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WebLogic Server 6.1 Features and Changes

The following sections describe changes and features in WebLogic Server 6.1 and all subsequent WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack releases. The sections below describe changes and features in WebLogic Server 6.1:

- WebLogic Server 6.1 with J2EE 1.2 and J2EE 1.3 Functionality

- WebLogic Server Services

- Documentation and Examples

- WebLogic Server Tour

- Beanshell Code

- Important Service Pack Information

Note: View the most up-to-date version of these release notes online.

WebLogic Server 6.1 with J2EE 1.2 and J2EE 1.3 Functionality

BEA WebLogic Server 6.1 is the first e-commerce transaction platform to implement advanced J2EE 1.3 features. To comply with the rules governing J2EE, BEA Systems provides two separate downloads: one with J2EE 1.3 features enabled, and one that is limited to J2EE 1.2 features only. Both downloads offer the same container and differ only in the APIs that are available.

WebLogic Server 6.1 with J2EE 1.2 Plus Additional J2EE 1.3 Features

With this download, WebLogic Server defaults to running with J2EE 1.3 features enabled. These features include EJB 2.0, JSP 1.2, Servlet 2.3, and J2EE Connector Architecture 1.0. When you run WebLogic Server 6.1 with J2EE 1.3 features enabled, J2EE 1.2 applications are still fully supported. The J2EE 1.3 feature implementations use non-final versions of the appropriate API specifications. Therefore, application code developed for BEA WebLogic Server 6.1 that uses the new features of J2EE 1.3 may be incompatible with the J2EE 1.3 platform supported in future releases of BEA WebLogic Server.

WebLogic Server 6.1 J2EE 1.3 Compatibility

This section lists the J2EE 1.3 API classes and deployment descriptors that are not implemented in WebLogic Server 6.1.

Enterprise Java Beans Deployment Descriptors

WebLogic Server 6.1 fully implements all EJB 2.0 deployment descriptors defined in Sun Microsystem's ejb-jar.xml document type definitions (DTD) file with the following exceptions:

- exclude_list

- unchecked

- run_as

Note: The ejb-jar.xml document type definitions (DTD) file is part of Sun Microsystem EJB 2.0 specification.

JDBC API Classes

API | Class or Interface | Methods not Implemented | Notes
--- | --- | --- | ---
java.sql | CallableStatement | getResultSet(int parameterIndex) | Implemented as a method for the OracleCallableStatement Oracle extension; you must use a JDBC driver that supports the OracleCallableStatement extension, such as the Oracle Thin Driver.
Driver | getPropertyInfo(java.lang.String url, java.util.Properties info) | Not Implemented

JSP 1.2 API Classes

API | Class | Differs from J2EE 1.3
--- | --- | ---
javax.servlet.jsp | java.beans.Beans | The jsp:id mechanism has not been implemented

Note: The following feature has not been implemented:

A JAR containing a packaged tag libraries can be dropped into the WEB-INF/lib directory to make its classes available at request time.

JSP 1.2 Deployment Descriptors

- The <listener> element in the taglib.tld is not registered with the web application.

- The <example> element in the taglib.tld is not honored.

- WebLogic Server 6.1 uses the older signature of the TaglibraryValidator.validate() method which returns a string

Servlet API Classes

API | Class | Differs from J2EE 1.3
--- | --- | ---
javax.servlet | Filter | The Filter interface that we support has following methods: doFilter(ServletRequest,ServletResponse,FilterChain) getFilterConfig() Return the FilterConfig for this Filter. setFilterConfig(Fil-terConfig) The container calls this method when the Filter is instantiated and passes in a Filter-Config
ServletContext | Added the directory argument (String) in the ServletContext.getResourcePaths() method
ServletContextAttributesListener | The name in the final specification has been changed to: ServletContextAttributeListener
javax.servlet.http | HttpServletResponse | Added the status code 307 (temporary redirect) to HttpServletResponse
HttpSession | The getServletContext() method has been added to HttpSession
HttpSessionAttributesListener | The name in the final specification has been changed to: HttpSessionAttributeListener

Servlet Deployment Descriptors

WebLogic Server 6.1 fully implements all Servlet 2.3 deployment descriptors with the following exceptions:

- ejb-local-ref

- run_as

WebLogic Server 6.1 with J2EE 1.2 Certification

With this download, WebLogic Server defaults to running with J2EE 1.3 features disabled and is fully compliant with the J2EE 1.2 specification and regulations.

