Download HP-UX Java™ – How To Develop Java Applications for

HP-UX Java™ – How To Develop Java
Applications for HP-UX
HP Part Number: 5900-1302
Published: January 2011
Edition: 1.0
© Copyright 2007, 2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
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12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are
licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license. The information contained herein is subject to
change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
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not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Structure of typical applications...........................................................................................4
Choices for development platform.......................................................................................5
Prepare HP-UX for Java™ deployment...............................................................................7
Debugging a Java™ application ..........................................................................................7
Developing a web service ....................................................................................................8
Tuning a Java™ application for optimum performance......................................................8
Testing for Performance and Reliability...............................................................................9
Special considerations for cross-platform development .....................................................9
Source code control.............................................................................................................10
Monitoring an enterprise application ................................................................................10
2 Development Tools to Deploy Applications on HP-UX....................................................................11
Development Lifecycle.......................................................................................................11
Development Tools.............................................................................................................11
Borland Together ControlCenter...................................................................................11
IBM Rational Rose Developer.......................................................................................11
Simplicity for Java™ .....................................................................................................11
eXoDy application generation framework....................................................................12
Emacs editor..................................................................................................................12
jdb Debugger.................................................................................................................13
Jtest by ParaSoft® .........................................................................................................13
HPjmeter........................................................................................................................13
HP TransactionVision....................................................................................................14
Table of Contents
3
1 Introduction
This paper describes the mechanics of developing or porting an application to run on
or be hosted by an HP-UX server. The information is applicable to both HP9000 PA-RISC
and HP Integrity (Itanium) platforms. The paper presents several alternatives for the
development platform and recommends a number of development tools for each of
the alternatives. The Development lifecycle is discussed, including the steps of code
creation, source code control, debugging, and performance tuning. In addition, this
paper provides directions for setting up the HP-UX environment for optimal running
of Java™ applications.
The HP-UX server platform is ideally suited for deploying Java-based applications.
The Apache Web Server and the HP-UX Java™ Virtual Machine provide a low-cost,
high-performance foundation for the most sophisticated enterprise applications. A
comprehensive set of development tools is available to develop applications on this
platform or to port applications from other platforms. These tools also provide the
means for tuning the application and the environment to realize the outstanding
performance and scalability that is inherent in HP-UX itself.
Structure of typical applications
A typical application is built using an n-tier model. Not all applications contain all of
the tiers, but this is a good general model for the purpose of this paper. The advantages
of the n-tier structure are:
• The infrastructure is already provided by means of industry-standard components:
web browsers, web servers, and application servers. They have already been
developed and tested by the platform vendor or by various partners and do not
need to be developed from scratch.
• These infrastructure components are capable of load balancing and automatic
fail-over, thus providing both scalability and reliability.
• The portions of the application that run on these standard components are easily
ported to other platforms, particularly those that support the same application
server.
The various types of web and Java™ software to be developed are briefly described
below. Each of these software components can be developed for HP-UX deployment
by using the tools described later in this paper.
HTML - HyperText Markup Language - This is a document-formatting language that
is used to create web pages. It has the capability of doing simple formatting using basic
text or it can also contain embedded graphics and/or Java™ programs to be executed
on the client.
Applet - A Java™ program that runs in the context of a web browser. Applets are
commonly passed to a client computer within an html stream and run on the client
using a Java™ Virtual Machine that is referenced by the client browser. An applet is
4
Introduction
used to interact programmatically with the end user in a manner that is not available
in the simple html language.
Servlet - A Java™ program that runs on a server machine within the context of a web
server.
JSP - Java™ Server Pages - This is Java™ code embedded in html and executed as a
servlet.
J2EE - Java™ 2 Enterprise Edition. This is a Java™ specification that defines the
functionality and interfaces for Java™ Server Pages and Enterprise Java™ Beans. All
Java™ application servers are compatible with some or all of the J2EE specification.
