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Brian Schwerdt Advisor Douglas J. MacIntosh Software Engineering April 28, 2003 Updating IBM’s ‘Bookstore’ Workload Application to Utilize the Platform Independent Java 2 Enterprise Environment Architecture and Add Capabilities to Exchange Audio/Visual Information Executive Summary This thesis will look to enhance IBM’s proprietary ‘Bookstore’ application. The Bookstore will be rebuilt on the Java 2 Enterprise Environment (J2EE) infrastructure. The new application will have a developer friendly application layout, simplifying further enhancements. In addition, the application will transfer pictures and videos from a database to enhance the user’s visual experience. The application will require the use of many underlying products running on an IBM Z-series server. It will run on Websphere Application Server (WAS) version 5.0, a J2EE compliant application server. The audio/visual data will be stored in a DB2 database as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs), which will be accessed using JDBC. The data will be fetched using the Structure Query Language (SQL). This project will result in a fully documented enhancement to the Bookstore application. Documentation will be up kept throughout the entire design and development process. This information will be assembled at the end in comprehensible manner. Introduction/Background When IBM produces a new release of their Z/OS operating system, it is of great importance that nothing has been broken from the previous release. Once the code has been integrated into a functional product, it is sent to system integration testing. This department stresses the system with workload applications to assure that it still operates correctly. In this way, they are able to catch potential problems before the finished product is shipped to the customer. A workload application is a program which IBM uses to stress-test new releases of their servers. They typically simulate one or more of IBM’s clients, using the server as a client would. In this way, IBM can catch any problems before a customer does. In extreme cases, when a client catches a problem, IBM can usually respond quickly by simulating the client with their own workload applications, and determine the cause. Bookstore was created as a workload application to simulate high demand web clients such as Amazon. Currently, one can browse for a product and place and cancel orders. This project will restructure the project from the ground up, as well as add the ability for a user to browse and sample audio clips, pictures, and video clips. With these additional features, Bookstore will become a more intense load on the system, stresstesting Z/OS even more. The addition of these features will use new and quickly developing technologies. Bookstore will be built upon the J2EE infrastructure. The J2EE is a new architecture designed to be object-oriented and platform independent [3]. This means that an application built on the J2EE can run on any operating system. In today’s world of rapidly changing technologies, the J2EE is designed to be flexible so that a J2EE application will last. Dynamic HTML Pages Client Tier JSP Pages / Servlets Web Tier (optional) Enterprise Beans (EJB) Database Business T ier EIS Tier Client Machine J2EE Server Machine Database Server Machine Figure 1: J2EE’s multiple tiers [1] A J2EE application is divided into multiple tiers, or layers, as seen in Figure 1. Applications can have three or four tiers, although most only have three [1]. The top tier exists on the client’s machine. This tier consists mainly of interactive webpage interfaces, but occasionally will also contain some functionality. The next level is the Web tier. This level may contain Java Server Pages (JSPs) and servlets, which dynamically handle requests to the server. The Web tier is usually excluded, in which case the Client tier interacts directly with the Business tier. The Business tier holds the enterprise beans, which retrieve and process data from the database. Finally, the Enterprise Information System (EIS) tier is the database in which the information is stored. Applet Container (J2SE) Applet J2SE Containers HTTP SSL Web Container (J2SE) JSP EJB JDBC J2SE Containers Application Client Servlet JDBC J2SE Containers Application Client Container (J2SE) EJB Containter (J2SE) HT TP SSL JDBC J2SE Containers Database Figure 2: J2EE containers [6] Each tier in the J2EE architecture is essentially a container of Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) classes as seen in Figure 2. These containers create an object-oriented environment. These containers interact with one another transparently through the use of standard protocols. Most products built on the J2EE make use of all four of these container types [6]. These containers are not strictly equivalent to the tiers. For example, a J2EE application can have a Web container, but place it within the Business tier. In addition to learning the J2EE architecture, a major hurdle for this project is handling very large pieces of data. Currently, Bookstore uses a DB2 database. The database holds information such as a book’s title, author, and a unique identification number. All of this information is stored within a row of a relational database. However, these rows are limited in size to 32Kb. The audio and visual data will almost always exceed this limit. Therefore, a new method must be used. DB2 allows for the storage of large objects. The data will be stored as a Binary Large Object (BLOB). DB2 accomplishes this by storing a BLOB locator in the database rather then the BLOB itself [2]. The locator simply tells the program where the data is stored. Although Bookstore uses a DB2 database, the spirit of J2EE is portability. A program that is portable is independent of both the operating system and other programs with which it interfaces. The JDBC allows a program to be written once but interface with any compatible database. By using the JDBC, IBM could move their data to another type of database without touching the code for Bookstore. Objectives Over the course of this project, I will work in a team environment to design a J2EE compliant architecture to implement Bookstore. In addition, I will work individually to implement a means of storing and retrieving (at a user’s request) audio and visual data. Design details will be noted along the way, so that the finished product is fully documented. The first semester’s work has consisted mostly of learning new technologies. DB2 and J2EE both have a considerable learning curve. This semester, I have read through documentation and run some examples in order to get a better understanding of them. Learning new technologies is always a hurdle in software development, as they change very rapidly. Now that I have an understanding of these technologies, I will design and implement these additions using a sound software engineering technique. The user interface will be intuitive and user friendly. The supporting architecture will be reliable, and built upon the J2EE infrastructure. The entire project will be fully documented. This will allow another programmer to look at my code and understand what was done. It will also give project leaders confidence that my design works as expected. Timeline Spring 2003 Become familiar with J2EE, Java and DB2 Install and run J2EE examples Become familiar with basic Bookstore design Create a high level design Write project proposal Summer 2003 Work with IBM on site in Poughkeepsie Develop low level details of design Implement additions Thoroughly test and debug product Maintain documentation of progress Fall 2003 Compile documentation in a professional format Write up thesis Evaluation As with any project of this scope, I must have means to assure that I stay on target. I have set the above timeline in order to best evaluate my progress. I will regularly compare my work with the goals I have set. As the design process proceeds, I will keep notes on design details and high level functionality. In this way, the functionality can be compared to the original specifications to assure the design remains on task. Once the enhancements have been made, the software must undergo testing. Since the J2EE is inherently object-oriented and these objects hold their own functionality as well as data, each container can be tested individually. The final test will be integrating all of the pieces into one finished product. References [1] Stefanie Bodoff, Dale Green, Kim Haase, Eric Jendrock, Monica Pawlan, Beth Stearns, “The J2EE Tutorial”, Addison-Wesley, Boston, 2002. [2] Paolo Bruni, Patric Becker, Micheal Dewert and Bob Riehle, “Large Objects with DB2 for Z/OS and OS/390 Redbook”, IBM corporation, 2002. [3] Altendorf E, Hohman M, Zabicki R, “Using J2EE on a large, Web-based project”, IEEE computer society, Los Alamitos, 2002. [4] Cecchet E, Marguerite J, Zwaenepoel W, “Performance and Scalability of EJB Applications”, Association of Computing Machinery, 2002. [5] Bruce Eckel, “Thinking In Java”, MindView, Inc., 2002. [6] Bill Shanon, “Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition Specifications, v1.4”, Sun Microsystems, California, 2002.