Application Server，Container和Java EE新版本之间的关系

Question

I came accross two cases before;

at first case, I realized that I could not use Servlet 3.0 in Weblogic 10.3.x since Weblogic 10.3.x is Servlet 2.5 container Using Servlet 3.0 with Weblogic 10.3

at second case, Glassfish can be configured for new jSF release by replacing jar files under modules with new ones. How do I upgrade the JSF API in GlassFish?

The point is that what is the relationship among Application server, Container and Java EE new release? I mean when container JSF releases new version does Application server need to upgrade itself? Same concern for Java EE?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Java EE is a collection of services. A particular version of Java EE specifies the version of each service container (eg Servlet).

An application server hosts containers for different services (eg Servlet). A particular version of an app server typically comes bundled with certain versions of containers for different services, which typically match a Java EE version bundle.

An application server can be patched to upgrade the container of a particular service. The procedure may be official or undocumented. Upgrading to a minor version is usually painless and supported. Upgrading to a major version is usually unsupported and can often lead to incompatibilities.

Hope this helps.