Weblogic or JBoss?

Question

I have long been a Java developer on JBoss (and Tomcat). Last year I had to develop WebLogic, and I have to say - I really miss JBoss.

Since my experience with WebLogic is pretty small, I ask the more experienced guys: Is there a reason to spend money on WebLogic? Doesn't JBoss give you everything you need?

Answer 1

I suspect that the reason Weblogic is chosen is a pleasant seller who comes to visit the manager with money to spend, gives him a commercial pitch and hey-presto, the company uses Weblogic. I don’t know if the JBoss support contract is with the sales department, but I would be surprised if this happened, and that the playing field is aligned in this regard.

In my experience, in addition to the excellent console that you get using Weblogic (which should not be billed for a license fee), there are not many between them. I suspect that these days JBoss has a market share (just guessing about it), which in my book translates as additional help available on the Internet, etc., when you are stuck on something.

It is also worth considering that Weblogic licenses (the last time I saw them), where the usual server terms are for each processor, in a box, etc. This will limit you in terms of scalability, because with JBoss you can continue to add at no extra cost, while with Weblogic your licenses also need to be updated.

Whatever you choose, you can build your system on top of them without any problems, but I prefer JBoss.

Answer 2

I really like WebLogic. At the moment, I am suspending the cost of licensing and just say that in their heyday they were the best Java EE application server on the market, hands down. BEA had a lot of talented people developing their code, and it showed. If money were not part of the equation, and I had an employer who insisted on spending money that was not mine, I would choose WebLogic through WebSphere or JBOSS or Glassfish or anything else on the market.

I am saddened by the purchase of Oracle. I think the talent has leaked and Oracle does not have a clear idea of ​​what they want to do with WebLogic. They have been stuck on version 10.1 for several years.

<prejudice-ahead> Glassfish sounds like it a much better effort from Sun, but their history says they write great standards and lousy implementations. I don't consider Glassfish to be a viable alternative. </prejudice-ahead> 

WebSphere is a typical IBM project: double the cost, half the functionality, poor documentation, and you have to buy all your nonsense (like an Eclipse-based IDE) to use it.

JBOSS is not bad, but only because the price difference is so strong in its favor.

I would rather recommend Spring, Tomcat, and ActiveMQ as a great alternative. If EJBs are absolutely necessary, add OpenEJB to this mix.

Answer 3

I am saddened by the purchase of Oracle. I think that talent has leaked and Oracle does not have a clear idea of ​​what they want to do with WebLogic. They have got stuck on version 10.1 for a few years later.

There are a couple of issues with the above comment. First, Oracle only acquired BEA 1.5 years ago, and even then it was not a DOJ-approved transaction. The final sale was not approved until 12 months ago.

Second, Oracle has made three WebLogic releases since the acquisition. They are now on version 10.3.1 (or "11g").

Finally, I think that Oracle - surprised to say that I - is moving in a clear direction. With the recent acquisition of Sun, Oracle is now a major provider of Java technology and has what many consider the leading Java application server. They would not invest in these companies and technologies without a clear plan to dominate the market. I think that recent Oracle movements in the Java EE 6, WebLogic, and JDeveloper spaces show that they are making great strides to become the leader of Java.

I would prefer JBoss; it just works. I had a lot of problems converting a Seam 2.x application from JBoss to Weblogic, but I hope that at some point I will succeed.

Answer 4

Personally, I would choose JBoss (the community version) through Weblogic (Server) because it is free (you know, how free). But this does not answer the question, therefore ...

I see two main reasons for choosing Weblogic:

• Weblogic is a well-integrated product with a single mechanism / configuration file (easier * for configuration and maintenance).
• Integration with Tuxedo.

*) The term is easier subjective. Most things are easy when you know how to do them.

Answer 5

I did 3 evaluations of WebLogic, JBoss, and WebSphere. WebLogic won each of them, went down. Having said that, my simplified guide is this: use JBoss if you are NOT worried about scaling several thousand concurrent users. However, if you intend to scale beyond this, you will need something with proven power and reliability - this is WebLogic.

Note. Application server vendors typically sacrifice specifications for stability. In other words, reliability has a dynamic voltage with technical characteristics. If you want new features, you will get more bugs with it. It amazes me how many technicians do not understand this. But if you think about why you are in no hurry and do not buy the first new version of Windows when it comes out, you will understand why this is so.

NTN

Answer 6

I worked on jboss for a year and in weblogic for more than a year, my experience with web logic is good compared to jboss, since weblogic is more stable and reliable, it can handle more than 3000 simultaneous requests without metaling, the only exception is when jboss failed do this and the admin console for weblogic is fine, but I think weblogic is more complex than jboss. Since the client invests in the application server, my choice will certainly be weblogic.

Answer 7

JBoss (Red Hat) has not yet released a commercially supported 100% Java EE 5-compatible container *. There is a beta version of JBoss 5. I hope they will not be 3 years behind Java EE 6. JBoss is more interested in their microcontainer than Java EE x, because what they say is that their customers are more interested. I have never met any of these clients. But that means Java EE is a second-class citizen in its world. As evidence, their containers are not even delivered in compatible mode; you need to configure some configuration files to make it compatible with the requirements.

If Sun was not going to absorb the black hole, which is Oracle, I would recommend Glassfish.

• Red Hat has a commercially supported 90% Java EE 5 compliant container. JBoss 4.3 is their stepping stone to Java EE 5.

Answer 8

Well, I would recommend using Spring + Tomcat and introduce a full-blown JavaEE application server only if I absolutely need it.
regarding Weblogic and JBoss, I would prefer JBoss because Weblogic is more complex.

Answer 9

I have developed a Java application for JBoss 4.x and 5.x for two years. After that I had to work with Weblogic 11. It was not easy for me to change my mind, but now I think WL is much better. More stable, faster and admin console ... like a dream. It is very easy to make settings and monitoring.

So my choice is Weblogic.

Answer 10

I think you guys should think about TC Server, its version of Tomcat from Vmware. Perhaps this will be good in a corporate environment, as most of them should be able to solve this problem as part of virtualization deals.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vfabric-tcserver/

PS - I made extensive use of WLS. For some applications this may be good. For some, you really don't need this. Thus, it is very dependent on usage, scale, etc.

Answer 11

You need to consider the total cost of ownership of TCO

You must consider these costs when using JBoss:

• Annual Support Subscription
• Higher management and administration costs
• Impact of Failures on Cost
• The impact of product performance on cost
• Higher cost for compatibility testing and integration of disparate OSS projects
• The complexity and cost of supporting an integrated OSS solution
• Insurance against loss
• Cost of maintaining and supporting modified code
• Extra time and effort to cope with many open source licenses.

Answer 12

It depends.

You ended up in a company that likes to buy support from other companies such as Oracle, and doesn’t really care about spending money while it is covered by the manufacturer (yes, I know that Redhat sells support as well, but some companies do not like to buy from them)

In any case, this is a rather subjective question, I do not think there will be a correct answer.

Answer 13

IBM has released its version of the Java EE 6 BETA server. Therefore, in the case of Java EE 6, I think that IBM will become a leader. JBoss is also a good server, but under heavy loads, my experience shows that it is not completely reliable compared to WebLogic and WebSphere.