Java

[arunprashanth]

Hi

What is the difference between application server and webserver.

thanks.

[thekashyap]

AFAIK:
A web-server usually hosts only front-end jsps/htmls. It will have very little or no business logic.
An Application server on the other hand would host a lot more of business logic.

[~s.o.s~]

Depends on what kind of project is under consideration. Some combinations I have seen are:

• Web server and database server
• App server and database server
• Web server, Application server and database server

And BTW, a web server is different from a Servlet container considering that the latter is required if you want to host Servlets and JSP's. Basically its like:

Application Server <- Web Container <- Web Server

Application server incorporates everything.

[thekashyap]

And BTW, a web server is different from a Servlet container considering that the latter is required if you want to host Servlets and JSP's.

AFAIK this used to be the case, now-a-days webServ itself takes care of both these tasks.

[masijade]

AFAIK this used to be the case, now-a-days webServ itself takes care of both these tasks.

No. Tomcat is a ServletContainer that is able to perform most of the tasks of a web server.

Apache is a Web Server, but has 0 JSP/Servlet capability (it has its own ASPs, but that is something else entirely).

The above are just two examples to show the difference between a Servlet Container and a Web Server. S.O.S's order list is correct.

[thekashyap]

Apache is a Web Server, but has 0 JSP/Servlet capability

I didn't exactly get this. But I know that in our product, for O&M GUI we use Apache Tomcat. The GUI is written completely using JSPs.

[vinod_javas]

webserver doesnt support business logic

whereas application server support business logic

and

Everything in web server must be achieved programmatically

where as in application server

it provides a lot of services like security, transaction , scalability.

[~s.o.s~]

> But I know that in our product, for O&M GUI we use Apache Tomcat
Apache Tomcat is a web container which knows how to handle Servlets and JSP's and has all the capabilities of a normal web server.

Apache Web Server and Apache Tomcat are two different things.

> webserver doesnt support business logic
Thats not a generic statement. It does when your server side logic is written entirely is PHP. AFAIK, there is no app server for PHP, though I admit my understanding of PHP even fails me. Also when you have a small scale project, using a web container gets the job done. Low complexity projects seldom require the power of an Application server.

[masijade]

Also, at least as far as apache is concerned, there is no reason why the Web Server can't have business logic. I know someone who has written an entire web site (not page) (and a complex one at that) as an Apache module. Very fast, but I, myself, would not want to be the one that had to maintain it (although there was flexible content).