Product CD Installers for J2EE 1.2 and 1.3

In addition to being available at http://commerce.bea.com/downloads/products.jsp, both distributions are provided on the WebLogic Server 6.1 product CD. (On Windows machines, the installer for WebLogic Server with J2EE 1.3 features enabled starts automatically when you insert the CD.)

WebLogic Server Services

The following services are featured in WebLogic Server 6.1.

Web Services

The current WebLogic ServerTM release includes a new feature: WebLogic Web Services. Web services are an emerging family of Web/XML standards and conventions that enable loosely coupled application-to-application interoperability across programming models. The Web services implementation in WebLogic Server 6.1 provides simple extensions to the J2EE programming model that enable J2EE applications to be exposed as Web services. WebLogic Web Services are standards-based and interoperate with other Web services hosted on non-Weblogic servers. Both Java and non-Java client applications (such as Microsoft SOAP Toolkit clients) can invoke WebLogic Web Services. For detailed information about developing and invoking WebLogic Web services, see Programming WebLogic Server WebServices.

Administration and Management

Improvements to management architecture enable you to make dynamic configuration changes to running instances of WebLogic Server. A Web-based Administration Console is your window into the WebLogic Administration Service, an implementation of the Java Management Extension (JMX) standard. Using the Administration Console, you can configure attributes, deploy applications and components, monitor resource usage, view log messages, edit deployment descriptors and .xml files, and perform other management activities. Administration Console features include:

- Browser interface

- Centralized user and security management

- Dynamic configuration management

- Editing tool for deployment descriptors of J2EE Archives

- Administrative domains

- Management of one or more clusters

- A centralized application repository

- Metrics on the status of servers

- Centralized access to log messages for all servers in a domain

For more information, see the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

Production Mode and Development Mode

There is now a flag that can be used to switch between production and development modes. When the server starts, it loads and deploys any applications that have configuration information in the config.xml file, whether you are using production or development mode. If you are running in development mode, the server will also deploy or redeploy any applications stored or placed in the ..\applications directories after startup. This is called dynamic deployment and is useful when you are developing your applications. If you shut down the server, the configuration information for any applications that were dynamically deployed is written to the config.xml file in the application's domain. The production/development flag can be added to the startup script for your domain. If it is not added, development mode will be activated. To change the mode:

1. With a text editor, open the start script for your domain.

2. Edit the line that begins set STARTMODE= to add the value true or false. True is for production mode, and false is for development mode.

Clustering

Clusters of WebLogic Servers do not require a shared network drive. Both the WebLogic Server installations and your applications can now reside on local file systems.

New Deployment Tutorial Available

WebLogic Server 6.1 includes a new deployment tutorial, called "Deploying an Exploded J2EE Application". It is available on the WebLogic Server Samples and Tutorials page.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 1.1

The following sections refer to HTTP features supported with WebLogic Server 6.1.

Web Server

WebLogic Server 6.1 is a functional Web server that can handle high-volume Web sites, serving static HTML (text) files as well as servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP). WebLogic Server 6.1 can also fully integrate with hardware- and software-based Web load-balancing solutions. WebLogic Server 6.1 supports the HTTP 1.1 standard.

Each WebLogic Server 6.1 hosts a default Web server and any number of additional Web servers that you define. Each of these additional Web servers is configured to respond to a different DNS name, in a process called Virtual Hosting.

You configure the attributes for Web servers using the new WebLogic Server Administration Console.

For more information, see Programming WebLogic HTTP Servlets.

HTTP Plug-ins for Apache, Netscape, and IIS

WebLogic Server 6.1 automatically implements keep-alive connections between the plug-ins and WebLogic Server. WebLogic Server 6.1 also supports SSL when using the HTTP plug-ins.

The Apache plug-in is now available for Apache 2.0 (non-SSL only). The Apache 2.0 version also supports HTTP 1.1 keep-alive connections.

For more information on SSL and each of the plug-ins, see the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

HTTP Session Persistence

A new option is available for persisting HTTP sessions using cookies. For more information, see "Configuring Session Persistence".

Installation Infrastructure

WebLogic Server 6.1 includes an installation program that makes it easier to install WebLogic Server on both Windows and UNIX systems. The installer unpacks the distribution, performs basic configurations, and sets up shortcuts for using WebLogic Server. In addition, the JDK is included in the package so that the server is ready to run.

