Chapter 6: New Features in EAServer Versions 4.1.3, 4.1.2, 4.1.1, and 4.1

New features in version 4.1.3

EAServer 4.1.3 introduces the following:

Performance tuning features

New EAServer 4.1.3 features for performance tuning include:

EAServer 4.1.3 also includes new component properties to improve the performance of EJB-CMP entity beans. These are presented together with the new 4.2.2 component properties described in “New EJB CMP component properties”.

Lightweight EJB container

The performance of some inter-component calls in EAServer can be improved by enabling the lightweight container (LWC). The LWC co-exists with the standard container. The LWC provides optimized performance for EJB-to-EJB calls, while ensuring all expected EJB semantics are preserved such as pass by value when using remote interfaces. For more information, see “Optimizing in-server EJB calls” in in Chapter 3, “Component Tuning,” in the EAServer Performance and Tuning Guide.

CMP JDBC wrapper drivers

To improve performance this EAServer release includes customized JDBC drivers. You can use these wrapper drivers in connection caches that are used by CMP entity beans. The wrapper drivers offer better performance by allowing updates to be deferred to the end of each transaction and sent together as a command batch. Doing so improves performance by reducing network round trips between the database server and EAServer. The Sybase wrapper driver also supports automatic creation of semi-temporary stored procedures, which also improves performance. For more information, see “Using CMP JDBC wrapper drivers” in in Chapter 4, “EJB CMP Tuning,” in the EAServer Performance and Tuning Guide.

Thread monitors

EAServer 4.1.3 introduces a new Repository entity type, ThreadMonitor. Thread monitors provide a means to limit the execution time devoted to specified components and component methods. You can assign components and methods to a thread monitor to ensure that no more than a specified maximum number of threads will be active at any point executing the methods and components assigned to the monitor. You can also use thread monitors without a limit on the number of threads. Doing so allows you to use the monitor trace properties to record performance data. For more information, see “Thread monitors” in in Chapter 3, “Component Tuning,” in the EAServer Performance and Tuning Guide.

Entity instance caching with Oracle

You can use object caching when running EJB CMP entity beans. This feature works with any database. You can also configure change notification to notify EAServer's cache manager of changes to the underlying table rows. For more information, see see “Entity instance and query caching” in in Chapter 4, “EJB CMP Tuning,” in the EAServer Performance and Tuning Guide.

New server properties

Table 6-1 lists new server properties. Actual property names are prefixed with com.sybase.jaguar.server.

**Table 6-1: New server properties**
Property	Description
com.sybase.jaguar.server.cmp_iso_level	Specifies a default transaction isolation level for component property com.sybase.jaguar.component.cmp_iso_level, which specifies the transaction isolation level for EJB CMP entity beans..
com.sybase.jaguar.server.lwc	Enables the EJB lightweight container.
com.sybase.jaguar.server.lwc.debug	Enables debug output during lightweight container initialization.
com.sybase.jaguar.server.tx_retry	Sets the default value of the automatic transaction retry component property, com.sybase.jaguar.component.tx_retry.

New connection cache properties

EAServer 4.1.3 introduces com.sybase.jaguar.conncache.cmp_stats property to allow collection of statistics information when using an EAServer CMP JDBC wrapper driver—see “CMP JDBC wrapper drivers”.

HTTPS support for Web server plug-ins

Beginning with EAServer version 4.1.3, you can establish HTTPS (HTTP over SSL) connections between your Web server redirector and EAServer, which provide an SSL communication link (data integrity and encryption services), but do not support authentication services using client-side certificates. For more information about establishing secure connections, see the EAServer Security Administration and Programming Guide. You should be familiar with SSL and Security Manager before establishing HTTPS connections. See Chapter 14, “Managing Keys and Certificates,” in the EAServer Security Administration and Programming Guide.

See the EAServer Installation Guide for Web server redirector installation and configuration instructions.

Jagtool merge_props command

Introduced in EAServer 4.1.3, the merge_props command merges or deletes property values for an entity. For more information, see the reference page in Chapter 12, “Using jagtool and jagant,” in the EAServer System Administration Guide.

Java connection manager API change

The JCMCache.getCacheSize method has been replaced by the following methods:

public int getPoolSizeMax()
public int getPoolSizeMin()

JCMCache.getPoolSizeMax() returns the cache’s maximum size. JCMCache.getPoolSizeMin() returns the minimum size. For more information, see the reference pages in Chapter 1, “Java Classes and Interfaces,” in the EAServer API Reference Manual.