RE: Tomcat 5 vs Websphere Express

> From: Mike Cunningham
> 
> We have just completed deploying our first JSP application. We are
using
> the in-process tomcat app server and it has worked fine. We chose this
> over Websphere since we could just drop the JSP files in the IFS and
they
> would run. With Websphere you have to package and EAR/WAR file and
then
> install and deploy it on the server. Tomcat looked to be much easier.

Unfortunately, you started with a bad assumption.  You've been able to
hot deploy JSP files to WebSphere since as far back as WebSphere 1.1. 


> We
> want to take the next step and clean up some things we didn't do right
due
> to lack of knowledge and needing to get the application in service.
One
> thing we want to do is move the jdbc connect code and place it in a
java
> app in order to hide the userid/password from the jsp and to reuse the
> connect code in the next project.

I'm not sure I completely understand this.  If you've got JDBC code in
your JSP you definitely have some design issues, but I don't understand
the "Java app" part.  Are you talking about implementing JSP Model II
and using a servlet to populate beans that are then accessed by the JSP?
If so, you're definitely headed in the right direction.


> In order to do that we need to go to JDK
> 1.4 and the in-process server only supports JDK 1.3. We just
downloaded
> and installed Tomcat 5 but after taking an initial look at it, it
looks a
> lot like Websphere. Now I'm not sure if we should forget Tomcat and go
> Websphere or stick with Tomcat. Got any advice ?

I don't have enough information about your app.  JSP Model II does not
require any special JVM; I've used it successfully for years with
JDK1.2.2.  As for Tomcat vs. WebSphere, on the iSeries only WebSphere is
officially supported.  I don't know how much you value IBM support; when
I've needed it, it's been invaluable.

Joe