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# Compatibility Statement for WebLogic Server 6.1 BEA attempts to support binary and source-level compatibility between WebLogic Server 6.1SP1 and WebLogic Server 6.0SP2 in the areas of persistent data, generated classes, and API compatibility. In some cases, it is impossible to avoid incompatibilities. Where incompatibilities arise, they are fully documented within this compatibility statement. Note: When migrating applications from earlier versions of WebLogic Server, please refer to the Migration Guide. ## Persistent Data Compatibility WebLogic Server 6.1 does not require you to make any changes to WLS 6.0 persistent data storage, including configuration files, deployment descriptors, and JMS messages, with the following exceptions: In WebLogic Server 6.0, the JMS documentation correctly specifies "default", "true", and "false" for the StoreEnabled attribute of the JMSDestinationMBean, but the software allowed for mixed case characters. WLS 6.1, however, requires all lower case characters for the StoreEnabled settings. The EJB 2.0 implementation in WLS 6.0 was based on the EJB 2.0 specification PFD 1. The EJB 2.0 implementation in WLS 6.1 is based on the EJB 2.0 specification PFD 2. Some changes made to the specification may require code changes to applications based on the WLS 6.0 EJB 2.0 implementation. ## Generated Classes Compatibility WebLogic Server 6.1 does not require you to recompile applications in order to create new generated classes with the following exceptions: EJBs deployed on earlier versions of WLS need to be recompiled using the EJBC compiler. If you attempt to deploy EJBs compiled with earlier versions, the server will automatically recompile the EJBs and keep a cached copy of the new generated classes on disk. To avoid having the server recompile your EJBs every time the application is deployed on a new machine, you should manually recompile you EJBs using the EJBC compiler. JSPs that have been compiled using a previous version of WLS will be recompiled in WLS 6.1. ## API Compatibility API method behavior may change because that behavior was corrected to conform to a specification or to fix incorrect behavior. In certain circumstances, this correction may cause your application to behave differently. WLS 6.0 applications deployed on WebLogic Server 6.1 will function without modification with the following exceptions: The EJB 2.0 implementation in WLS 6.0 was based on the EJB 2.0 specification PFD 1. The EJB 2.0 implementation in WLS 6.1 is based on the EJB 2.0 specification PFD 2. Some changes made to the specification may require code changes to applications based on the WLS 6.0 EJB 2.0 implementation. In WLS 6.0, the Servlet container automatically attempts to authenticate users when forwarded to a different location using RequestDispatcher.forward(). The Servlet 2.3 specification has added a clause that prevents authentication on forward. WLS 6.1 has been updated to comply with the Servlet 2.3 specification. The check-auth-on-forward property can be set in the weblogic.xml Web Application deployment descriptor to revert this behavior back to that of WLS 6.0. See weblogic.xml Deployment Descriptor for details. Access to WLS Management Beans (MBeans) is now controlled by an ACL. This ACL does not affect MBeans access for the server or "system" user. See the Defining ACLs section of the Administration Guide for details on setting this ACL. In WLS 6.1, the default XML parser has been updated and is now based on the Apache Xerces 1.3.1 parser. The parser implements version 2 of the SAX and DOM interfaces. Users who have used older parsers that were shipped in previous versions may receive deprecation messages. Users who prefer to use external parsers should do so through JAXP. Migration of non-JAXP code to JAXP code may involve some code adjustments. In WLS. changes to Apache's Xalan code were made to enable Xerces and Xalan to work together. You may encounter problems if you use Xalan from Apache, because it will not include these changes. Validation in the WLS default parser is more strict than in previous versions. This may require XML coding changes. The ServletRuntime MBean (weblogic.management.descriptors.webapp.ServletMBean) contains the method `getName()`. In WSL 6.0, this method returned the name of the Servlet. For all other MBeans, the `getName()` method returns the name of the MBean. For consistency, in WLS 6.1 the `getName()` method on the ServletRuntime MBean has been modified to return the name of the MBean. A new method, `getServletName()`, has been added to the ServletRuntime MBean to return the name of the Servlet ## Protocol Compatibility WebLogic Server 6.1 does not interoperate with prior versions of WebLogic Server at the wire protocol level. The includes the following restrictions: WebLogic Server 6.1 cannot be a member of a cluster that contains servers of a previous version. WebLogic Server 6.1 cannot act as an Administration Server or Managed Server to a server of a previous version. A pre-6.1 web server plug-in cannot be configured as a proxy to WebLogic Server 6.1. Bi-directional communication between WebLogic Server 6.1 and previous versions is not supported. ## Server Compatibility with Service Packs The Administration Server must be at the same Service Pack Level or higher than its Managed Servers. For instance, if the Managed Server is at WebLogic 6.1 Service Pack 1, then the Administration Server can be running Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2. However, if the Managed Server is at Service Pack 2, then the Administration Server must be at Service Pack 2 or higher. Service Pack 2 includes a fix required for WebLogic Server to conform fully to the IIOP specification. As a result of this fix, a 6.1 Service Pack 2 server will not be able to interoperate either with a 6.1 GA server or a 6.1 Service Pack 1 server. Therefore, BEA strongly recommends you upgrade all of your WebLogic 6.1 servers to 6.1 Service Pack 2, if you are using the IIOP transport protocol for communication between servers.

Last updated: September 2004

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