apache projects. SpringSource (and formerly Covalent) is a major ongoing contributor to a number of Apache projects both directly and indirectly. There have been other open source vendors that claimed they “owned�? or “ran�? an Apache project. I am not going to make that same mistake here, since such a claim clearly indicates that the speaker does not truly understand Apache and the way the organization works. The contributions and leadership of Apache projects by SpringSource employees clearly do not fit Dana’s third-party support provider definition, as is evidenced here:

  • SpringSource/Covalent has employed committers on the Apache HTTP server and Tomcat projects nearly from inception – 1998 and 2001, respectively.
  • Many of the Apache HTTP server modules were originally proprietary code developed by Covalent that was contributed to the ASF.
  • SpringSource employees have made more than 75% of the commits on the Apache Tomcat project in the past two years and had the most active committers on the Apache HTTP server project for four years running.
  • ASF Members who are SpringSource employees, are actively involved in leading and mentoring Incubator Projects.

SpringSource’s customers count on us because of our significant, long-standing involvement in the Apache projects and in the actual Foundation itself. We have also been a long-standing and charter sponsor of the ASF as well as its conference – ApacheCon – and even host its annual Members Reception at that conference to honor and thank the individuals who contribute so much to those projects.

SpringSource will never claim to own or run an Apache project, but we will proudly continue to contribute what the Apache Software Foundation values so highly – technical leadership, solid code, bug fixes and support.

Amsterdam Java Meetup - September 12th

Engineering | Alef Arendsen | August 20, 2008 | ...

Now that the holiday season (at in the Netherlands that is) has almost ended, I thought it would be time for another Amsterdam Java Meetup. So, we reserved the good-old Jaren in the Nieuwe Doelenstraat again, for having a few (paid-for) drinks with fellow Java developers and everybody else that wants to join in.

We're doing this in the same week as the Core AOP course, held in Amsterdam, which is quite convenient for me, since now I'm sure I will be in town as opposed to some of the other meetups where I couldn't be present myself.

Again, the location is the same as last time. As usual…

Optimising and Tuning Apache Tomcat

Engineering | Mark Thomas | August 08, 2008 | ...

On Wednesday I gave a webinar on Optimising and Tuning Apache Tomcat. A recording of the webinar and a copy of the slides can be obtained from the webinars section of the SpringSource website. The same page has links for all the previous SpringSource webinars, as well as the Covalent webinar archive.

I wasn't able to get to all of the questions during the Q&A session so, as promised, here are the remaining questions and my answers.

  • What are the best practices for tuning XYZ application running on Apache Tomcat?

    There isn't an ideal configuration setting for any application as the best settings will depend on many factors. As a starting point, use the recommendations provided with the application. After that, follow the process set out in the webinar and don't be afraid to go against the recommendations provided with the application if that gives you better performance.

  • <li><strong>Do you have any recommendations for open source tools for troubleshooting, performance benchmarking or testing web applications?</strong>
    

    My starting point when troubleshooting is to build a simple test case using Eclipse. I then use the built-in debugger to step through the code to really understand what is happening. If you need a profiler then NetBeans includes one although I have never used it. I use a commercial profiler (YourKit) as they provide free licences to open source developers. For performance benchmarking I use Apache JMeter and for testing I use a combination of JUnit and Apache JMeter.

    <li…

SpringSource Enterprise Commercially Available

Engineering | Peter Cooper-Ellis | July 23, 2008 | ...

Yesterday, SpringSource announced the GA release of SpringSource Enterprise. As our first commercial product release, this is an important milestone for us. The engineering team did an amazing job putting this release together. The package includes enterprise versions of Spring, the SpringSource Tool Suite, SpringSource Application Management Suite and SpringSource Advanced Pack for Oracle Database, all designed to make it easier to develop, deploy, and manage enterprise-class applications.

You can test drive SpringSource Enterprise yourself: http://www.springsource.com/products/enterprise.

We…

Developing Rich Web Applications with Spring

Engineering | Keith Donald | July 17, 2008 | ...

I am pleased to announce that Developing Rich Web Applications with Spring, a three-day bootcamp lead by SpringSource engineers on web application development, is now available.  This intense, hands-on workshop teaches how to apply the latest versions of Spring Web MVC, Spring Web Flow, Spring JavaScript, and Spring Faces to create rich web applications.  It compliments our flagship "Core Spring" course by focusing squarely on using Spring to solve problems facing Java web application developers.

