We had a project using JSPs and Servlets only. We were using IPlanet Web server. Now we are moving the JSPs and Servlets into WebSphere while still keeping the IPlanet as the WebServer. But I have doubt on this architecture. What benefits do we gain over the IPlanet only stratery? Every JSP and Servelt has to be re-routed from IPlanet to WebSphere, it would take longer time to server a page. What WebSphere can do to improve performance that IPlanet can't with the JSPs and Servlets?

Splitting Web Server and Application Server gives you better control on static vs. dynamic content and allows for proxying.

In your situation WebSphere is really an over-kill, since a servlet container like Tomcat should do the trick and will be much more lightweight.

Regards,

Artem D. Yegorov
http://www.activexml.org