Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Management Specification

Summary:

The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Management Specification will provide server vendors and tool vendors with a standard model for managing the J2EE Platform.

Section 1. Identification

Submitting Member: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Name of Contact Person: Hans Hrasna

E-Mail Address: hans.hrasna@sun.com

Telephone Number: (781) 442-0231

Fax Number: (781) 442-1610

Specification Lead: Hans Hrasna

E-Mail Address: hans.hrasna@sun.com

Telephone Number: (781) 442-0231

Fax Number: (781) 442-1610

Initial Expert Group Membership:

• BEA Systems

Benjamin Renaud br@bea.com
Vadim Draluk vadim.draluk@bea.com

• GemStone Systems, Inc.

Chris Jacobson chrisj@gemstone.com

• Telkel

Marc Fleury marc.fleury@telkel.com

• IBM

Leigh Williamson

• IONA Technologies

Simon Pepper simon.pepper@iona.com
Patrick O'Brien patrick.o'brien@iona.com

• Lutris Technologies

David Simons david.simons@lutris.com

Section 2: Request

2.1 Please describe the proposed Specification:

The Specification proposes a standard management model for exposing and accessing the management information, operations, and parameters of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition components. The management model will:

• Allow rapid development of management solutions for J2EE
• Provide integration with existing management systems
• Enable a single management tool to manage multiple vendor implementations of the platform
• Enable a specific implementation of a platform to use any compliant management tool

2.2 What is the target Java platform? (i.e., desktop, server, personal, embedded, card, etc.)

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition

2.3 What need of the Java community will be addressed by the proposed specification?

As the installed base for J2EE platforms and J2EE applications grows, the need for management tools is becoming increasingly apparent. In order to be effective, J2EE management tools need the ability to transparently manage a network of multiple J2EE servers, which could consist of multiple vendor implementations of the platform. The current selection of J2EE management tools are implementation-specific and weaken the platform in the area of distributed management.

The specification will address application-independent management functions on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition. Application-independent management functions will be specified for two major categories:

• Server resource management
• Application lifecycle management

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Management will be defined using standard management information formats and protocols, such as JMX, WBEM, and SNMP, in such a way as to provide information that can be managed by standard system management applications.

2.4 Why isn't this need met by existing specifications?

The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Specification does not address the issues of resource monitoring or management of J2EE components: application clients, EJBs, servlets, or JSPs.

2.5 Please give a short description of the underlying technology or technologies:

One way an application server could implement the requirements this JSR will specify is through the use of JMX technology. JMX defines a management architecture, APIs, and management services. It provides developers of Java technology based applications with the means to instrument Java platform code, create smart agents and managers in the Java programming language, implement distributed management middleware, and smoothly integrate these solutions into existing management systems. In addition, JMX provides a number of Java APIs for existing standard management protocols. These APIs enable JMX applications in the Java programming language to link with existing management technologies, including WBEM and SNMP.

Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) is a set of management and Internet standard technologies developed to unify the management of enterprise computing environments. WBEM is made up of a core set of standards, which includes a data model, the Common Information Model (CIM) standard; an encoding specification, xmlCIM Encoding Specification; and a transport mechanism, CIM Operations over HTTP.

SNMP is the most basic, but also the most widely implemented of the management standards. Its support provides minimal management and monitoring capabilities through a variety of existing management tools.

2.6 Is there a proposed package name for the API Specification? (i.e., javapi.something, org.something, etc.)

Not applicable.

2.7 Does the proposed specification have any dependencies on specific operating systems, CPUs, or I/O devices that you know of?

No.

2.8 Are there any security issues that cannot be addressed by the current security model?

The current J2EE security model does not address security issues related to management functions. We will extend the J2EE security model to cover these issues in a way that is compatible with the standard protocols that will be used.

2.9 Are there any internationalization or localization issues?

No. The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Management Specification will use the I18N and L10N support in the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition.

2.10 Are there any existing specifications that might be rendered obsolete, deprecated, or in need of revision as a result of this work?

This JSR is expected to affect the next J2EE platform specification (after 1.3).

2.11 Please describe the anticipated schedule for the development of this specification.

The tentative schedule is as follows:

This information has been updated from the original JSR.

Section 3: Contributions

3.1 Please list any existing documents, specifications, or implementations that describe the technology. Please include links to the documents if they are publicly available.

Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition 1.2
http://java.sun.com/products/j2ee/docs.html

Java Servlet Specification, Version 2.2
http://java.sun.com/products/servlet

Java Management Extensions Instrumentation and Agent Specification, v1.0
http://java.sun.com/products/JavaManagement

Java Management Extensions CIM/WBEM APIs, Draft 2

Java Management Extensions SNMP APIs, Draft 2

Java WBEM Services APIs, Draft 1

3.2 Explanation of how these items might be used as a starting point for the work.

Four of the specifications (Java Management Extensions, Java WBEM Services, Java Management Extensions CIM/WBEM, and Java Management Extensions SNMP) provide problem space modeling strategies of which this specification can make use.

We expect to take advantage of the experience gained from a number of projects, including several represented by the specifications above.