Chapter 1 Introducing EAServer

Overview

EAServer is an application server, which includes an integrated set of development tools that you use to deploy Web applications that support high-volume traffic, dynamic content, and intensive online transaction processing. The EAServer product set includes PowerDynamo, Adaptive Server Anywhere, Application Integrator for CICS, and Application Integrator for Stored Procedures.

EAServer provides a framework for deploying the middle-tier logic of distributed component-based applications.

EAServer simplifies the creation and administration of Internet applications that service thousands of clients simultaneously. EAServer components execute on the middle-tier between end-user client applications and remote databases. EAServer provides efficient management of client sessions, security, threads, third-tier database connections, and transaction flow, without requiring specialized knowledge on the part of the component developer.

EAServer's scalability and platform independence allow you to develop your application on inexpensive single processor machines and then deploy the application on an enterprise-grade multiprocessor server.

EAServer provides the following features:

A scalable, multithreaded, platform-independent execution engine
Dispatch and stub/proxy support for all major component models, including JavaBeans, PowerBuilder, Java, ActiveX, and C/C++
Dynamic HTML support using Java servlet, JavaServer Pages, and PowerDynamo Web sites
Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform support
Graphical administration with Sybase Central, including component interface browsing, declarative role-based security, password, and required SSL session characteristics, server and user certificate management, IDL module support, OTS transaction monitoring, and runtime monitoring
Tight integration with the PowerBuilder and PowerJ® development environments
Transparent client-session and component-lifecycle management
Connection caching to allow reuse of remote database connections
Industry-standard naming services to resolve components using logical names rather than server addresses
Transaction management to simplify the design and implementation of an application's transactions
Transparent thread-safety features to simplify use of shared data and resources
Result-set support to enable efficient retrieval of tabular data in client applications
Declarative, role-based security to restrict client connections and the components that can be invoked by a specific client session
Identity-based security to restrict intercomponent calls
Asynchronous messaging support
Asynchronous processing support
Web server redirector plug-in forwards client requests directly to a Web server

The following sections explain these features in detail.