Key things you will learn in the bootcamp include:
  • How to design and implement REST architectures with Spring Web MVC 2.5
  • How to progressively enhance HTML pages and forms with Ajax behaviors using Spring JavaScript with the Dojo Toolkit
  • How to design and implement linear progressions that carry out application transactions with Spring Web Flow 2
  • How to implement web authentication and authorization models with Spring Security 2
  • How to optimize object persistence and concurrency in a high-volume web application environment
  • How to integrate JavaServerFaces component libraries into your application with Spring Faces
  • User interface best practices in the areas of style, layout, and accessibility
  • Testing strategies for all layers of a web application
  • Techniques for optimizing web application performance
Like all SpringSource workshops, "Developing Rich Web Applications with Spring" focuses on being hands-on and holistic.  We designed this bootcamp for teams building web applications to equip them with everything they need to hit the ground running with the latest and best version of Spring.  It is a great next course for those who have taken Core Spring, and is generally suitable for enterprise Java developers and architects seeking in-depth, comprehensive coverage of Spring for web application development.
    For more information and to register for an upcoming workshop, visit SpringSource.com.  I am very excited to be leading the first public bootcamp in Washington D.C on August 5th through 7th--I hope to see you there!

Using EclipseLink on the SpringSource Application Platform

Engineering | Rob Harrop | July 17, 2008 | ...

This week the EclipseLink team announced the release of EclipseLink 1.0. I've been using EclipseLink on S2AP for a while now; in fact, I used EclipseLink when developing our JPA load-time-weaving support.

We've yet to upgrade our internal usage to 1.0 - our beta9 was tagged just before the announcement - but I wanted to demonstrate how effectively the pairing works in an OSGi environment.

In the 1.2.0 version of the S2AP Petclinic sample, we released the EclipseLink implementation of the Clinic back-end. The back-end is a drop-in replacement for the JDBC back-end that was previously the only option.

To build the EclipseLink version of Petclinic, simply open a terminal window in the Petclinic root directory and run:

cd org.springframework.petclinic.eclipselink
ant collect-provided jar
	<p>
		This will create the Petclinic EclipseLink PAR file in  <span style="font-family:courier">org.springframework.petclinic.eclipselink/target/artifacts/org.springframework.petclinic.eclipselink.par</span> and will put all the required bundles in  <span style="font-family:courier">org.springframework.petclinic.eclipselink/target/par-provided/bundles/</span>.
	</p>
	<h2 id="running-petclinic-eclipselink">
		Running Petclinic EclipseLink
	</h2>
	<p>
		To run the Petclinic EclipseLink application, copy all the provided…

SpringSource Seminar Day in Central Europe

Engineering | Juergen Hoeller | June 29, 2008 | ...

SpringSource is organizing its first dedicated seminar day in central Europe: the SpringSource Seminar Day in Linz, Austria, on September 8th, 2008. This is a full-day seminar about current hot topics in the Spring portfolio: a rare chance to hear about what's brand-new and upcoming right from the Spring project leads! The agenda is planned as follows:

8:30 ... Open for registration
9:30 ... Welcome and introduction (by Juergen Hoeller)
9:45 ... Keynote: The Spring Portfolio (by Rod Johnson and Adrian Colyer)
11:00 ... Introducing the SpringSource Application Platform (by Rob Harrop and Eberhard Wolff)
12:00 ... Lunch break (lunch buffet provided on site)
13:00 ... Tools for Enterprise Development and Management (by Christian Dupuis and Jennifer Hickey)
14:15 ... Developing Rich Web Applications with Spring (by Keith Donald and Agim Emruli)
15:15 ... Coffee break (coffee and cookies provided on site)
15:45 ... Spring Framework 3.0 – The Next Generation (by Juergen Hoeller and Mike Wiesner)
17:00 ... Spring.NET 1.2 (by Mark Pollack and Erich Eichinger)
18:00 ... Meet & Greet at the SpringSource booth (including drinks and snacks)
19:00 ... End of the seminar

UPDATE: SpringSource's CEO Rod Johnson now to co-present the seminar keynote with CTO Adrian Colyer! Also note that we are organizing a concluding Meet & Greet session at the SpringSource booth.

