Below are the list of TOP 10 features introduced in WebLogic 14.1.2:

 

1. JDK

  • WebLogic 14.1.2 is certified for use with JDK 17 and JDK 21
  • JDK 21 is the latest long-term support release of Java SE Platform.
  • GraalVM is currently not supported.

 

2. Upgrade Application

  • Most WebLogic applications do not require any changes unless they are using any deprecated/removed Java or WebLogic APIs.
  • The WebLogic Migration Analysis Tool is a command line utility that identifies APIs in a WebLogic application that have been removed or are no longer used in WebLogic Server 14.1.2.0.0 and generates a report.
  • The report is meant to show only those deletions that are on the classpath of a running WebLogic Server (such as weblogic.jar). 
  • Syntax: java -jar $WL_HOME/server/lib/weblogic.migration-analysis-tool.jar sample.war
  • “OpenRewrite is an open source project that enables developers to effectively eliminate technical debt within their repositories. It includes an auto-refactoring engine that runs prepackaged, open source refactoring recipes for common framework migrations, security fixes, and stylistic consistency tasks.”
  • Oracle has published a few WebLogic recipes in OpenRewrite recipe marketplace.
  • Link: https://github.com/oracle/rewrite-recipes/tree/main/rewrite-weblogic

 

3. Domain Mode

  • WebLogic domains can be configured in Development, Production and Secured Production modes. 
  • In earlier releases your domain must be in Production Mode to enable Secure Production mode.
  • As of 14.1.2, when Production mode is selected, it automatically enables the more secure default settings of Secured Production mode.
  • However, Users will be able to disable the default secureProduction mode options like enabling http port etc after it is enabled.
  • Upgrading an existing WebLogic Server domains to WebLogic Server 14.1.2 does not change domain mode from the original domain. (i.e if the original domain is in Development mode then an upgrade 1412 domain will also be in Development mode).

 

4. Support for OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect

  • WLS 14.1.2 adds support for OpenID Connect Authentication and Identity Assertion Provider.
  • This will allow WebLogic Server to delegate authentication of web applications to external authorization servers that follow OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect standards.

 

5. Demo Certificates

  • Demo CA is now unique to each new domain created in WebLogic 14.1.2.
  • In older releases the Demo CA was shared across all the installations of WebLogic Server.
  • Demo Identity and Trust keystores are in PKCS12 format, unlike JKS in older releases.
  • Validity Period for new Demo CA and keystores are 5 years and 6 months respectively.
  • We discourage using Demo CA and keystores in Production environments and these are meant to be used for development and testing purposes only.

 

6. Updates to SAML 2.0

  • You can now use WLST offline to configure SAML SSO.
  • SAML Single Logout is supported in this release.

 

7. Rebalance JMS Instances

  • Oracle WebLogic Server 14c (14.1.2.0.0) provides a new WebLogic JMS option called “RebalancedEnabled” to automatically rebalance running, cluster-targeted JMS instances that are configured with a Migration Policy of ‘Always’ or ‘On-Failure’ when the system is idle and the instances are unevenly distributed. (This comes in handy for JMS Instances configured in WLS running on kubernetes environments).

 

8. DBClientData modules

  • As of 14.1.2.0.0, you can use DBClientData modules, which enhance the integration of WLS on OCI and make it simple to connect to OCI Database services.
  • DBClientData modules are tnsnames.ora files, wallet files, keystore and truststore files, basically all the database client connection data used by a data source, collocated in a new type of deployment module.
  • These are standalone deployment modules that are independent of the configuration of the data source instances that are going to use those data. A single DBClientData module can be referenced by multiple data sources and a single DBClientData module can be used by multiple domains.
  • You can manage DBClientData modules using weblogic.Deployer, WLST online, REST APIs, WebLogic Remote Console, and WebLogic Deploy Tooling (WDT).

 

9. WebLogic Server Health Score

  • OHS 14.1.2 has a new feature called Intelligent Load Balancing that is based on the overall health of the server instance while making routing decisions.
  • WebLogic Server 14.1.2 provides a default health score calculation based on CPU load, heap usage, Work Manager stuck threads count, and data source pending connection request count.
  • When requested WLS can send the health score data to OHS.

 

10. WebLogic Remote Console

  • WebLogic 14.1.2 provides WebLogic Remote Console, a lightweight open source console that can be used to manage domain configuration of WLS and WDT metadata models. 
  • WebLogic Admin Console is removed in this release.
  • For More information on WebLogic Remote Console (WRC):

https://blogs.oracle.com/blogbypuneeth/post/exploring-weblogic-remote-console