Packaging and Deployment

by Inderjeet Singh and Vijay Ramachandran

The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, enables developers to assemble applications from components. The process of assembling components into modules, and modules into enterprise applications, is called packaging. Well-designed, reusable components can be customized to their operational environment. The process of installing and customizing an application in an operational environment is called deployment. To be customizable, components need to be configurable. However, application developers should not have to repeatedly reinvent a configuration mechanism. They need a standard mechanism that provides flexibility for configuration and supports using tools to help the process.

The J2EE platform provides facilities to make the packaging and deployment process simple. It uses Java Archive (JAR) files as the standard package for modules and applications, and XML-based description and customization of components and applications. This chapter begins with an overview of the packaging and deployment process for the J2EE platform. It describes how to perform each stage in the process and provides guidelines for each stage. It concludes by discussing requirements for tools that support the deployment process.