IBM® WebSphere® Application Server delivers the secure, scalable, resilient application infrastructure you need for a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Compare the available editions to find the one that is right for your company's needs.
Table describes the key features and functions of each WebSphere Application Server configuration, so that you can choose the configuration that best fits your current business strategy—and so that you can be prepared to grow your solution as your needs evolve.
| WebSphere Application Server Community Edition | WebSphere Application Server - Express | WebSphere Application Server | WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment | WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition | WebSphere Application Server for z/OS® | |
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| Optimized for: | Lightweight Java EE 5 application server based on open source Apache Geronimo | Lower-cost, ready-to-go solution for smaller scale deployments of dynamic web applications | Build, run and manage dynamic web applications on single server or moderately sized deployment environments | Advanced management, automated performance optimization and availability for mission critical applications | Optimized to instantly run in VMware and other server virtualization environments | Takes advantage of the qualities of service of IBM z/OS® |
| Java EE 6 compliance |  |
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| Java EE 5 compliance | |
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| Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6.0) | |
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| Broad programming model choice |  |
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| Simple failover | |
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| Advanced clustering | |
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| Large-scale transaction support | |
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| Dynamic caching | |
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| Advanced security | |
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| Runtime provisioning | |
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| Administrative Agent, to reduce overhead of administration | |
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| Job Manager, to enable scalable remote administration | |
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| Workload management within a server: integrated with z/OS Workload Manager | |
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| Reporting and chargeback: granular reporting on resource consumption | |
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| WebSphere Application Server Feature Packs | |
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| Optimized to instantly run in VMware and other virtualization environments | |
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| Broad operating-system support and database connectivity | |
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| Socket-based pricing option | |
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| Application assembly and deployment tooling | |
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| Open source based | |
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| Production-use database | |
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| 24x7 product support | Available for fee | |
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Key: = fully supported, = partially supported, blank = not supported
Table 1: Key features and functions of IBM WebSphere Application Server configurations
| WebSphere Application Server Community Edition | WebSphere Application Server - Express | WebSphere Application Server | WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment | WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition | WebSphere Application Server for z/OS® | |
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| Programming Model Support | ||||||
| Java EE 6 | |
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| Java EE 5 | |
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| Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6.0) | |
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| Web 2.0 and Mobile | |
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| OSGi Applications | |
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| Java Batch | |
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| XML | |
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| Service Component Architecture (SCA) | |
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| Communications Enabled Applications (CEA) | |
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| Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) | |
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| Dynamic Scripting | |
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| Integrated Tooling Support | ||||||
| Rational Application Developer Standard Edition for WebSphere Software(Trial included) | |
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| Rational Application Developer, integrated with Rational Software Architect for WebSphere (separately available) | |
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| IBM Assembly and Deploy Tool for WebSphere Administration, built on Eclipse | |
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| IBM Rational® Application Developer assembly and deploy module for WebSphere, built on Eclipse | |
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Key: = fully supported, = partially supported, blank = not supported
Table 2: Programming Model and Integrated Tooling support by IBM WebSphere Application Server configurations
| WebSphere Application Server Community Edition | WebSphere Application Server - Express | WebSphere Application Server | WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment | WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition | WebSphere Application Server for z/OS® | |
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| Administration and Performance | ||||||
| Flexible management | |
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| Runtime provisioning service | |
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| High performance extensible logging (HPEL) | |
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| Enhanced performance features, including edge-of-network services | |
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| WebSphere business-level applications, expanding the notion of "application" beyond Java EE | |
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| Simplified install and maintenance | |
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| Centralized installation and maintenance | |
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| Managed directory-based Java EE application install, update and uninstall | |
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| Advanced Security | ||||||
| WebSphere secure proxy | |
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| WebSphere security domains | |
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| Security auditing | |
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| Kerberos authentication and single sign-on | |
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| Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) token support | |
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| Use of z/OS security environment without affecting the application interface | |
Key: = fully supported, = partially supported, blank = not supported
Table 3: Administration, Performance and Security support by IBM WebSphere Application Server configurations