An App server is a type of server designed to install, operate, and host applications. There has been a tremendous growth in the number of applications put on the Internet. Those applications are becoming larger and larger with the need to add more functionality, and also becoming more complex to run and maintain them. Thus, the term “app server” was coined and introduced into the Internet world.
What is App Server?
An App server (application server or application server) is a hybrid software framework that allows both the creation of web applications and the server environment in which to run them.
App servers typically consist of various compute elements that run specific tasks required for the operation of cloud, software, and web-based applications.
Located between the main web-based server tier and the database server’s back-end tier, an app server is essentially the connection between a database server and business or application users. the consumer it supports, through putting different protocols and APIs (Application Programming Interface) into use.
App servers are designed to install, operate, and host applications and related services for end users, organizations and IT services, and facilitate the hosting and distribution of consumer applications. or high end business.
Depending on what is installed, an app server can be classified in a number of ways, such as a web server, a database application server, a general purpose application server, or a general purpose application server enterprise application.
App servers usually go with a web server or contain a web server and are also flexible enough to be used concurrently with other app servers.
Application servers may also contain their own graphical user interface for management via a PC, but they may also manage their own resources, transaction processing, messaging, resource aggregation, connect and perform security tasks.
For high-end requirements, application servers tend to monitor high availability, clustering, load balancing, integrated redundancy, high-performance distributed application services, and access support. complex database.
Among the popular application server platforms, there are names like J2EE, WebLogic, Glassfish, JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, Apache Tomcat and Apache Geronimo.
Why use an app server? What are the benefits of an app server?
Application servers are best used when there is a need to integrate with a database and a server, such as a web server, is already established and part of your existing IT infrastructure organization.
One of the main reasons for this is that the application server can act as a means of providing code and data integrity, by taking an integrated and centralized approach to keeping applications open. upgrade and update. Not having an application server can lead to different versions of the same application in the enterprise, which in turn leads to software compatibility issues.
Another important reason to use an app server is that it provides an organization with an additional layer of security. By sitting in between web pages and databases, the application server acts as an additional barrier to SQL injection cyberattacks.
Security is further enhanced by establishing centralized authentication processes and data access management.
The performance of large and heavily used applications can also be enhanced by an application server, as it can establish more control over network traffic.
And the ability to work at scale is another important factor when considering application server usage, as its ability to aggregate database connections means the app server can be scaled up. to act as a web server farm without adding additional connections to the underlying database.
How is the application server different from other types of servers?
Although the app server and web server may seem similar at first, in reality, they are completely different. App servers deal with providing business logic to applications through a set of protocols. The web server, on the other hand, works with HTTP requests, responds and processes them to perform the website’s functions, as well as hosts the aforementioned website, storing its static content, such as images , JavaScript, CSS and HTML pages.
In common cases, the web server may not support transactional or database connection pooling, but it may have error-proofing and scalability features, including, write caching, clustering and load balancing.
