When I was trying to decide on an application server for EJB1.1, i collected a bunch of information in a text file. Since I have chosen my server I thought I might share this summary with everyone, I'm not swearing by any claims in it but I think its all accurate. Some of it may be hard to read as it was intended to be personal notes for me.

Good luck choosing a server, its not easy! FYI I ended up going with PowerTier from Persistense but for different reasons...

Application Servers Supporting EJB
----------------------------------

WebLogic from BEA (www.bea.com)
-Pros
  + Looks extremely efficient
  + Contains servlet engine
  + we can still use Apache
  + supports clustering
-Cons
  + Extremely expensive
  + Really is more than what we need (we don't need webserver, database connectivity, ?servlet engine?)
-Price
  + $10,000 for one machine
  + $15,000 for each clustered machine
  + 20% for Customer Support (20% of total licensing cost) - manditory first year


WebSphere from IBM (http://www-4.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/linux_ae_v302.html)
-Pros
  + cheaper than WebLogic
  + supports clustering
  + supports Apache
  + "XML management", XSL support
  + mature EJB, been around for the longest
  + industry standard
-Cons
  + also expensive
  + also more than we need
  + NO SUPPORT FOR EJB 1.1
  + JDK 1.1.8 (IBM ver)
-Other
-Price
  + henderm at us dot ibm dot com
  + $7125 per processor - support-> level services 8884264343



JRun from Allaire (http://www.allaire.com/Products/JRun/)
-Pros
  + Modular design
  + EJB 1.1
  + Studio helps design process
  + Enterprise edition supports clustering, transactions, JMS
  + good management interface
  + Java Messaging Services 1.
-Cons
  + new to EJB
  + not scalable?
  + poor documentation
-Notes
  + Review: http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-2000/jw-0623-iw-jrun.html
  + Review: http://theserverside.com/reviews/thread.jsp?thread_id=202
       Conclusion:
Installation – good
Support – poor
Documentation – unsatisfactory
J2EE Features – good
Administration Features - excellent
"we are developing applications efficiently, using JSP, Servlets and EJBs. "

-Price
  + Roughly $5000 (2-year subscription available for about $2000 per CPU)



Orion - www.orionserver.com
-Pros
  + Cheap!
  + Clustering
  + EJB 1.1
  + Servlet, JMS, JDBC 2.0
  + nicely automated
  + "Easily the fastest Servlet/JSP server out there"
  + RMI Clustering and failover
  + Works with Oracle
  + auto-update feature
  + works
  + fast
-Cons
  + Newcommer, in version 1.0!
  + No graphical management console (one coming soon)
  + Poor support, a user actually created
-Questions/Notes
  + Runs straight on a JVM, no platform specific code. Is this good or bad?
  + Read this review: http://theserverside.com/reviews/thread.jsp?thread_id=165
  + Orion boasts some pretty cool features like auto-compile--which automatically compiles class file--and auto-deployment—which automatically deploys EAR files
  + Another review: http://theserverside.com/reviews/thread.jsp?thread_id=118
  + advice : use ant from jakarta.apache.org
-Price
  + $1500 (per machine, not per CPU)
-Customers
  + ZD (Ziff-Davis)
  + Hjemmenett.no
  + australia.internet.com
  + Activated Intelligence
  + JavaLobby
  + vpro.nl
  + LinuxToday.com.au
  + Hjemmenett WAP site
  + Headlinewatch.com
  + The Partsbase aviation news portal
  + australia.internet.com
  + yesitworks.com
  + The Australian Stock Report
  + e-media Marketer


Orcas Standard Edition - http://www.orbware.com/
-Pros
  + EJB 1.1
  + Linux
  + Oracle 8i
  + Apache and Tomcat coming - see notes
-Cons
  + VERY little information available on the site
  + Released last week!
-Notes
  + J2EE Version soon? available for integrating with Apache and Tomcat
-Price
  + $5000 per server (not CPU)


Enterprise JavaBeans Server - ProSyst
http://www.prosyst.com/www_englisch/products/enterprise_beans_server/indexejb.html
-Pros
  + clustering
  + EJB 1.1
  + Linux
  + Oracle
  + Apache...
-Price
  + Might be free for linux (see http://www.mgm-edv.de/ejbsig/ejbservers.html)


NetDynamics from SUN
http://www.netdynamics.com/products/overview.html

Inprise Application Server
http://www.inprise.com/appserver/
-Pros
  + Complete EJB 1.1 implementation
  + EJB 1.1
  + Container can run in standalone mode, which gives ease of use for developers
  + Optimized pooling of Stateless Session Beans
  + Clustering
  + It comes with a Two-Phase Commit transaction engine
  + a full JMS implementation
  + It offers a GREAT and complete documentation, plus a very good support in its newsgroup.
  + Integrates with JBuilder (...wow...)
-Cons
  + Written "almost" fully in Java
  + It lacks integration with LDAP for security, users and roles management


-Price
  + Sales rep = Jannet Schnel

EnHydra
-Pros
  + open source!
  + clustering - Enhydra Director
  + all platforms
  + EJB 1.1 through jonas 2.0
  + best free server
-Cons
  + no per machine load balancing
  + STILL IN DEVELOPMENT!
-price
  + free


Oracle 8i version 3 - Oracle Application Server (OAS)
http://technet.oracle.com/products/oas/
  + ejb 1.1
  + Servlets
  + oracle 8i JVM accelerator
  + integrates with apache
  + scalable, distributed architecture
  + marginal cost vs. performance - benifit of adding another machine
  + load balancing
  + fault tolerant
  + multi threading
  + context management

used to be OAS, now it is Internet Application Server

go to solutions.oracle.com
technet.oracle.com

database - cdpacks -

questions: clustering? administration? can i dl a server? cost? who uses? advantages?

Adam

This is a very interesting information. For Enhydra, I would like to add 1 more drawback --> very difficult to install & configure

Does your exp say same thing?

Thanks
Archana

Adam,
YOu have not given summary of PowerTier App server. Can u tell me what made u to decide on PowerTier App server.

Dont u think EJB support is very good in BEA Systems.

Regards,
Raju.

Hello Adam, hi everybody,

I'm also interested to know why you have chosen PowerTier. I'm trying to make my choice of an application server also with respect to their featuresin the O/R mapping tools field. Do you have any hint?

thanks,
Loic