EJB - Enterprise Java™ Beans - This is a definition for structuring and encapsulating
portions of a Java™ program for execution within a Java™ application server.
C/C++ - Programming languages that compile directly to native code. These
programming languages have been used historically because of the performance benefits
of compiled code as compared to interpreted code and large numbers of existing
applications are written in these languages.
Web browser - A program that creates a Graphical User Interface for end-user
interaction. Examples are Internet Explorer, or Mozilla.
Web server - A program that serves pages to multiple web browsers and provides the
environment to execute servlets on their behalf. The web server is able to provide load
balancing and fail-over across multiple machines in order to service a large number of
client browsers. The Apache Web Server and Microsoft IIS are examples of web servers.
Application server - A program that provides the environment for executing the
business logic of an n-tier application. The typical application server is compatible with
some or all of the J2EE specification. The application server is able to provide load
balancing and fail-over across multiple machines in order to service a large number of
requests. It also provides a transaction encapsulation mechanism for managing accesses
to databases and files, as well as a simplified interface from Java™ to relational
databases. An example is BEA's web logic server.
Choices for development platform
The fundamental Choices for development platform can be summarized as the following:
• Develop directly on an HP-UX server using simple editors such as EMACS or vi.
In this environment, the source code is entered and edited directly on the server.
• Develop directly on an HP-UX server using an Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) tool that runs directly on the server platform and remotely
displays the GUI. In this environment, the source code is entered and edited directly
on the server.
• Develop on a desktop workstation that runs the development tools and remotely
targets the HP-UX server for real-time debugging and monitoring. In this
environment, the source code is entered and edited on the workstation but the
Choices for development platform
5
•
application runs in its target environment on the HP-UX server. Typical desktop
workstation operating systems include Windows, Linux, and Unix.
Develop on another platform and port to HP-UX. In this environment, the
development platform can be any machine that supports a compatible version of
the Java™ Runtime Environment, i.e., the Java™ Virtual Machine and associated
class libraries. If this option is chosen, the portions of this paper that will be of
special interest are those that deal with setting the HP-UX kernel parameters for
optimum server performance.
Developers have strong individual preferences for the choice of development platform
and development tools. Therefore, HP has established partnerships with a wide variety
of leading tool vendors in order to provide choices. Furthermore, no particular choice
is given preference over the others: all are supported equally by HP.
The fundamental differences have to do with where the development tool runs. If the
decision is to use EMACS or vi, then the recommended option will be to run the editor
directly on the server. If on the other hand an IDE will be used, then the recommended
option will be to run the tool on a desktop workstation with remote targeting of the
HP-UX server.
In the case of native development on HP-UX, the tool runs directly on the HP-UX server
and the editing of source code and the debugging information is displayed remotely
on an attached graphics terminal. The terminal can be a directly-connected graphics
terminal, an X-term, or an X-term emulator running on a Windows desktop.
Recommended tools for native development include EMACS, vi, and Simplicity by
Data Representations. When installing EMACS, it is recommended that you use an
HP-UX configuration file that is available for download from the EMACS page
referenced in this paragraph. Note that EMACS only provide code editing and
color-coding. Simplicity, on the other hand, is an inexpensive, full-featured Integrated
Development Environment that includes a debugger as well as support for the design
of web pages, applets, servlets, EJBs, etc. The best development performance with
Simplicity will be achieved if used with a directly-connect graphics terminal. This is
because Simplicity, like most IDEs, is written in Java™ and runs on a Java™ Virtual
Machine. There is a known graphics performance problem in the Java™ Software
Development Kit in releases 1.3 and below that causes slow performance when any
Java-based GUI is displayed by means of an X-term. This performance problem is also
the reason for the blanket statement (above) that IDEs are recommended for use only
on desktop workstations with remote targeting of the server. (The remote graphics
performance problem is repaired in SDK 1.4.)
In the case of development on a desktop workstation with remote targeting of an HP-UX
server, it is important to choose an IDE that supports a remote connection to HP-UX.
