Can Jetty be used as a Java EE lightweight application server?

Question

In the scope of deploying small Java EE web applications at various client sites, I am searching for an easy application server solution.

I think I remember hearing that it was possible to use Jetty as a JavaEE 6 lightweight application server but I can't seem to find more evidence on this right now on the web.

Knowing that my development environment is JSF2 + RichFaces, CDI (Weld) and JPA 2 => NO EJBs at this point), is Jetty a possible solution for me?

If yes, could you point me to some docmentation or specific keywords helping me? If no, what other lightweight Java EE 6 application server should I use?

Answer 1

Jetty is a servlet container, just like Tomcat. At the moment it's utterly unsuited as a Java EE 6 application server since the core requirement for a servlet container in that stack is being a Servlet 3.0 container.

Jetty 7, the latest stable version, is still at Servlet 2.5. At the moment nobody knows when Jetty 8, which will support Servlet 3.0 will be released, but experimental releases can already be downloaded. See http://www.eclipse.org/projects/project-plan.php?projectid=rt.jetty

Even when Jetty 8 will eventually be available, you'll of course still need to add JSF2 (Mojarra), CDI (Weld) and JPA2 (Hibernate).

Currently lightweight alternatives are Glassfish V3 (especially the Web Profile version). This weighs in at a 47MB download and gives you the full web profile. Glassfish starts up in approximately one second on modern systems and something like 2 or 3 on older ones. Memory overhead is minimal.

Yet another alternative is Caucho Resin. It's an inch away from being Java EE 6 Web Profile certified (see http://caucho.com/resin-4.0/changes/resin-4.0.14.xtp), and for all practical purposes is already fully useable as a Java EE 6 application server. Although I haven't personally used Resin, being lightweight seems to be their top priorities. (do note that 'lightweight' is a vague and much disputed term)

Finally, you could give JBoss AS 6 a spin. Few people would call JBoss AS 'lightweight' (startup time on fast hardware is at least 12 seconds, and its download size is 181MB), but its free and open source and depending on your definition of lightweight those numbers may be 'good enough'.