The speaker list includes SpringSource's CEO Rod Johnson, CTO Adrian Colyer as well as project leads Rob Harrop, Christian Dupuis, Jennifer Hickey, Keith Donald, Juergen Hoeller and Mark Pollack. This is your chance to get in touch with SpringSource's project leads and European consultants for first-hand insight into Spring. The presentation language will be English; the overall event will be moderated in English as well as German.

The seminar will be held at the beautiful Bergschloessl Linz and allows for convenient travelling on a day trip basis (e.g. from Vienna, Salzburg and Munich). Of course, you might prefer to stay for the weekend in order to visit the city of Linz, the European Capital of Culture 2009... Tip: The famous Linzer Klangwolke happens to be scheduled for Saturday, September 6th - the weekend right before the seminar!

Linz is easy to reach by car, train and plane. The main train station is close to the venue, with direct connections from e.g. Vienna, Wels, Salzburg, Nuremberg and Frankfurt. The Blue Danube Airport Linz (LNZ) - providing direct connections from Vienna, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf, Munich and Zurich - is a 20 minutes drive away.

The admission fee for this unique opportunity is EUR 150, to be paid on arrival at the venue. Advance registration before August 11th is required: please send an email to Eva Hoeller (eva.hoeller AT springsource DOT com), stating your contact details as well as the number of seats that you would like to reserve for your company. Seating is limited, so register early!

UPDATE: This seminar is booked out at the already extended level of 145 attendees. See you there!

Juergen Hoeller
VP & Distinguished Engineer
SpringSource

Pumping it dry: $200 a barrel and $25,000 per CPU

Engineering | Rod Johnson | June 25, 2008 | ...

When Oracle acquired BEA systems, I and others noted the significance of the loss of the only independent Java middleware vendor. With Oracle's recent announcement of a price hike for their products, including WebLogic Server, this is no longer a theoretical issue. They have the oil, and they think they have existing customers over a barrel. The need for alternatives is now even more painfully clear.

In fairness, Oracle's move is partly driven by the weakness of the US dollar, but the increases in WebLogic pricing are far greater than those affecting other products.

Some applications previously priced at $3,995 are now listed at $4,595 -- up 13.1 percent -- while database software prices increased 18.75 percent from $40,000 to $47,500 per CPU. Other prices increased approximately 15 percent, according to Wang's report. The price for BEA's WebLogic application server is now $25,000 per CPU, up 47.1 percent from its $17,000-per-CPU price prior to Oracle's $6.7 billion acquisition of the middleware software vendor in April.
This decision probably indicates two things: that Oracle justified the high cost of acquiring BEA (actually, over $8 bn) through its belief that it can make more money from BEA customers by raising prices; and Oracle's expectation that, with no independent vendor left, there is not enough competition left in the Java EE application server market for customers to resist such a price hike. From the same article:
Some industry observers have worried that the acquisitions could give Oracle a near-monopoly in some markets. The Forrester report says the price increase for BEA WebLogic could reflect Oracle's dominant position in the application server market.
In a two-horse race in the legacy app server market between Oracle and IBM, both vendors might well take that view, effectively creating the OPEC of application server vendors. IBM Senior Vice President and Software Group General Manager Steve Mills recently commented that he is “not particularly concerned with competition" in this space, “particularly from open source offerings.”

Fortunately, for customers…

Running a Spring Batch Job in The SpringSource Application Platform

Engineering | Dave Syer | May 30, 2008 | ...

In this article I will show you how to run a Spring Batch job in the SpringSource Application Platform. I ran an early version of this up as a little demo for JavaOne, and then again at the London Spring User Group, and thought it might be a good thing to share. The sample code is here.

The Bundles

First we'll do a quick tour of the bundles in the sample code. Start the server now, or at any point after you have installed some bundles.

Bundle: hsql-server

This one is useful to have around for development and testing. All it does is launch an instance of HSQLDB in server mode, so that you can connect to it and inspect the database using SQL statements. You can just drag and drop it into the Platform Server instance in the Servers View. Do this first, because the Platform remembers the order in which bundles were installed, and starts them in that order. This one has to be started first because other bundles will try to connect to the database server.

The bundle configuration is in META-INF/spring/module-context.xml (this is conventional for Platform bundles) - Spring DM picks up all XML files from META-INF/spring. This one just uses Spring to configure and launch an instance of the HSQL Server.

There is an integration test that can be used to check the…

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