While most IDEs are known to support such a remote connection by means of the
Java-standard JPDA interface, HP has worked closely with specific IDE vendors to
ensure that their products function well with the HP Java™ Virtual Machine on HP-UX.
6
Introduction
Recommended IDE tools for this environment are Together ControlCenter and
Metrowerks' Code Warrior
One advantage of development on a Windows (or Linux or Unix) desktop workstation
with remote targeting is that these desktops support a large number of Java™ analysis
tools that can be used to validate the source code. An excellent example of this is the
Jtest product from ParaSoft.
Prepare HP-UX for Java™ deployment
NOTE: Installing patches and changing kernel parameters should be made only by
knowledgeable HP-UX system administrators. Root access is needed for both.
There are a number of HP-UX patches that have been identified as requirements for
Java™ applications. A list of these patches can be found on the following web page:
Patch Information. Install all of the patches shown for your HP-UX version and JDK
version. Or you may install the most recent Quality Pack for your OS, which will reduce
the number of individual patches you need to install.
The Java™ environment on HP-UX requires that the kernel parameters be set to provide
adequate resources for proper execution. HP has developed a free tool, Java™
Out-of-Box, which upon installation installs startup (RC) scripts, modifies kernel
parameters, rebuilds the kernel, and reboots the system, thus providing better out-of-box
behavior for Java™.
In addition, HP has developed a free tool, HPjconfig, that will evaluate any HP-UX
server to determine if it has the necessary kernel parameter settings and OS patches
for Java™ applications. It uses the same lists of parameters and patches referenced
above and provides simple advice on any necessary changes. It will also provide a
SAM input file to allow the system administrator to make the kernel parameter changes
automatically.
Debugging a Java™ application
There are several approaches to debugging Java™ applications. The most common
methods are listed here in order of increasing sophistication.
• The simplest, most popular, least expensive approach is to use
system.out.println to find out what the application is doing internally.
However, this is not a viable approach for an application that is running in
production.
• The Java™ Software Development Kit on HP-UX includes a free debugger, called
JDB. It is a simple command-line tool but it does allow the developer to insert
breakpoints on a per-thread basis, inspect the values of variables and attributes,
modify values, and restart the application. Because of its dbx-like user interface,
JDB is not particularly user-friendly. IDEs or stand-alone debugger tools are easier
Prepare HP-UX for Java™ deployment
7
•
•
to use than JDB. However, JDB is free. For further information on JDB visit the
web site www.java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.1/docs/tooldocs/solaris/jdb.html
All of the IDEs contain sophisticated debuggers with graphical interfaces. They
tie directly into the source code and provide excellent symbolic debugging
capability. This makes them the easiest and most efficient means of debugging a
Java™ program. Any of the IDEs recommended above will provide good
debuggers. Remember that the choice of which IDE to use depends on whether
the development is being done directly on HP-UX or with remote targeting (as
described above).
For debugging JNI problems (i.e., mixed Java™ and C/C++), HP provides an
enhanced version of the popular Gnu Debugger (GDB, also called the Wildebeast
Debugger or WDB). The HP enhancements to WDB (version 3.0.01 or later) allow
it to examine backtraces containing mixed language frames in Java™ thread stacks
of an application that is running on the HP Java™ Virtual Machine. For more
information, refer to the SDK release notes for your Java™ version. A word of
caution: the support for EJBs will probably only be found in the more expensive
versions of the individual products (i.e., the "Professional" or the "Enterprise"
editions of the products). Check the product feature lists before purchasing.
Developing a web service
The HP-UX server platform is ideally suited for hosting Web Services. Typically these
services are hosted by an application server, such as BEA's WebLogic Server, a
fully-featured, standards-based application server that provides the foundation on
which an enterprise can build reliable, scalable, and manageable applications.
Tuning a Java™ application for optimum performance
Performance tuning first requires the determination of the cause of the poor
performance. The problem could be due to lack of system resources and this will require
changes to the kernel parameters or to the system components (memory, number of
CPUs, etc.). Alternatively, it could be due to programming practices that cause
unnecessary system activities (like unnecessary garbage collection). This could require
changes to the program source code.
