Glassfish v2.1.1 and java-web-start

Question

I've started a job that uses Glassfish 2.1.1 app server and noticed there's a java-web-start directory under the domain1 folder. In That folder there are empty directories which correspond 1:1 with ear (and other files) files deployed under ....\\domain1\\applications\\j2ee-apps.

What is the purpose of the java-web-start folder and why does it have those empty directories in it?

New to Glassfish.

TIA

Answer 1

Glassfish allows the user to launch a local client which can access the application inside Glassfish directly. The launching happens with Java WebStart.

See http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/jws-glassfish/ for an introduction.