What is ibm was?

In its early years, IBM was widely associated with the punched card, invented by CTR employee Herman Hollerith. In 1914, Thomas J. Watson joined the company as general manager. CTR itself had been formed from three companies that sold grocery store scales, time recording devices and tabulators. Over the next few decades, Watson built the business machine company of the future, now known as International Business Machines.

In 1964, IBM introduced what was to become the de facto standard for large company business computers with its System/360. Orders for the mainframe computer line outpaced sales forecasts, and IBM received more than 1,000 orders within four weeks of the product's announcement, according to the company. System/360 ran the OS/360 operating system, but the successor OS Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) became particularly influential.

MVS, which debuted in 1974, has been at the center of IBM's mainframe OS technology for more than 40 years. The OS for IBM's current-generation z Systems mainframes, z/OS, can trace its lineage to MVS. Over the decades, IBM has aimed to maintain forward compatibility as its mainframe OSes have evolved.

The popularity of System/360 and the subsequent mainframe models gave IBM an enduring market advantage, but the company faced several rivals in the mainframe space.

IBM also faced the challenge of minicomputers, or midrange systems, which were less expensive than mainframes and were targeted toward smaller businesses or departments within large enterprises. Digital Equipment Corp. and its Programmed Data Processor product line took off in the 1960s as well.

In 1981, IBM went small with the launch of the personal computer (PC). The IBM PC architecture soon became the standard for business use, and numerous vendors, including Compaq, soon entered the market with IBM-compatible PCs, also known as PC clones. IBM's selection of Microsoft Disk Operating System as the IBM PC's OS, and its subsequent adoption by IBM PC-compatible vendors, led to the dominance of Microsoft in the PC software market.

In the late 1980s, IBM added another hardware platform to its product mix: Unix workstations. IBM's RISC Technology system, eventually supplanted by the RISC System/6000, was the company's entry into the market, running IBM's implementation of Unix System V called Advanced Interactive eXecutive (AIX).

In 1985, IBM and Microsoft partnered to create a whole new OS for the PC called CP/DOS. It shipped in 1987 under the name OS/2. As Microsoft continued to develop Windows, the two companies split in 1990 with IBM carrying on OS/2 development. OS/2 was technically superior to Windows 3.1. But Microsoft had a hold on the PC vendors, and OS/2 was shunned. IBM ended development in 2001 and discontinued support in 2005.

As the 1990s dawned, IBM's core platforms included AIX, OS/2, MVS and OS/400.

While industry watchers questioned IBM's disparate platform strategy, IBM took steps to restructure its operations, granting more autonomy to its various product divisions in a bid to improve time to market. Under IBM CEO and Chairman John Akers, the restructuring program hit a wall, and the company announced a $5 billion loss for calendar year 1992. The loss was attributed, in part, to the restructuring initiative's costs, which included early retirements and the shuttering of production lines.

Amid the financial struggle, IBM began its push into IT services. The services push was led by executive Sam Palmisano, who would go on to become CEO of the company years later. The company captured a watershed data center outsourcing contract with Eastman Kodak Co. in 1989. Two years later, IBM Global Services (now IBM Consulting) was launched as the focal point of Big Blue's -- IBM's nickname -- IT services business.

IT outsourcing became an important element of IBM's services enterprise, as did management consulting. IBM cemented its role in the latter service with its $3.5 billion acquisition of PricewaterhouseCooper's management consulting arm, PwC Consulting, in 2002.

As it happens, IBM tapped the management consulting ranks to run the company and hired Louis Gerstner, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant and chairman of RJR Nabisco, to become IBM CEO in 1993. Under Gerstner, IBM continued its service push, in addition to expanding its role in software. In 1995, IBM acquired Lotus Development Corp. and then merged with Tivoli Systems Inc. the following year.

While software and services grew in importance, IBM looked to shed some of its hardware operations. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, who replaced Gerstner and had earlier led IBM Global Services, began divesting the firm of commodity products. This divestment culminated in 2005 with the sale of its PC division to China's Lenovo Group. The two companies inked a strategic alliance in which IBM became Lenovo's preferred services provider.

By the late 2000s, IBM's hardware sales accounted for just 10% of total revenue, while services and consulting accounted for two-thirds of revenue, with software and miscellaneous (financing) bringing in the rest. IBM continued an aggressive acquisitions strategy in the new century, but it was all software and services firms.

