Chapter 1: Introducing EAServer

EAServer execution engine

The EAServer runtime engine provides a scalable and platform-independent environment for the execution of component based applications. EAServer is scalable because it is multithreaded and multiprocessor safe.

The EAServer execution environment is the same across all platforms, with the exception of ActiveX component support. ActiveX requires platform support and is currently available only on Windows.

The EAServer runtime engine provides the following services:

Network listeners for the connections on which clients send remote component invocations. EAServer core network server technology is based on Sybase Open Client/Server™ technology. “Network protocol support” details the supported application protocols.
An execution environment for middle-tier components. See “Server-side component support”.
A built-in HTTP server. You can use EAServer HTTP support to deploy your application’s Java applets and HTML pages.
Hosting of PowerDynamo Web sites so that you can access those sites from a browser.
Ability to run with different Java virtual machines.
A JagRepair server that you can use to repair your application server if you cannot start it up because of an incorrect configuration setting.
Declarative security. You can use roles to authenticate and authorize users. See the EAServer Security Administration and Programming Guide.
Connection caching. You can define caches of connections for interacting with remote databases from EAServer components. See “Connection caching”.
Open Server™ event handler support. See “Support for legacy Open Server applications”.

In addition to these built-in services, you can install service components that run in the background and provide customized services to clients or other components. See Chapter 33, “Creating Service Components,” in the EAServer Programmer’s Guide.