For details, see the WebLogic Server Installation Guide.

Internationalization

WebLogic Server 6.1 can deliver content in any language, including those languages that require double-byte character sets. For information about using the new internationalization API, see the WebLogic Server Internationalization Guide.

In addition, a Kanji version of WebLogic Server 6.1 will be available. For more information, contact your BEA sales representative.

Security Improvements

The following sections describe improvements to WebLogic Server security.

Security Features

WebLogic Server 6.1 security functionality includes:

- JAAS login and realm-based authentication support

- Enhanced support for generating audit trails

- ACL improvements

- Password-guessing protection

- Denial-of-service protection

- Improved administration of the RDBMS realm

For more information, see Programming WebLogic Security.

Default and Custom Login Modules

WebLogic Server uses the default LoginModule (weblogic.security.internal.ServerLoginModule) to gather authentication information during server initialization. To replace the default Login module, edit the server.policy file and replace the name of the default Login module with the name of a custom Login module.

Optionally, custom login modules can be specified in the server.policy file ahead of the default LoginModule. The JAAS implementation in WebLogic Server uses Login modules in the order in which they are defined in the server.policy file. The default Login module checks for existing system user authentication definitions prior to execution and does nothing if they are already defined.

The default Login module is required to define JVM properties for both the system username and password. These properties are specified as weblogic.management.username and weblogic.management.password respectively. In order to use a custom Login module, these properties must be set accordingly.

SNMP

WebLogic Server 6.1 can function as a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent. The WebLogic SNMP agent runs as a service that responds to requests from SNMP managers and sends SNMP trap notifications to SNMP managers. The WebLogic SNMP agent uses standard Java Management Extension (JMX) interfaces to access WebLogic resources. For more information, see the WebLogic SNMP Management Guide.

Tools

Weblogic Server 6.1 includes the weblogic.refresh tool, which lets you refresh static components of an application without redeploying the application. Use weblogic.refresh to refresh, add, or delete static files such as:

- JSPs

- XML files

- HTML files

- Image files such as .gif and .jpg

- Text files

XML

WebLogic Server 6.1 supports XML as an essential component. JSPs can be used to generate and consume XML between servers or between a server and clients. WebLogic Server 6.1 supports XSL processing tags for JSPs. EJBs use XML to describe deployment properties, which provides data portability. The server provides an XML schema repository for DTDs, managed by the Administration Console.

The XML subsystem of WebLogic Server 6.1 includes the following new features and improvements:

- The JAXP API is upgraded to 1.1.

- WebLogic server includes a high-performance XML parser, specifically designed to parse small-to-medium sized XML documents. This XML parser is non-validating and can be used only in SAX mode.

- The built-in Apache Xerces parser is upgraded to 1.3.1.

- The built-in Apache Xalan transformer is upgraded to 2.0.1.

- The XML Registry is divided into two distinct sections: one to configure parsers and transformers and one to configure external entity resolution. As a result, the XML Registry is easier and more intuitive to use.

- The XML Registry now includes the ability to cache external entities accessed via URLs on the local computer, in addition to copying entities locally. The external entity cache can be configured and monitored using the XML Registry.

- The 6.0 XML feature of generating custom parsers is deprecated. Instead, programmers should use the WebLogic high-performance XML parser where previously they used custom generated parsers.

For more information on XML, see Programming WebLogic XML.

XML Editor

WebLogic Server now provides a simple, user-friendly tool for creating and editing XML files. It can validate XML code according to a specified DTD or XML Schema. The XML editor can be used on Windows or Solaris machines and can be downloaded from dev2dev Online.

WebLogic-Tuxedo Interoperability

WebLogic Server provides the ability to interoperate between WebLogic Server applications and Tuxedo services.

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector

WebLogic Tuxedo Connector (WTC) provides interoperability between WebLogic Server applications and Tuxedo ATMI, CORBA Java, and CORBA C++ server applications. WTC tBridge functionality provides Tuxedo /Q and JMS advanced messaging services. For more information, see the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector Guide.

BEA WebLogic C++ Client

WebLogic Server 6.1 SP3 interoperates with C++ clients using the Tuxedo 8.0 C++ Client ORB. Tuxedo release 8.0 RP 56 and above is required. WebLogic Server users should contact their BEA Service Representative for information on how to obtain the Tuxedo C++ Client ORB. For more information on how WebLogic Server interoperates with a Tuxedo C++ Client ORB, see RMI-IIOP with Tuxedo and Tuxedo Clients.

Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs)

WebLogic Server 6.1 includes many enhancements to WebLogic EJBs. For more information, see Programming WebLogic Enterprise JavaBeans.

EJB 1.1 and 2.0 Compliance

WebLogic Server 6.1 is compliant with the JavaSoft EJB 1.1 Specification. WebLogic also contains an optional implementation of the preliminary EJB 2.0 specification. The WebLogic Server EJB documentation describes key features of the EJB 2.0 Specification that you need to understand in order to use WebLogic Server.

New EJB features in this release include:

- Non-transactional entity bean caching

- Automated Generated Primary Key Support

- Automatic table creation

- Oracle SELECT HINTS

- EJB Deployment Descriptor Editor

- EJB Client.jar support

- BLOB and CLOB support

- Cascade deletion support

- Local Interface support

- Flushing the CMP cache support

- Tuned CMP 1.1 support

JavaMail

WebLogic Server 6.1 includes an implementation of the JavaMail Specification. This is the standard reference implementation of the JavaMail Specification. For more information, see Developing WebLogic Server Applications.

J2EE Connector

BEA WebLogic Server continues to build upon the implementation of the Sun Microsystems J2EE Platform Specification, Version 1.3 by supporting the J2EE Connector architecture. The BEA WebLogic J2EE Connector architecture enables you to connect existing legacy applications to the J2EE platform. The goal is to leverage the strengths of the J2EE platform—including component models, transaction, and security infrastructures—to address the challenges of integrating existing legacy applications.

The connector architecture defines a common interface between application servers and legacy applications, implemented in application specific resource adapters that plug in to application servers. The result is simplified enterprise application integration, using a scalable, standard architecture that leverages the benefits of the J2EE platform.

For more information, see Programming the WebLogic J2EE Connector Architecture.

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)

The following items are new or improved JDBC features.

MultiPools

JDBC MultiPools create a list of connection pools to be used by a single instance of WebLogic Server. A configurable algorithm determines which connection is returned. MultiPools provide support for load balancing and high availability. MultiPools make it easier for an application to switch to another RDBMS for distributed processing or during a failover situation.

For more information, see Programming WebLogic JDBC.

JDBC-based Persistence

A new column, wl_max_inactive_interval, has been added to the wl_servlet_sessions table used for JDBC-based persistence. For information on the wl_servlet_sessions table, see the section "Using a Database for Persistent Storage".

JMS

The following are new or improved features of JMS.

Asynchronous JMS

Now you can disable synchronous writes to JMS File Stores. This capability results in much improved performance at the expense of reliability. If JMS reliability is not critical to your application, you may benefit from this feature. For more information, see Programming WebLogic JMS.

Durable Subscription Management

A RuntimeMBean has been added for managing JMS durable subscriptions (JMSDurableSubscriberRuntimeMBean). Use this MBean to perform simple management tasks, such as monitoring, deleting, or modifying durable subscriptions, from the WebLogic Server Administration Console.

Redelivery Delay

You can delay the redelivery of messages when a temporary, external condition prevents an application from handling a message properly. When a message is rolled back or recovered, the RedeliveryDelay is the amount of time a message is delayed before redelivery is attempted.

If JMS immediately redelivers the message, the condition may not be clear and the application still may be unable to handle the message. Configuring an application for a RedeliveryDelay addresses this issue.

Time To Deliver

You can schedule message deliveries to an application for specific times in the future. Message deliveries can be deferred for short periods (such as seconds or minutes) or for long stretches (such as hours later for batch processing). You can also specify a relative TimeToDeliver (in milliseconds), which WebLogic JMS will then compute into an absolute DeliveryTime for a message. Until that DeliveryTime, the message is essentially invisible until it is delivered, allowing you to schedule work at a particular time in the future.

Redelivery Limit

You can set a limit on the number of times that WebLogic JMS will attempt to redeliver a message to an application. Once WebLogic JMS fails to redeliver a message for a specific number of times, the message can be redirected to an ErrorDestination queue. If no ErrorDestination is configured, then the message is dropped.

JSP

The following JSP features are included with WebLogic Server 6.1:

- Options to the WebLogic JSP compiler (weblogic.jspc) that allow you to compile JSPs that use EJBs in Web Applications. For details, see the section "JSP Descriptor Element".

