Welcome to the WSO2 Application Server Documentation
The WSO2 Application Server (AS) is an enterprise-ready, fully-open source application server based on the component-based, WSO2 Carbon platform. It utilizes Apache Tomcat and is capable of hosting any kind of Web application deployable in Tomcat. The WSO2 Application Server also has extensive Web service management capabilities. Users have the capability to simply and effectively create, consume and manage their applications and services in a unified manner through the Application Server's "Management Console" user-interface.
Unlike many over-bloated, proprietary solutions, WSO2 has created a new platform that cuts out unnecessary layers, supporting the full WS-* stack in a simple, clean, lightweight model. It has full support for XML, SOAP, WSDL, is reliable, scalable and supports secure communication and transactional integration based on the concept of loose coupling. Web applications inherit features such as authentication/authorization, user management from the WSO2 Carbon platform.
The WSO2 Application Server brings together a number of open source projects into a single, seamless, easy-to-use offering. Instead of having you to download different parts of the Apache Web services stack separately and assemble them together, WSO2 has already done that for you. With the WSO2 AS, you get a single, integrated package with lots of additional features which are inherited from the powerful WSO2 Carbon platform.
Key Features and Capabilities of the WSO2 Application Server
- Extensive Web Application and Web Service deployment and management capability through a user-friendly management console
- GUI, command-line and IDE-based tools for Web service development
- Application Server tooling features: Artifacts can be easily generated using WSO2 Carbon Studio
- Clustering support for high availability and high scalability
- Full support for WS-Security, WS-Trust, WS-Policy, WS-Secure Conversation, XKMS etc.
- Extensive support to deploy JAX-WS annotated services
- JMX and Web interface based monitoring and management
- WS-* and REST support
- Equinox P2 based provisioning support
- WSDL2Java/Java2WSDL/WSDL 1.1 and the "Try it" features to invoke any remote Web service
- In-built Data Services management features
- Server Roles Management features
- Deployment Synchronizer for easy Clustering
- Improved Class loading capability for Web Applications and Web Services
- Embedded Tomcat 7.0.14 support
- Servlet API 3.0 support
- Real-life, practical examples explained
Open Source/Axis2 Modules in the WSO2 Application Server
- Apache Axis2 (SOAP)
- Apache Axiom (High performance XML Object Model)
- Apache Rampart/Apache WSS4J: WS-Security and WS-SecureConversation
- Apache Rahas: WS-Trust
- Apache Sandesha2: WS-ReliableMessaging
- WS-Addressing implementation in Axis2
- Apache Neethi (WS-Policy)
- WS-SecurityPolicy implementation in Axis2
- Apache XML Schema
- Embedded Apache Tomcat
- Apache Tribes (Group Communications Framework)
- Mex: Supporting WS-MetaDataExchange
- Throttle: For throttling requests
- Statistics: For gathering & monitoring statistics
- Tracer: For tracing SOAP requests & responses
- XFer: Supporting WS-Transfer
- XKMS: Supporting XML Key Management Specification
XML and WS-* Support
- SOAP 1.1/1.2
- WSDL 1.1
- WSDL 2.0
- JAX-WS 2.2
- MTOM, XOP & SOAP with Attachments
- WS-Addressing
- WS-Security 1.0/1.1
- WS-Trust
- WS-SecureConversation
- WS-SecurityPolicy
- WS-ReliableMessaging
- WS-Policy
- WS-PolicyAttachment
- WS-MetadataExchange
- WS-Transfer
- WS-Eventing
- WS-Discovery
WSO2 contributes to the Apache Software Foundation's Web services project through a combination of leading open source components. Our integration code including the unified management console is available under the Apache Software License version 2.0.
What is new in this Release
The WSO2 Application Server version 4.1.2 is the successor of version 4.1.0 and has several defect fixes included in it. For more information on the defect fixes, refer to the following page in WSO2 Oxygen Tank: WSO2 Application Server 4.1.2 - Fixed Issues.
Known Issues
For a list of known issues in the Application Server version 4.1.2, please refer to the following link in WSO2 Oxygen Tank: WSO2 Application Server 4.1.2 - Known Issues.
Community and Support
WSO2 is willing to provide you guidance for any technical issues or questions regarding the Application Server product. You can communicate with the WSO2 Application Server development team directly using the following mailing lists:
- For Users: Application Server user mailing list
- For Developers: Carbon developer mailing list
If you want to have a public discussion with other users as well as developers, you can use the WSO2 Application Server Forum for developers and users.
WSO2 encourages you to report issues and enhancement requests for the WSO2 Application Server using the publicJIRA. You can track their resolutions and comment on the progress.
WSO2 also offers a variety of development and production support programs, ranging from Web-based support during normal business hours, to premium 24x7 phone support. We are committed to ensuring that your enterprise middleware deployment is completely supported from evaluation to production. Our unique approach ensures that support leverages our open development methodology and is provided by the very same engineers who build the products. For additional support information please refer to http://wso2.com/support.
About the Documentation
The purpose of this documentation is to provide you with information for installing, configuring and implementing WSO2 Application Server 4.1.2. To find a specific topic in a particular section, click on the topic name in the Table of Contents.
Getting Started for First-time Users
The following topics introduce the WSO2 AS architecture and components. It also provides some basic information on application servers in general for first-time users.