The deployer's problem: configuring application servers for performance and reliability

Frameworks such as J2EE are designed to simplify the process of developing enterprise applications by handling much of the complexity of concurrency, transaction, and persistence management. An application server that supports such a framework implements these concerns, freeing the application developer to focus on the task of implementing the business logic aspect of the application. In such frameworks, the deployer, the individual(s) who configures the application server to manage concurrency, transaction and persistence correctly and efficiently, plays a central role. A deployer has few tools to assist with performing this complicated task. Incorrect configuration can lead to application failure or severe underperformance. We outline the problems facing the deployer of applications, present a methodology that can assist the programmer with the task of configuring application servers, and present two case studies that validate the usefulness of our methodology.