![]() | Sun Java System Web Server 7.0 update 1 is now available for download (the preview version had been available for a few months). New in this release is: • Performance and stability improvements |
You'll notice that the main features are Java-related. Specifically, the product is now at the Java EE 5 specification level which means that any web application that runs on GlassFish now also runs on Sun's Web Server 7.0 Update 1 (the implementation is actually taken straight from GlassFish). On the more technical side of things, you can use dependency injection in the web tier.
When released in early 2007, Web Server 7.0 enjoyed an excellent review and has been powering a whole new set of demanding web sites (including the one serving you this content). Any question, see the dedicated forum.
\* If you plan to deploy WARs and EARs - the choice is pretty clear, it's Glassfish. As a servlet container, Web Server is good for developing (see NetBeans support referred to above) and deploying WAR files only.
\* With Web Server's ability to support Java and native non-Java technologies alike, it's a superior platform deploying heterogeneous dynamic content types - Java/JSPs or PHPs, JRuby or Ruby On Rails etc. In addition, as a general purpose Web Server like Apache, Web Server supports SSL acceleration, powerful URL rewriting useful for mass hosting , reverse proxy for load balancing against any HTTP compliant origin servers, and FastCGI for scalable yet safe support for third-party dynamic engines (e.g. PHP, Python, Perl, etc) enables a number of flexible yet manageable deployment options.
If you are deploying to web tier, Web Server is a great choice. If you need a more comprehensive Java EE environment for your deployment then GlassFish is perfect. And as Alexis points out, you can use the servers in tandem with each other (Web Server as the HTTP and SSL termination point, handling access control and static content, load balancing, etc and using GlassFish/App Server as the fully Java EE compliant dynamic engine for the business logic aspects of your application).
Both servers are great solutions, and together they're even better.