Enterprise Java Hosting in a Cloud Environment

Union Pacific Railroad is currently in the implementation phase of a multi-year overhaul of its enterprise Java hosting environment. The railroad is transitioning from a highly-shared, heavyweight container platform using WebLogic to a virtualized, light-weight JBoss Enterprise Web Server and JBoss Enterprise Web Platform-based environment. This solution includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 and KVM operating system components, which are all managed via JBoss Operations Network.

This session:
- Covers the standards Union Pacific Railroad uses for its environment and the implementation details that demonstrate the railroad’s usage model
- Explains how Union Pacific Railroad implements real-time scalability and high availability using cloud computing concepts
- Provides information about how our team uses JBoss Operations Network to manage the environment
- Explains how to provide a standardized, consistent management framework for systems support

While this is a moderately technical presentation, it also includes some valuable insight for technical management.

Transcript

2. David A. Webster Chief Architect dawebster@up.com Enterprise Java Hosting in a Cloud Environment Sweta Vajjhala Associate Project Engineer svajjhal@up.com Web Infrastructure Union Pacific Railroad 24 June 2010
3. Agenda History of WebLogic and J2EE at Union Pacific (UP) Web Architecture Review Support Systems Move to Spring Framework UP’s Hosting Environment Overview Current Future
4. History of Java at Union Pacific 1997 Adoption of J2EE 1995 Java introduced at Union Pacific as a supplement to mainframe systems Groundwork for later distributed system 2000 Introduction of WebLogic 5.1 at UP Java otherwise known as “distributed systems” 2014 Retire Mainframe Systems 2002 UP moves to WebLogic 6.1 All Java processing done inside WebLogic based on full J2EE (EJB) spec 2005 UP moves to WebLogic 8.1 2008 UP moves to WebLogic 10.3 2010 UP moves to WebLogic 10.3 and JBoss 2003 Separate JMS & Tuxedo (Jolt) introduced
5. Web Server Architecture
6. Web Request Trace - SiteMinder
7. Supporting Systems Source Code Control Home-grown solution Change Control • Based on check-out from Subversion • Build/deploy to test • Certify in test and deploy to production Security (SiteMinder & LDAP) • Each application has its own login ID JMS ESB Monitoring Feeds
8. From Development to Production Install Desktop Environment Build initially to desktop Deploy to DEV using desktop tools Pass user interface inspection Deploy to TEST using change control Certify TEST build PROD deploy from TEST (no builds)
9. WebLogic and the move to 10.3 (Spring) Fall 2007 New applications adopt Spring framework Many apps move to Stand-Alone JVMs Fall 2008 New Java Policy introduced Deprecated J2EE: No EJBs No WebLogic-specific dependencies Move to Java 6 Maintain Legacy-EJB domain but at reduced SLA Summer 2009 New Java Hosting initiative launched December 31, 2010 WebLogic 8.1 retires
10. Current Environment Overview/Containers
11. Current Environment Advantages & Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages Multiple deployment options Not isolated at hardware or application levels Proven platform Inefficient resource utilization Familiar environment No standard console management tool across development & infrastructure teams Costs of licensing & administration
12. Java Hosting Environment (JHE) Overview Stand-Alone JDK 1.6
13. Java Hosting Environment Strategic Goals Flexibility Choices for container options and hardware resources Standardization Provide standardized containers, libraries, management and operational consoles, DR strategy, monitoring, logging, etc. Availability Provide better application isolation, both at container and hardware level Cost Avoidance Provide environment that better utilizes resources, provides more efficient supportability, and flatten growth in most expensive containers
14. Java Hosting Environment Technology Stack
15. Java Hosting Environment Private Cloud Infrastructure as a Service RedHat Clustering & Virtualization Platform as a Service Java Containers JBoss Operation Network
16. Java Hosting Environment RedHat Clustering & Virtualization Benefits Increased flexibility for: Administration Capacity Increased availability via: Isolation Clustering
17. Java Hosting Environment Technology Stack
18. Java Hosting Environment Container Choices
19. The Linux Side Standard filesystem One ID owns binaries and scripts, second ID owns instances and logs RHQ Agent under software and instance ID In DEV developers use instance ID via “PMRUN” RPM and the Satellite system RedHat binaries
20. The “Split Brain” EWS $CATALINA_HOME and $CATALINA_BASE both have standard Tomcat directory structure /lib in $CATALINA_HOME forms system classpath /conf and /webapps in $CATALINA_BASE for each instance EWP run –c <full path to instance> Single set of binaries, multiple instances
21. ews_start.sh JAS-A1
22. ewp_start.sh WTG-A1 WTG-A 1
23. Desktop Development ITL images Custom app servers that are pushed by request “Clone” EWS/EWP and packages of Linux configurations Eclipse Galileo with WTP Use same $CATALINA_HOME/$CATALINA_BASE for EWS Same –c runtime for EWP Dynamic Web projects with Maven facets Allows for step debugging of web apps, including JSP
24. Spring Framework support Class Loadtime weaving (needed for AOP and JPA) EWS – context.xml and Spring ApplicationContext.xml Setenv.sh Context.xml ApplicationContext.xml EWP – Spring ApplicationContext.xml and web.xml ApplicationContext.xml Web.xml
25. “Single pane of glass” for all Java processes Web-based GUI for all JHE operations (start/stop/re- deploy) Supplemental monitoring capability JBOSS Operations Network Overview
29. Winning the political battle Lay the groundwork Establish container-agnostic development standards “Upgrade” the existing container Allow only apps meeting modern standards in new version Shut down old container Keep familiarity Same processes Same domain/cluster hosting model Same development tools Stand-Alone versus container execution of Spring services