HP provides a number of tools to analyze performance. These tools start at the overall
application level and work progressively towards the root cause. HP OpenView
Transaction Analyzer provides a comprehensive understanding of current application
performance measured against service level requirements with detailed data for problem
analysis. Then, the system level tools to analyze individual machine and portions of
applications include GlancePlus, Prospect, top, netstat, and many others. The lower
level tools include HPjmeter (-Xeprof option). For a good description of the complete
list of performance tools and the appropriate usage of each of them, refer to the technical
paper entitled "Java™ Profiling on HP-UX".
8
Introduction
For a collection of techniques, tuning guidelines, tips and general information about
Java™ performance tuning, go to the Java™ performance tuning website on DSPP.
Testing for Performance and Reliability
Stress testing is normally done by using tools that simulate a larger number of clients
simultaneously accessing the web server and the back-end parts of the application.
There are several excellent tools available that provide this load from a client platform
(usually a Windows-based platform). Some highly-rated product for this task are Astra
LoadTest from Mercury Interactive, SilkPerformer by Segue Software, e-Load from
Empirix, and WebLoad from Rad View.
During the testing, the server-side performance can be analyzed by means the tools
described in the section above and the performance bottlenecks can be identified.
Special considerations for cross-platform development
100% pure Java™ applications do not require a rebuild on every target platform.
However, there may be other reasons why a development team may have a need to
do cross-platform builds. A common reason is that a build on the target platform serves
as a simple acceptance test for the target platform JDK. Another typical reason is that
nightly builds in the source code management systems may be run on a platform
different from the development platform. Finally, if the application has JNI code, at
least the native portion needs to be built separately on each target platform. Thus, most
large Java™ projects end up with a requirement of cross-platform build tools.
Traditionally, teams doing cross-platform development have been required to port
their build infrastructure to each target platform. For Unix systems, this meant that the
developers had to customize their make files to ensure that they worked well with the
indigenous version of the make.
In recent years, gnumake has become a popular option that ensures cross-platform
portability of make files. Some development teams have switched to shell or perl-based
build scripts to ensure such portability.
One of the most recent entrants in the arena of customization is Apache Ant, an initiative
of the Apache Software Foundation. Apache Ant uses an XML based configuration file
that defines a target tree where various tasks get executed. Instead of using shell
commands for customization of dependencies, Apache Ant can be extended using
Java™ classes.
While Apache Ant is not the ultimate solution for all build issues, it has advantages
that some projects might find compelling. The tool is 100% Java, so the tool and the
customizations can be easily carried over to the target platform. The use of XML based
configuration files is a definite improvement over the somewhat arcane syntax of make.
Testing for Performance and Reliability
9
Source code control
The source control system that is chosen should be compatible with the development
tools that will be used on the project, as well as with the development platform itself
(Windows, Linux, Unix).
Small project teams working on Windows platforms will find Visual SourceSafe (VSS)
to be a very convenient product for managing their source. VSS is available for purchase
from Microsoft. However other companies provide clients that give users web access
via secure connections. Alternatively, CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is an Open
Source product. CVS runs on Windows, Linux, and Unix systems (including HP-UX)
and also provides cross-system capabilities.
Larger projects will need the extended features of Rational ClearCase. This product is
available from IBM and there are versions that run on Windows or Unix. It is possible
to run the ClearCase View Server and VOB Server on Unix with a client interface
running on Windows and interfacing with the desktop development tools.
The table shown below lists the tools that are available with each of these source control
systems. This table was accurate at the time of writing this paper, however support by
the individual systems changes over time and should be verified with the individual
tool and control system vendors prior to purchase.
