Can Java Code tell if it is in an App Server?

Question

Is there something I can call from a POJO to see if the code is currently in an App Server or outside of an App Server?

Something like this (In rough PseudoCode):

System.getRunningEnvironment().equals(Environment.Glassfish)

or

System.getRunningEnvironment().equals(Environment.ApplicationServer)

or

System.getRunningEnvironment().equals(Environment.JavaSE)

Answer 1

If you can change AppServer initialization scripts (take a look at this link):

Add -DRunningInAppServer=true at your AppServer initialization script.

Add -DRunningInAppServer=false at your application initialization script.

Then use this method:

public boolean isRunningInAppServer() {

        if ("true".equals(System.getProperty("RunningAppServer"))) {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
}

Answer 2

I don't believe you can do this trivially. And would you want to distinguish between an app server, a web container etc.?

What is the reason for determining this ? To allow your POJOs to behave differently in different environments ? If so then I think this points to an object/component structure that is not quite correct, or at least where the object responsibilities are not clearly defined.