The seventh release of JBoss AS is quite different from all other server releases and, as a matter of fact, has improved on several key points, especially where needed most, that is, in the management area. Some of the most notable improvements include:
The application server can now be part of a Managed Domain , which provides the centralized management of multiple server instances and physical hosts, or it can just be a Standalone Server that allows for a single server instance.
The Management Web Console and Management Command Line Interface (CLI) are brand new interfaces for managing your domain or standalone AS instance. There is no longer any need to edit XML configuration files manually. The Management CLI even offers a batch mode so that you can script and automate management tasks.
The class-loading mechanism has been made completely modular so that modules are loaded and unloaded on demand. This provides performance and security benefits as well as very fast startup and restart times.
JBoss AS 7 starts and stops very quickly, which is especially beneficial to developers. It uses fewer resources and is extremely efficient in its use of system resources.
Behind the scenes, the new application server is designed around a brand new kernel; this is now based on two main projects:
JBoss Modules: This handles the class loading of resources in the container. You can think of JBoss Modules as a thin bootstrap wrapper for executing an application in a modular environment.
Modular Service Container (MSC): This provides a way to install, uninstall, and manage the services used by a container. MSC further enables the injection of resources into services and dependency management between services.
In the next section, we will describe all the required steps for installing and starting a new application server.