Tool
Desktop/Server
Works with (IDEs)
Visual SourceSafe (VSS)
Both
VisualCafe, JBuilder 5.0, ControlCenter, CodeWarrier
Concurrent Versions
System (CVS)
Server
JBuilder 5.0, ControlCenter, CodeWarrior
Rational ClearCase
Server
VisualCafe JBuilder 4.0, ControlCenter, CodeWarrier
Monitoring an enterprise application
HP's OpenView product product is designed to monitor an application without adding
any measurable overhead or otherwise perturbing the operation. Therefore, it can be
used to monitor an environment on an ongoing basis as part of the normal systems
operation.
HP OpenView is an award-winning system monitoring and control product that is
able to measure and report on all aspects of a systems operation. OpenView uses specific
interfaces to networking software, controllers, and other components of the application
infrastructure to monitor the flow of transactions as well as the traffic load to identify
bottlenecks. The information is displayed on the OpenView management console,
which provides options to filter the information and to respond to the findings by
controlling key infrastructure parameters. For more information on the OpenView
family of products, visit the web page at http://www.openview.hp.com/.
10
Introduction
2 Development Tools to Deploy Applications on HP-UX
Development Lifecycle
HP has developed a number of tools to simplify the development and deployment of
applications on HP-UX systems. In addition, HP has established partnerships with
leading tool vendors to make the best-in-class tools available for use with HP-UX. These
tools cover the complete development lifecycle. This section provides a list of
recommended tools along with a brief description of its usage (in engineering terms)
as well as a link to the partner or HP web site that contains detailed product information.
Development Tools
Borland Together ControlCenter
Borland Together ControlCenter is the Model-Build-Deploy Platform that you can use
to develop, code, and debug Java™ applications for deployment on HP-UX. It provides
Unified Modeling Language (UML) modeling, diagrams, and building block
components, and many other development features, as well as deployment functionality.
ControlCenter's open architecture enables it to integrate many complementary
technologies. This flexibility extends functionality and allows developers to work with
their favorite products from within ControlCenter.
Together ControlCenter runs on Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT, Linux and HP-UX
Operating Systems and provides links to multiple deployment platforms, one of which
is HP-UX. You can enter code using a Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, Linux, or HP-UX
operating system and then deploy it to an HP-UX server platform. Then test the code
running on HP-UX by setting breakpoints, starting, stopping, and single-stepping the
application directly from a window on the workstation. Version 5 or later of
ControlCenter runs on the above Operating Systems and supports remote debugging
of the JVM on HP-UX.
Together ControlCenter provides support for all major middleware products, including
BEA WebLogic Server
IBM Rational Rose Developer
IBM Rational Rose Developer is a full-function Unified Modeling Language (UML)
tool that application architects or developers use in developing applications for HP-UX
and other platforms.
For additional information or to place an order, visit the IBM Rational Rose Developer
Web site at http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/developer/rose/.
Simplicity for Java™
Simplicity for Java™ Standard Edition by Data Representations is a low cost IDE with
a rich set of features. It runs directly on HP-UX and provides code entry, graphical
Development Lifecycle
11
representation of the code, code generation, and debugging using the HP JVM for
HP-UX. It can also be run on NT, Linux, or several other platforms and the resulting
code can be moved to HP-UX and run on the HP JVM for HP-UX. This IDE supports
applets, servlets, and JavaBeans.
Simplicity for Java™ Professional Edition is an advanced J2SE visual programming
tool that provides everything developers need to build robust J2SE applications.
Professional includes all of the features found in Simplicity for Java™: Standard Edition,
plus much more. In addition to graphically building UIs using Swing, AWT and Java™
Beans, Professional provides an intuitive graphical method of integrating data into
applications from any JDBC/ODBC data source.
eXoDy application generation framework
eXoDy dramatically accelerates the development of complex J2EE/Oracle applications
running on HP-UX. Starting from an XML description of business requirements, eXoDy
automatically generates the Java™ code, database table definitions, stored procedures,
deployment code and documentation. The generated code is correct by construction
and at the same time fully customizable, extensible and high performance.