In the 2010s, IBM began recasting itself as a cognitive solutions and cloud computing platform company. Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, appointed IBM CEO in 2011, emphasized a core group of strategic imperatives for IBM: analytics, cloud, mobility and security.

One of the more popular application servers is IBM WebSphere (WAS). WAS has been around for quite a while (since 1998) and it boasts an impressive feature set. It’s scalable, has solid and supported implementations of the Java EE and Enterprise OSGi, and it’s an industry standard, so it has reusable information in future jobs.

When it comes to WebSphere, many people  think that it's simply the application server — but in fact, it's a lot more than that. WebSphere as a whole is more of a platform that transforms the way businesses manage relationships between customers, partners, and employees. The platform provides you tools to create a feature-rich web application, such as electronic marketplaces.

The WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Liberty are available for multiple platforms and operating systems, such as Windows or Linux.

For those who want to try WebSphere to find out if it is the best choice, IBM offers both the traditional WebSphere and WebSphere Liberty to download for free. This comes with no support and no usage restrictions and is valid for a trial period of 60 days.

Single developers can use both WebSphere and WebSphere Liberty for free as long as it is used on a single-developer machine. This application server is intended mainly for individual or small company use, as long as the total cumulative JVM heap space across all running instances at their company doesn't exceed 2 gigabytes. In both cases, there is no formal support from IBM.

Underneath WAS, there is a sophisticated system of connected components that defines the architecture.

The diagram below is taken from the official WAS documentation and shows a single application server installation. As you can see, there are many components involved in the server. View all the components and their explanations. Let's look at a few of the components from the diagram.

This is the crucial part where web application components run. Every servlet, JSP file, and other server-side files are processed here. Every web container has a web server, which is responsible for the transport chain and serving HTTP requests.

The key component included within WebSphere is messaging engine, which in this case is based on the JMS and JCA specifications, which provides the ability to work with asynchronous requests as messages. The messaging engine is automatically created for every newly added application server or a server cluster.

Another important component of application servers is the EJB container. The EJB container provides a run-time environment for enterprise beans within the application server. With the WAS Admin Console, which we'll cover momentarily, you can easily adjust the EJB container settings, such as passivation directory or EJB cache settings.

The notable benefits of WAS are that it is a highly scalable server environment, it's well-known software which is been with us for several years, and it's continuously updated. In the past few years, new components were added so that the journey to the cloud environments is even easier.

In this article, let's examine three following features and benefits: MicroProfile Support, WAS Admin Console, and IBM Cloud integration.

For anyone who prefers working with MicroProfile technologies, we have some good news! MircoProfile is fully supported in the WebSphere Liberty application, and you can check all supported technologies. MicroProfile is a collection of specifications for Java cloud-native microservices. Check out more on MicroProfile.

This is a huge benefit when compared to the lightweight application server. With WebSphere, you can control all settings from the Application Server Administrative Console.

Some of the features that are available include security settings, application deployment, and performance overview. Alternatively, you can manage multiple servers under WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment.

If you don’t want to host the application server on your infrastructure, you can always use a cloud provider. IBM Cloud is another service that the company offers, and it supports many things, including the WebSphere. You can decide whether you install the traditional or Liberty WebSphere Application Server. Going with this option can make sense where you prefer to have everything from one supplier.

The IBM Cloud has support for multi-cloud environments, enhanced security, and flexible licensing models.

If you have a plan to create sophisticated e-commerce business web applications with demand on high availability, security and performance, WAS can be a good candidate as it provides even more than that. Another crucial point to remember is support. With WAS, you can get support, but keep in mind it is a paid service.

Small to medium sized projects usually do not require all the features available in WebSphere, so going with the more lightweight solutions can be a preferable choice. More lightweight solutions can also lower expenses on infrastructure. Another potential thing to consider is the risk of vendor lock-in when investing in WebSphere.

WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is a software product that performs the role of a web application server. More specifically, it is a software framework and middleware that hosts Java-based web applications. It is the flagship product within IBM's WebSphere software suite. It was initially created by Donald F. Ferguson, who later became CTO of Software for Dell. The first version was launched in 1998. This project was an offshoot from IBM HTTP Server team starting with the Domino Go web server.

WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is built using open standards such as Java EE, XML, and Web Services. It runs on the following platforms: Windows, AIX, Linux, Solaris, IBM i and z/OS. Beginning with Version 6.1 and now into Version 9.0, the open standard specifications are aligned and common across all the platforms. Platform exploitation, to the extent it takes place, is done below the open standard specification line.

It works with a number of Web servers including Apache HTTP Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), IBM HTTP Server for i5/OS, IBM HTTP Server for z/OS, and IBM HTTP Server for AIX/Linux/Microsoft Windows/Solaris. It uses port 9060 for connection as the default administration port and port 9080 as the default website publication port.

The "traditional" (as opposed to the Liberty variant) WebSphere Application Server platform is architected as a distributed computing platform that could be installed on multiple operating system instances, collectively referred to as a WebSphere cell. Management of all the instances could be done from a management node - called the Deployment Manager - within the cell, and deployment of applications - including the ability to perform rolling updates - could be pushed out to a subset of the cell nodes. The configuration information for the entire cell (how many nodes there are, what applications are deployed to each, how the applications are configured, session management and details of other resources, etc) are tracked in XML configuration files that are distributed throughout the cell to every node. Over the product lifetime, the implementation of these configuration details went from files, to database-based (around v3.5), and back again to files (around v5).

Given the distributed install, and given also that management of the entire cell required management of local effects (such as deployment, logging configuration, etc), the overall effect was that WAS security could often override local security if not configured properly. For example, in earlier versions of the management console, there was an option that was available to specify the location of a log file on a remote node. This could be used to read / write to an arbitrary file on that remote node. For this reason, it was not advisable to run the application server / node agent processes with root privileges, and starting with v6, security configuration defaulted out of the box to a secure state (even if this meant that enabling desired functions required manual changing of the defaults). Originally, all nodes of the cell were in a single domain for management as well as application security. However, starting with v6.1, there can be multiple security domains and administrative and application security can be separate.

Many IBM products (such as IBM InfoSphere DataStage) use WebSphere Application Server as the base platform for their infrastructure.

IBM has shipped several versions and editions of WebSphere Application Server.

In the first beta versions, WebSphere had been called Servlet Express.

Although the versioning scheme x.1 and x.5 would usually indicate a minor release in the software industry, WebSphere v6.1 and v5.1 are major releases, just like WebSphere v8.5 and v3.5.

WebSphere Liberty was introduced into WebSphere Application Server V8.5, originally referred to as the WebSphere Liberty Profile, with the same version numbering scheme as the rest of WAS. In 2016 IBM introduced a new fix pack numbering scheme for Liberty to reflect a move to continuous delivery of Liberty in a single support stream - after V8.5.5.9, the Liberty numbering scheme was rebased starting at 16.0.0.2 to reflect Year and Quarter of the Liberty fixpack release. A common level of WebSphere Liberty is distributed as part of the both Version 8.5 and Version 9.0 of WebSphere Application Server. The Liberty continuous delivery model was introduced to allow new capabilities and features to be delivered on a more frequent basis.

WebSphere Application Server V9.0 adds Java EE 7 and Java SE 8. This brought WAS Application Server traditional up to the same level of Java EE as WebSphere Liberty had offered since 2015. This was the first release of WAS to be made simultaneously available as both an on-premises offering and through WebSphere as a Service on IBM Cloud.

WebSphere Liberty is increasingly the focus for new cloud native applications, with Liberty 16.0.0.2 being the version of Liberty included with WAS Version 9.0.0.0. Liberty 16.0.0.3 adds support for the new MicroProfile programming model that simplifies cloud native application development using standard Java EE technologies. Flexible access to WebSphere Liberty is provided through additional distributions as a docker image and Cloud Foundry buildpack. In September 2017 IBM moved ongoing development of Liberty into a new Open Source project called Open Liberty. Open Liberty is the source for the Liberty runtime in WebSphere Application Server. Distributions of Open Liberty are supported by the OpenLiberty.io community; IBM provides commercial support for Liberty through WebSphere Application Server.

