Programming WebLogic Deployment

Introduction and Roadmap

The following sections describe the contents and organization of this guide - Programming WebLogic Deployment:

Document Scope and Audience

This document is a resource for software developers who want to understand the packages of the WebLogic Deployment API. This API adheres to the API specifications described in the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88) and extends the interfaces provided by that standard. To use the information here, it is essential that you understand the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88) and how its interfaces are extended.

The WebLogic Server already contains a packaged deployment tool, WebLogic.Deployer, that provides deployment services for the WebLogic Server. Any deployment operation that can be implemented using the WebLogic Deployment API is implemented, either in part or in full, by Deployer. Deployer is the recommended deployment tool for the WebLogic Server Environment (see Deploying Applications to the WebLogic Server for information on how to use Deployer and the WebLogic Server Administration Console). Therefore, implementations of the Deployment API only apply to a few use cases, which include:

The developer wishes to use their own model implementation (see the definition of a model in the J2EE Deployment API standard) and want to interface with the WebLogic Service Provider Interface (SPI, see the J2EE Deployment API standard). In this case, the WebLogic Deployment API deployment factory (see Application Evaluation) is used to obtain a WebLogicDeploymentManager, which extends javax.enterprise.deploy.spi.DeploymentManager for use with the WebLogic SPI.
The developer wishes to use an interface of their own design instead of the WebLogic Server Administration Console and/or Deployer. In this case, you may implement some or all Phases of Deployment using the WebLogic Deployment API classes and interfaces.

This document also contains useful information for system architects who are evaluating WebLogic Server or considering the use of the WebLogic Deployment API for a particular deployment strategy.

The document is relevant to the design, development, test, and pre-production phases of a software project. It does not directly address production phase administration, monitoring, or tuning application performance with the WebLogic Deployment API. The deployment API includes utilities to make software updates during production but it mirrors the functionality of the deployment tools already available. For links to the WebLogic Server® documentation and resources for other production topics, see Related Documentation.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with J2EE concepts, the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88), the Java programming language, Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), and Web technologies. It emphasizes the value-added features and how to manage application deployment with the WebLogic Deployment API.

Guide to This Document

This document is organized as follows:

This chapter, Introduction and Roadmap, describes the audience and scope of this guide and summarizes the features of the WebLogic Deployment API.
Chapter 2, Understanding the WebLogic Deployment API, describes the packages, interfaces, and classes of the API, including extensions to the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88), utilities, helper classes, and new concepts for WebLogic Server deployment.
Chapter 3, Configuring Applications for Deployment, contains instructions on how to configure every aspect of deployment programmatically.
Chapter 4, Performing Deployment Operations, completes the discussion of the deployment API with the deployment life cycle and controls for a deployed application.

Samples for the Deployment API Developer

API examples are available for download at http://dev2dev.bea.com. These examples are distributed as zipped files that you can unzip into an existing WebLogic Server samples directory structure.

You build and run the downloadable examples in the same manner as you would an installed WebLogic Server example. See the download pages of individual examples for more information.

Release-Specific WebLogic Deployment API Information

For release-specific information, see the following documents:

The What's New in WebLogic Server section in the WebLogic Server Release Notes lists new, changed, and deprecated features. If you are not familiar with the new features provided in version 9.0 of WebLogic Server, see the What's New in WebLogic Server 9.0 section of the WebLogic Server Release Notes.
WebLogic Server Known and Resolved Issues lists known problems by general release and service pack, for all WebLogic Server APIs, including the WebLogic Deployment API.

Summary of WebLogic Deployment API Features

The WebLogic Deployment API provides extensions the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88). See the J2EE Deployment API standard (JSR-88) on the Sun Microsystems Java support site.

Unsupported WebLogic Deployment API Features

The Deployment API does not support an automated fallback procedure for a failed application update. The policy and procedures for this behavior must be defined and configured by the developers and administrators because fallbacks are not trivial operations.