Application server

An application server is a server that hosts applications^[1] or software that delivers a business application through a communication protocol.^[2] For a typical web application, the application server sits behind the web servers.

An application server framework is a service layer model. It includes software components available to a software developer through an application programming interface. An application server may have features such as clustering, fail-over, and load-balancing. The goal is for developers to focus on the business logic.^[3]

Java application servers

Jakarta EE (formerly Java EE or J2EE) defines the core set of API and features of Java application servers.

The Jakarta EE infrastructure is partitioned into logical containers.

EJB container: Enterprise Beans are used to manage transactions. According to the Java BluePrints, the business logic of an application resides in Enterprise Beans—a modular server component providing many features, including declarative transaction management, and improving application scalability.
Web container: the web modules include Jakarta Servlets and Jakarta Server Pages (JSP).
JCA container (Jakarta Connectors)
JMS provider (Jakarta Messaging)

Microsoft

Microsoft's .NET positions their middle-tier applications and services infrastructure in the Windows Server operating system and the .NET Framework technologies in the role of an application server.^[4] The Windows Application Server role includes Internet Information Services (IIS) to provide web server support, the .NET Framework to provide application support, ASP.NET to provide server side scripting, COM+ for application component communication, Message Queuing for multithreaded processing, and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) for application communication.^[5]

PHP application servers

PHP application servers run and manage PHP applications.

Zend Server, built by Zend, provides application server functionality for the PHP-based applications.
RoadRunner, built by Spiral Scout is a high-performance PHP application server, load-balancer, and process manager written in Go.

Third-party

Mono (a cross platform open-source implementation of .NET supporting nearly all its features, with the exception of Windows OS-specific features), sponsored by Microsoft and released under the MIT License

Mobile application servers

Mobile application servers provide data delivery to mobile devices.

Mobile features

Core capabilities of mobile application services include

Data routing– data is packaged in smaller (REST) objects with some business logic to minimize demands on bandwidth and battery
Orchestration– transactions and data integration across multiple sources
Authentication service– secure connectivity to back-end systems is managed by the mobile middleware
Off-line support– allows users to access and use data even though the device is not connected
Security– data encryption, device control, SSL, call logging

Mobile challenges

Although most standards-based infrastructure (including SOAs) are designed to connect to any independent of any vendor, product or technology, most enterprises have trouble connecting back-end systems to mobile applications, because mobile devices add the following technological challenges:^[6]

Limited resources – mobile devices have limited power and bandwidth
Intermittent connectivity – cellular service and wifi coverage is often not continuous
Difficult to secure^[7] – mobility and BYOD practices make it hard to secure mobile devices

Deployment models

An application server can be deployed:

References

^ Ottinger, Joseph (1 September 2008). "What is an App Server?". TheServerSide.com. Retrieved 2022-02-06. an application server provides an environment where applications can run, no matter what the applications are or what they do
^ Sintes, Tony (2002-08-23). "App server, Web server: What's the difference?". JavaWorld. Retrieved 2022-06-14. [A]n application server exposes business logic to client applications through various protocols
^ Ceri, Stefano; Fraternali, Piero; Bongio, Aldo; Brambilla, Marco; Comai, Sara; Matella, Maristella (2003). Designing Data-Intensive Web Applications. Morgan Kaufmann. doi:10.1016/B978-1-55860-843-6.X5000-2. ISBN 1-55860-843-5.
^ TechNet: Application Server
^ TechNet: Application Server Role
^ Jaenicke, Coco (19 November 2014). "Why Mobile App Development Requires More than an SOA". App Developer Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
^ Egan, Bob (April 11, 2014). "A Billion Smartphone Users May Be Affected by the Heartbleed Security Flaw". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-02-06.