The eXoDy Framework comprises the following:
•
•
•
•
an object and data modeling methodology
automatic code generators
a runtime library
web database application design techniques
eXoDy offers the following unique capabilities:
•
•
•
automation based on a high-level XML vocabulary
effective elimination of the object-relational impedance mismatch issue
specific targeting for web-enabled applications
Because of the use of high level XML vocabulary, very little Java™ or database coding
is required by application developers. eXoDy eliminates the object-relational mapping
problem by adopting a unique approach based on the Proxy design pattern. eXoDy's
transaction and concurrency control models are specifically developed for the stateless
web environment. In addition, eXoDy provides comprehensive and automatic
mechanisms for rendering the state of objects in XML to facilitate web personalization
and enterprise data interchange.
eXoDy is available from Agilis Software. For further information or to request an
evaluation copy, please visit www.agilis-sw.com.
Emacs editor
Emacs is an open source editor that accepts macros to customize the display for specific
uses. There is a macro (JDE) available that customizes it for Java™ code. The
customization consists of color-coding tokens and formatting the code for readability.
12
Development Tools to Deploy Applications on HP-UX
It requires a profile file for startup on HP-UX which can be found in this document.
The emacs editor and Java™ macro can be downloaded from the following public sites:
• The latest version of FSF emacs on UNIX platforms is at http://directory.fsf.org/
emacs.html
• Emacs for NT can be found at http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/
ntemacs.html. This site also has a good FAQ about Emacs.
Documentation can be found on the GNU Emacs website at: http://directory.fsf.org/
emacs.html. You can also get help via the Emacs> M-x zapropos and Ctl-h commands.
jdb Debugger
The Java™ SDK for HP-UX provides programming tools and the runtime environment
for the HP-UX platform. The SDK includes a command-line debugger, jdb, to help you
find and fix bugs in Java™ programs running on a local or remote Java™ interpreter.
Because of its dbx-like user interface, jdb is not particularly user friendly. IDEs or
stand-alone debugger tools are easier to use than jdb. Therefore, you might want to
use IDE debugger tools.
For additional information on jdb, visit the Web site: http://download.oracle.com/javase/
1.4.2/docs/tooldocs/tools.html.
Jtest by ParaSoft®
Jtest by ParaSoft® is a unit testing tool that automatically tests any Java™ class or
component without requiring you to write a single test case, harness, or stub. With the
click of a button, Jtest automatically tests code construction (white-box testing), code
functionality (black-box testing), and maintains code integrity (regression testing). It
also helps you prevent errors with a customizable static analysis feature that lets you
automatically enforce over 170 industry-respected coding standards, create and enforce
any number of custom coding standards, and tailor the standards enforced to a particular
project or group.
Jtest runs on Windows 2000/NT, Solaris and Linux. We recommend that you use Jtest
during the unit testing phase on the NT/2000, Solaris or Linux desktop prior to moving
the application to HP-UX for system testing.
ParaSoft Jtest is available from ParaSoft. For more information or to place an order,
visit the ParaSoft web site (http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/smallbusiness/
tool_description.jsp?product=Jtest).
HPjmeter
HPjmeter can be used to perform tasks to optimize HP-UX 11i including identifying
and diagnosing performance problems in Java™ applications running on HP-UX or
on NonStop servers, improving garbage collection performance, analyzing Java heap
dumps, etc.
Development Tools
13
HPjmeter also features the following functionality:
• Automatic problem detection and alerts
• Dynamic real-time display of application behavior
• Drill down into application profile metrics
• Integrated, in-depth garbage collection analysis
For more information on HPjmeter, see the website HPjmeter Downloads and
Documentation
HP TransactionVision
HP TransactionVision is an end-to-end business transaction management solution. It
can profile critical transactions and provide dynamic insight into your entire dynamic
transaction flow, allowing you to quickly uncover bottlenecks accelerate repair times.
For more information, visit the HP TransactionVision website .
14
Development Tools to Deploy Applications on HP-UX