WebSphere Application Server V8.5.5 includes significant enhancements to the Liberty profile including support for Java SE 8, full Java EE 7 compliance since V8.5.5.6, and WebSphere's intelligent management capabilities. WebSphere Liberty's support for Java EE is enabled through the configuration of sets of features, with different sets of Library features available in each edition of WAS. The WAS Liberty Core edition includes the Liberty features required for Java EE WebProfile; all other editions of WAS add Liberty features for full Java EE 7. The WAS Network Deployment Edition adds Liberty features for intelligent management. Beyond this the WAS z/OS edition adds Liberty features to enable z/OS platform capabilities.

WebSphere Application Server V8.5 offers the same Java EE 6 and Java SE 6 (by default) as V8.0 and also provides - and can be configured to run on - Java SE 7. The primary new capabilities in V8.5 are the Liberty profile of WebSphere Application Server and the intelligent management features.

The Liberty profile of WebSphere Application Server is included with all the commercial editions of the server, providing a lightweight profile of the server for web, mobile and OSGi applications. In this release it is a functional subset of the full profile of WebSphere Application Server, for both development and production use, with an install size of under 50 MB, a startup time of around 3 seconds and a new XML-based server configuration which can be treated as a development artifact to aid developer productivity. Server capabilities are engaged through the set of features defined in the server configuration; features are added and removed dynamically through internal use of OSGi services. A new model is provided for moving applications through the pipeline from development to production as a packaged server; this is a complete archive of the server, server configuration and application for unzip deploy. A centralized managed install is optionally available through the Job Manager component of WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment edition.

Intelligent management capability is added in the Network Deployment and z/OS editions of WebSphere Application server. This integrates operational features that were previously available in the separate WebSphere Virtual Enterprise (WVE) offering: application editioning, server health management, dynamic clustering and intelligent routing.

Compute Grid is also included in the Network Deployment and z/OS editions of WebSphere Application server. Previously this was the separately priced WebSphere XD Compute Grid feature for scheduling and managing Java batch workloads.

This version was released on September 9, 2008. It is a Java EE 5 compliant application server.

Following are the flagship features introduced by WebSphere Application Server Version 7:

Between the general availability of WebSphere Application Server V7 and WebSphere Application Server V8 (in 2011), a number of additional capabilities were made available for V7 in the form of feature packs which are optionally added to a V7 install. Feature Pack content has the same quality and support as main release content - the purpose of a feature pack is to deliver new innovation before the next major release. The following feature packs were provided for WebSphere Application Server V7:

This version was released on June 30, 2006. On September 11, 2012, IBM extended the end of service for V6.1 by a full year, to September 30, 2013, and announced new version-to-version migration incentives and assistance. It is a Java EE 1.4 compliant application server and includes the following function:

Support for the EJB 3.0 technology and support for some webservices standards were provided by the EJB feature pack and the webservices feature packs, respectively. These function in these feature packs has been folded into the main product in version 7. Functions in the webservices feature pack include:

With Version 6, some of the functionality previously found in WebSphere Business Integration Server Foundation (WBISF) moved into the new IBM WebSphere Process Server. Other function moved into the other editions (Express and above).

This version was released on January 16, 2004. It is a J2EE 1.4 compliant application server.

The version released on November 19, 2002. This was a J2EE 1.3 certified application server. It was a major rewrite of the V3/V4 codebase and was the first time WebSphere Application Server was coded from a common codebase. Now WAS across all deployment platforms, from Intel x86 to the mainframe, are substantially the same code. The database-based configuration repository was replaced with a replication XML file-based configuration repository. A service called the Deployment Manager had the master copy of the cell configuration, and nodes had the file(s) they needed copied from this master server whenever they changed. V5 also included a miniature version of MQ 5.3 called the embedded Java Message Service (JMS) server.

This was a J2EE 1.2 certified application server. It inherited the database-based configuration model from V3.x for all but the single-server edition, which already used an XML datastore.

WebSphere 3.5 is the first widely used version of WebSphere.

IBM adds JavaBean, CORBA and Linux support. Comes in two editions: Standard Edition (SE) and Advanced Edition (AE).

Initial release in June 1998. Was primarily a Java Servlet engine.

The WebSphere Application Server security model is based on the services provided in the operating system and the Java EE security model. WebSphere Application Server provides implementations of user authentication and authorization mechanisms providing support for various user registries:

The authentication mechanisms supported by WebSphere are:

Other Java EE application servers: