IBM® WEBSPHERE APPLICATION SERVER (WAS)

ROBUST SUPPORT FOR YOUR WEBSPHERE ENVIRONMENT – MIGRATE AT YOUR OWN PACE, IN YOUR OWN WAY

If you’re like a lot of companies, WebSphere Application Server is deep in your architecture. It’s the de-facto server for a lot of high-end enterprise deployments.

Companies love WebSphere’s reliability, scalability, extensibility and its ability to “play well with others”– which has led to its underpinning of many customized and self-developed internet-facing solutions that bring clear competitive advantage.

But the shift toward cloud is happening fast. IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat means less and less support for non-cloud applications and more pressure from IBM to rapidly migrate to the cloud.

Is it possible to gradually implement migration strategies that support your move to next-gen architectures while maintaining the stability of your complex and highly customized WebSphere application environment?

Yes, it is. And this is exactly what we do at Origina.

PROACTIVE SUPPORT: THE WAY FORWARD FOR WEBSPHERE

Origina offers a particularly skillful brand of third-party software support that dedicates a team of over 600 IBM support specialists to your IT health. We provide on-demand support for every WebSphere version.

This means you can stay on WebSphere and make small or big changes at your own pace. Origina technicians have a minimum of 15 years supporting IBM products – some even contributed to WebSphere’s original code.

We understand WebSphere’s intricacies and interoperability challenges, and can swiftly resolve any issue on any version to keep your environment stable, secure and compliant at all times.

A HOLISTIC VIEW OF YOUR BUSINESS AND IT CONTEXT

Origina’s team doesn’t just keep your enterprise systems up and humming with 99% uptime. We get onboard with your business as a TPSM partner that understands your particular challenges and keeps a perpetual eye on your IBM environment.

We save our customers hundreds of thousands on OEM upgrades they don’t need, provide solid advice on how to best migrate WebSphere and other business-critical systems, and free up teams and budgets to focus on short-and long-term priorities.

Our customers enjoy:

  • Optimized performance of their IBM estate – regardless of product versions
  • Proactive reviews of license entitlements that keep them in front of audits
  • Expert advice on how to manage legacy product installations and migrations
  • Single-contact support with dedicated IBM product experts
  • As much as 50% off their annual IBM spend
  • Simplified IT that sheds superfluous software and processes 
  • Contractual flexibility and the freedom to do decommissions

FAQ | Websphere Application server

Gartner enthusiastically recommends third-party support for companies that want more flexibility than OEM’s provide and are trying to find ways to free up resources for modernization projects.

TPSM shifts you from relying on a single point of vendor support that may or may not deliver a security patch months later, to having a team of experts that implement an extensive system of checks and balances to greatly limit your exposure to vulnerabilities.

In fact, 80% of IT and procurement leaders who are already using TPSM say they would recommend it to their peers.

It’s actually highly likely you don’t need the upgrades – unless you are certain that a particular upgrade will bring a critical new feature that will truly add value to the way the organization utilizes the application. And given the maturity of enterprise software, that’s highly unlikely.

Chances are you’ve been running on old versions with no problem for a while. In fact, over 60% of Origina customers were 3 or more versions behind on upgrades when they came to us.

Origina actually enhances the security and operability of your existing IBM investments without requiring that you rush over to the cloud. Our approach is threefold:

PROTECT your existing IBM investments with preventative actions that address possible threats and vulnerabilities or potential misconfigurations.

EXTEND the longevity and lifecycle of your IBM estate with proactive health checks and workshops delivered by IBM software product and licensing experts.

ENHANCE the performance and functionality of your architecture by using scripts, open APIs, and API hooks to bring you custom feature enhancements that don’t infringe on vendor copyrights.

And if you do choose to upgrade your IBM products at any time while working with Origina, we don’t mind at all. We’re flexible and support you unconditionally – regardless of product, license or vendor contract.

WE KNOW ALL THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT IBM WEBSPHERE APPLICATION SERVER (WAS)

Our Global IBM product experts have been working with all WebSphere versions for decades. We’ve been with it from its origins to what it is now – some of our team have even contributed to its original code.

WebSphere Application Server is an IBM Java, Enterprise Edition (JEE) runtime environment that provides a framework for developing, delivering and accessing Java applications. WebSphere Application Server is middleware that is deployed in the middle, between database and servers, for example, at the back end, and web clients and web servers at the front end. WebSphere Application Server provides the framework for integrating Java applications with a myriad of client devices, business applications and systems.

The first version of WebSphere Application Server was released in 1998 and was, primarily, a Java servlet engine. This first version was developed before the full capabilities of the JEE platform existed, including Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) technology. The first major release of WebSphere Application Server was version 3.5. Version 4.0 was released in 2001 and took a big leap forward as a full J2EE 1.2 certified runtime.

This version, however, still utilized a relational database model and required DB2, or another database, to operate. Version 5 incorporated a complete redesign, utilizing XML-based configuration and removing the need for a database. Version 5 was the first version where all varieties of the product were based on common code. Since then, the runtime has developed significantly, supporting and incorporating many open-source frameworks.

“We’re getting more than we ever did with IBM! Origina help us understand and transform our digital estate, and saved us between 40 and 50 percent off our annual IBM software support and maintenance costs.”
BT is a telecommunications firm that works with Origina for third-party IBM software support.
Matt Turner
Channels & IT Transformation
ABM Procurements and Operations 500 fortune

WEBSPHERE APPLICATION SERVER product versions

Websphere Version Latest Fix Pack Release Date End of Support by IBM Java SE Version
Liberty (continuous delivery) 19.0.0.12 June 2016 N/A 6 until version 17.0.0.2
7.x since version 19.0.0.1
9.0 9.0.5.6 April 2019 N/A 8
8.5.5 8.5.5.19 June 2013 N/A 6 until version 8.5.5.13
7, 7.1 since version 8.5.5.2
8 since version 8.5.5.9
8.5 Liberty Profile 8.5.5.9 June 2012 June 2016 6, 7, 7.1 since version 8.5.5.2
8 since version 8.5.5.9
8.5 8.5.0.2 June 2012 June 2012 6 and 7
8.0 8.0.0.15 June 2011 April 2018 6
7.0 7.0.0.45 October 2008 April 2018 6
6.1 6.1.0.47 June 2006 September 2013 5
6.0 6.0.2.43 December 2004 September 2010 1.4

Meet Kevin McGrath, independent IBM product expert. Kevin specializes in WebSphere Application Server and knows exactly what organizations need to to optimize WAS performance.

He wrote the book on scripting for WebSphere Application Server and has 15 years of experience training people on WAS. Who wouldn’t want this guy on their WebSphere support team?
Watch Kevin talk about Origina’s customer-focused approach and how all our specialists work together to ensure your company benefits from the deepest product expertise and the best imaginable support for your IBM estate.

WebSphere Application Server packages

WebSphere Application Server is available in multiple packaging options to suit different application scenarios:

  • WebSphere Application Server Express
  • WebSphere Application Server Base
  • WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
  • WebSphere Application Server for IBM z/OS®
  • WebSphere Application Server for Developers
  • WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core
  • WebSphere Application Server Community Edition

WebSphere Application Server deployment

You can implement WebSphere Application server as a stand-alone solution or it can be part of a distributed network of WebSphere Application Servers.

A stand-alone deployment does not support load balancing or high availability features. In a distributed topology, you can cluster several WebSphere Application Servers to implement load balancing and high availability for mission-critical applications.

The WebSphere Application Server Base and Express packages support deployment as a stand-alone server only. With the WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment package, you can support either stand-alone servers or a distributed environment.

WebSphere Application Server components

WebSphere Application Server is a Java virtual machine (JVM)that implements the J2EE application server model and includes many enhancements that enable you to maximize Java application features.

Every WebSphere Application Server runtime contains one logical web container that runs web application components. Web applications can include a combination of related Java servlets, Java Server Page (JSP) files, and Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) files that make up a business application. The web container processes servlets and JSP files and, although it can also process HTML files, in a typical production environment, HTML files are processed by an external web server that is connected to the web container by a web server plugin. The web container supports the javax.servlet.http.HttpSession interface so that servlets in the web container can keep track of users, for example as they add items to a shopping cart. The web container can also include specialized servlets that support IP telephony and portlet applications.

IBM FileAn Enterprise JavaBean (EJB) container provides the runtime services required to deploy and manage EJBs. EJBs are Java class files, packaged as Java Archive (JAR) files, that usually contain the business logic in web applications. The EJB container provides data access and also manages threading and transaction support for EJBs.Net is an enterprise content management platform which enables better collaboration over content across the business.

WebSphere Application Server includes a connection manager that supports Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) connections. JCA connections provide access to Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) by applications, by plugging vendor-provided resource adapters into WebSphere Application Server. JDBC connections define the providers and sources of data that is accessed by web applications.

The Java Message Service (JMS) enables Java applications to asynchronously send and receive data and events to and from external sources. JMS defines a common enterprise messaging API that supports both queue-based and publish/subscribe message models. WebSphere Application Server includes a default messaging provider that uses the service integration bus for transport and supports queue-based and publish/subscribe messaging. To use the default JMS provider, you define JMS connection factories and destinations that correspond to service integration bus destinations. Many WebSphere Application Server implementations use IBM MQ as an external JMS provider. WebSphere Application Server provides the JMS client classes and administration interface and IBM MQ provides the queue-based messaging system.

The Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) is an API for a directory service that enables Java applications to look up data and objects via a name. Naming operations, such as lookups and binds, are performed on contexts and all naming operations begin with obtaining an initial context. Applications use JNDI lookups to find a resource by using a known naming convention and you can change the resource the application connects to without having to make changes in the application.

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE BEST WAY FORWARD WITH WEBSPHERE

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ROBUST SOFTWARE SUPPORT
THAT KEEPS WEBSPHERE HEALTHY

Let’s talk about the best way forward with Websphere