Operating Systems: AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows
Application edition manager
The application edition manager for WebSphere® Virtual Enterprise manages interruption-free production application deployments. Interruption-free deployment prevents loss of service when you install an application update in your environment. You can also use the application edition manager if you are using the Compute Grid component and want to rollout Compute Grid applications. These are enterprise applications that conform to one of the grid programming models.
The application edition manager also provides an application versioning model that supports multiple deployments of the same application in a WebSphere Virtual Enterprise cell. Each deployment has a unique edition name. The application edition manager offers a choice of which edition to activate on a WebSphere Virtual Enterprise cluster, so that you can perform a rollout of an application update or revert to a previous level.
The application edition manager is fully integrated with WebSphere Virtual Enterprise, interacting with the on demand router (ODR), dynamic workload balancing, and the application placement manager. This integration ensures predictable application behavior when you apply application updates, and a smooth transition from one application edition to another while the system continues to manage your application performance goals. You can access application update processes with the administrative console, including edition activation across the application servers. Scripting application programming interfaces enable the integration of edition management functions with automated application deployment.
Application editions are supported for Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5) applications, including enterprise archive (EAR) files, and Compute Grid applications that conform to one of the grid programming models. The following table summarizes the supported features, which vary depending on the type of application that you are using.
Table 1. Application edition manager support for applications Application type Multiple editions of applications Application rollout Interruption-free application update, driven by the ODR and HTTP communication Validation mode Concurrent activation Managed Web applications, including PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) applications Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported IIOP, EJB, or JMS applications Supported Supported Not supported1 Not supported Not supported Unmanaged Web applications Supported Not supported Not supported Not supported Supported WebSphere Application Server Community Edition applications Supported Supported Supported Supported Supported Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) applications Supported Supported Supported2 Supported Supported Converged HTTP-SIP applications Supported Supported Supported2 Supported Supported 1 The ODR does not support communication with IIOP. Any EJB, JMS, or IIOP components called directly by an external client cannot utilize this feature.
2 This feature is driven by the ODR and HTTP/SIP communication.
WebSphere Application Server includes an administrative function called rollout update. Rollout update provides a basic application upgrade, but is not interruption-free. With WebSphere Virtual Enterprise installed, the rollout update function is available, but the application edition manager is the preferred way to upgrade applications.
The application edition manager supports your overall application life cycle, and enables application updates and seamless, interruption-free application deployments to WebSphere XDion environment.
Related concepts
Application edition manager concepts