- New form validation tags are now available. The validation tags are a convenient means of validating the entries submitted from an HTML form. For more information, see "Using JSP Form Validation Tags".

- A tool to create a JSP tag library from an EJB jar file. For more information, see "Using the WebLogic EJB to JSP Integration Tool".

- JSP 1.2 Support

  Support for the following features of the JSP 1.2 specification from Sun Microsystems has been added. Version 1.2 of the specification is a proposed final draft of the specification and is subject to change. If you are planning to use JSP 1.2 features in your application, note that the specification has not been finalized and could change in the future.

  - <jsp:include flush="false">. Allows you to control when the buffer is flushed for an included JSP. For more information, see the section "Including Requests".

  - TryCatchFinally interface for a JSP tag. For more information, see Handling Exceptions within a Tag Body.

  - Tag Library Validator allows you to write a class to validate a JSP. For more information, see Using a Tag Library Validator.

  - IterationTag class. For more information, see Iteration Over a Body Tag.

  - Definition of variables in the tag library descriptor. For more information see Defining Scripting Variables.

Java Transaction API (JTA)

WebLogic Server 6.1 supports distributed transactions and the two-phase commit protocol with a specification-compliant JTA implementation. This implementation works with any certified XA-compliant resource such as WebLogic JMS and the WebLogic jDriver for Oracle.

For more information, see Programming WebLogic JTA.

Servlets and Web Applications

The following new features and changes apply to servlets and Web Applications:

- Web Application Events (Servlet 2.3 only)

  Web Application Events provide notifications of a change in state of the servlet context (each Web Application uses its own servlet context) or of an HTTP session object. You can write event listener classes that respond to these changes in state. For more information, see Using Application Events and Listeners.

- Filters (Servlet 2.3 only)

  A filter is a Java class that is invoked in response to a request for a resource in a Web Application. These resources can include Java Servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSPs), or static resources such as HTML pages or images. A filter intercepts the request and can examine and modify the response and request objects or execute other tasks. For more information, see Using Filters.

- Single sign-on between Web Applications. This means the server tracks users at the Web Server level and not the Web Application level, as mandated by the Servlet 2.2 specification.

- The format for cookies:

  - Cookies created by a WebLogic Server 6.0 without a Service Pack will not be recognized by WebLogic Server 6.1.

  - Cookies no longer include the context path of a Web Application. This change allows for a single authentication to be used for all Web Applications in a domain. If you need a Web Application to use a unique authentication or to generate a cookie that is unique to the Web Application, you can specify a cookie name for each Web Application in the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor. For more information, see Multiple Web Applications and Cookies.

  - The delimiter used in the cookie has changed from "/" and "|" to "!". The "/" delimiter caused URL rewriting to fail and the "|" delimiter caused Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) gateways to fail. Both URL rewriting and WAP now function correctly with WebLogic Server.

Note: Version 2.3 of the Servlet Specification from Sun Microsystems is a proposed final draft of the servlet specification and is subject to change. If you are planning to use any features introduced with version 2.3 in your application, note that the specification has not been finalized and could change in the future.

Documentation and Examples

The examples included with WebLogic Server 6.1 now include ant build scripts. These scripts accompany the examples as build.xml files and can be run on any platform supported by WebLogic Server 6.1. Execute these build scripts on a command line by locating the proper directory for that example and typing:

ant

The following documentation and examples are new to WebLogic Server 6.1:

- New documentation for the config.xml file is in WebLogic Server Configuration Reference

- Performance and tuning information for WebLogic Server 6.1 is in the BEA WebLogic Server Performance and Tuning Guide.

- WebLogic Web Services documentation and examples are in the Programming WebLogic Web Services Guide.

- WebLogic Server 6.1 can function as a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent. A SNMP Management Guide has been added to the documentation.

- JCA examples, as well as new documentation, Managing the WebLogic J2EE Connector Architecture,.

- Assembling and Configuring Web Applications, provides all the configuration, assembly, and deployment information for Web Applications in one book. Some of this information was previously located in the Administration Guide and in Developing WebLogic Server Applications.

- Several examples demonstrating wireless connectivity are available with WebLogic Server 6.1.

- An extensive migration tutorial demonstrates how applications deployed on earlier releases of WebLogic Server can be adapted to WebLogic Server 6.1.

- A new example package demonstrates Oracle's delete cascade. It uses the one-to-many relationships between two EJBs written to the EJB 2.0 specification.

- Auto Primary Key Generation EJB examples have been added. These examples automatically generate primary keys during insertions into a database table.

- For documentation and examples, see the WebLogic Tuxedo Connector documentation.

WebLogic Server Tour

The WebLogic Server Tour is completely revised. It provides an overview of WebLogic Server using the Pet Store application to demonstrate features. The Tour is available from the Start menu. The Pet Store is now based on version 1.1.2 of Sun's Java Pet Store and has been upgraded to use build scripts with Ant 1.3.

Beanshell Code

WebLogic Server uses an open source product called Beanshell. The initial developer of the original Beanshell code is Pat Niemeyer. Portions created by Pat Niemeyer are Copyright (C) 2000. All Rights Reserved. Beanshell is available under the Sun Public License and the GNU Lesser General Public License. The source code to Beanshell can be found at http://www.beanshell.org.

Important Service Pack Information

BEA will release WebLogic Server 6.1 with Service Pack 4 at the beginning of November 2002. Service Pack 4 includes many new improvements and fixes to the original 6.1 release. It also includes the fixes that were made in Service Pack 1, Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3.

For a list of issues fixed in Service Pack 4, see Resolved Problems. For a list of open issues still found in WebLogic 6.1 with Service Pack 4, see Known Problems in Notes and Problems. The following sections summarize changes included in Service Pack 2 and 3. Users who have installed WebLogic Server 6.1 with Service Pack 2 or 3 should read the following sections carefully.

This chapter also includes the changes that were made in Service Pack 1.

Note: View the most up-to-date version of these release notes online.

Compatibility Issues

Weblogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 introduced two compatibility issues, which are explained in this section.

Mandatory Start Script Switch for WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 Clients

By default, a WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 client does not interoperate with a WebLogic Server 6.1 GA or 6.1 Service Pack 1 server. This is true both for a 6.1 SP2 client and a 6.1 SP2 server acting as a client to a 6.1 GA or 6.1 SP1 server.

To allow an SP2 client to talk to a 6.1 GA or 6.1 SP1 server, add the following switch to the WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 start script:

-Dweblogic.61compat=true

Fix to SAX Parser May Result in Detection of Encoding Errors

Service Pack 2 fixes WebLogic Server's built-in SAX parser such that it now correctly parses deployment descriptor files that are written using any character set.

Prior to this fix, WebLogic Server would have failed to detect encoding problems in your .xml files for English-only applications. Consequently, English-only applications that contained encoding problems and ran without fail in the past may now fail with this Service Pack 2 fix; WebLogic Server will report an encoding-not-supported error.

If WebLogic Server reports this error, check the specified .xml file for the correct encoding name and syntax.

Certifications

- WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 is certified with Sun's J2SE 1.3.1_01.

- WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 is certified with HP JVM 1.3.1_01. For information on the patches required by HP JVM 1.3.1_01, see the following website:

http://www.hp.com/products1/unix/java/infolibrary/patches.html

For the most accurate and current information regarding platform support, see the Platforms Support Page.

HttpClusterServlet and HttpProxyServlet Updated to Support HTTP 1.1

Service Pack 2 includes new versions of the HttpClusterServlet and the HttpProxyServlet that support the HTTP 1.1 protocol. In addition, these servlets now use the same configuration parameters as the Apache, Netscape, and Microsoft IIS plug-ins.

For more information see the following documents:

- Proxying Requests to Another HTTP Server.

- Proxying Requests to a WebLogic Cluster.

- Parameters for Web Server Plug-ins.

JDBC

ACLs

In WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 3, an error in the implementation of ACLs for JDBC was fixed, which makes ACLs very strict. If you define an ACL for connection pools, access is restricted to exactly what is defined in the ACL. For more information, see Permissions at ../jdbc/programming.html#programming006.

WebLogic jDriver for Oracle Version Support Changes

The following list details recent changes to supported versions of Oracle used with WebLogic jDriver for Oracle:

- As of the release of WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 3, BEA no longer supports WebLogic jDriver for Oracle with Oracle 8.1.6. If you are using WebLogic jDriver for Oracle to connect to an Oracle 8.1.6 database, you must upgrade to Oracle version 8.1.7 or 9.0.1, which includes the following steps on the machines on which WebLogic Server is running:

  - Upgrade the Oracle client installation to the 8.1.7 or 9.0.1 version.

  - Update the ORACLE_HOME environment variable to point to the updated version of the Oracle client.

  - Modify your PATH (on Windows, varies on UNIX) to include the path to the new Oracle client and to the appropriate version of the WebLogic jDriver for Oracle.

    For more information, see Setting Up the Environment for Using WebLogic jDriver for Oracle in Installing and Using WebLogic jDriver for Oracle.

- With the release of WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2, BEA supports WebLogic jDriver for Oracle for use with Oracle 9i. You can now use the JDBC driver to connect to an Oracle 9i database. For more information about WebLogic jDriver for Oracle, see Installing and Using WebLogic jDriver for Oracle.

Oracle 9.0.1 Thin Driver Certification

For the release of WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 3, BEA certified the Oracle 9.0.1 Thin Driver for use with WebLogic Server. For more information about using the Oracle Thin Driver with WebLogic Server, see Using Third-Party Drivers with WebLogic Server.

JMS

WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 3 includes the WebLogic Messaging Bridge.

A messaging bridge is responsible for transferring messages between two messaging providers. The WebLogic Messaging Bridge allows you to configure a store-and-forward mechanism between any two messaging products—including separate implementations of WebLogic JMS.

For more information, see Using the WebLogic Messaging Bridge in the Administration Guide.

WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2 includes a new JMS message paging feature.

The WebLogic JMS Message Paging feature can free up valuable virtual memory during peak message load periods by swapping out messages from virtual memory to persistent storage when message loads reach a specified threshold. From a performance perspective, this feature can greatly benefit WebLogic Server implementations with the large message spaces that are required by today's enterprise applications.

Two metrics are used to determine when to start and stop paging: bytes paging and messages paging. Each metric is the basis of a single paging mode, which you can enable and disable individually, or use simultaneously, on JMS servers and/or destinations (topics and queues).

Paging is configured through the Administration Console. Using the paging attributes on the JMS Server node, you can specify a paging store for the server, enable bytes and/or messages paging, and configure the bytes/messages high and low thresholds to start and stop paging. Similarly, using the paging attributes on the Destinations node, you can configure bytes/messages paging for all topics and queues configured for the JMS server. The destinations use the paging store that is configured for the JMS server. Also, if you use JMS templates to configure multiple destinations, you can use the paging attributes on the Templates node to quickly configure message paging on all your destinations.

For detailed instructions on configuring message paging, see the section called "Tuning JMS" in the WebLogic Server Administration Guide.

Security

Weblogic Server Service Pack 2 includes two new classes related to security:

- weblogic.security.SSL.TrustManager allows you to override validation errors in a peer's digital certificate and continue the SSL handshake. You can also use the class to discontinue an SSL handshake by performing additional validation on a server's digital certificate chain. For more information, see the section called "Using a Trust Manager" in "Programming with the WebLogic Security SPI".

- SSLContext is used to implement a secure socket protocol that holds information such as Host Name Verifier and Trust Manager for a given set of SSL connections. For more information, see the section called "Using an SSL Context" in "Programming with the WebLogic Security SPI".

In addition, Service Pack 2 adds parameters for SSL session caching that eliminate the need for the connection to go through the SSL handshake again. For more information, see the section called "Modifying Parameters for SSL Caching" in "Managing Security".

Servlets and JSPs: Default Encoding

As of Weblogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2, the default encoding used for servlets and JSPs has been changed to ISO8859_1. Previously the default encoding used was the JVM default. This change is in accordance with the latest servlet specification. Servlet Specification 2.3 SRV 4.9 states that the default encoding should be ISO8859_1.

BEA recommends you explicitly set the encoding of the request and response objects in order to avoid any encoding problems. For further details on how to set encoding, point your browser to http://edocs.beasys.co.jp/e-docs/wls61/jconfig/wls61jconfig.html.

WebLogic 6.1 and 5.1 Interoperability

As of WebLogic Server 6.1 Service Pack 2, it is possible to bi-directionally interoperate with WebLogic 5.1 Servers. This allows a WebLogic 6.1 Server to remotely invoke EJBs or RMI objects hosted on a WebLogic 5.1 Server. It also allows the reverse-a WebLogic 5.1 Server can remotely invoke EJBs or RMI objects hosted on a WebLogic 6.1 Server. For further details, see the Interoperability Guide.

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