With the release of the JSP framework, which was developed by Sun Microsystems and a collaboration of other Java developers, a web designer or application developer is able to harness the powerful Java language into fast, easy to write applications. This flexibility coupled with the ability to create dynamic applications that can be integrated to fit any business need from internal LAN based programs, to complete web based applications has made JSP and Java Servlets a very popular programming interface.

Many times you will find that because of the complexity of JSP and Java Servlets configuration and integration many providers do not offer these powerful tools. When you need JSP Hosting and Java Servlets you need a provider who understands the complexity and configuration aspects of these architectures. At CWI we have a firm understanding of what it takes to run a site or develop an application built in this architecture and provide you with the ability and tools needed to maintain such an application.

In order to provide the features, security and flexibility that are needed by competitive JSP developers, CWI has employed the use of Caucho’s Resin Application Server coupled with the powerful Apache web server for handling of front end requests. CWI has utilized Resin for over 3 years and was the first shared hosting company to offer Resin to customers with a Private JVM and worked with Caucho to help make this a unique feature of Resin. Prior to this, application servers like Tomcat operated in a global environment which meant if one clients code crashed the application server, everyone who used that application server would be down until it was restarted. Through the use of a private JVM a customer has the flexibility to start and stop their instance of the Resin Engine in realtime. This allows the customer the ability to quickly deploy and update a codebase without having to wait until a predetermined refresh time. In addition, the use of private JVM’s allows the customer to be isolated from other customers and their codebase, allowing for complete control of their environment from being able to setup their own webapps, edit their own configuration files, to being able to define their own classpaths.

In addition to the flexibility that Resin offers, it has also been shown to outperform Tomcat and other application servers in benchmarking. Resin is able to process at least 150 operations per second more than other competing JSP Engines such as JServ, Jrun, Tomcat, and Servlet Exec. This means that your dynamic content will be produced faster for a visitor which will increase their chances of staying at your site as no one lines a slow site. The near-static performance means that many sites, who never considered JSP or servlets because of performance, can now take advantage of the Java platform's reliability and ease of programming benefits.

The flexibility and benefit of performance which Resin offers has made it a favorite choice for many large notable companies such as CNet, half.com, salesforce.com, MiniUSA, Cornell University and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

CWI understands that as developers, you will need additional tools and support in order to develop a functional application and this is why CWI allows the use of many advanced applications and frameworks. CWI allows the use of the following popular frameworks, projects, and API’s on their shared java hosting plans:

Javamail – This API is implemented by default as part of the JDK distribution which we use. This API allows you to create applications which interface to the local mail server for sending emails directly from your applications.

Struts Action Framework and Shale Framework– The Struts framework is a common framework that is often found on Tomcat based systems. The Struts framework is based on the Model 2 approach. In this approach a servlet (or equivalent) manages business logic execution, and presentation logic resides mainly in server pages. This framework is fully portable to Resin.

JSTL - The JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) encapsulates as simple tags the core functionality common to many Web applications. JSTL has support for common, structural tasks such as iteration and conditionals, tags for manipulating XML documents, internationalization tags, and SQL tags. It also provides a framework for integrating existing custom tags with JSTL tags.

EJB - Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technology is the server-side component architecture for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform. EJB technology enables rapid and simplified development of distributed, transactional, secure and portable applications based on Java technology.

JSF - Java Server Faces is a new part of CWI's java hosting regiment. Java Server Faces takes JSP to the next level by providing a simple and well defined framework which developers can use for building user interfaces for web applications. Java Server Faces will handle all of the user UI and allow the developer to concentrate on the application code.

JMagick - JMagick is an open source Java interface of ImageMagick. It is implemented in the form of Java Native Interface (JNI) into the ImageMagick API.

MySQL Connector/J – The Connector/J API is developed by MySQL AG and is the official MySQL JDBC connector. This connector provides fast and easy interfacing with your MySQL databases.

Lucene - Apache Lucene is a high-performance, full-featured text search engine library written entirely in Java. It is a technology suitable for nearly any application that requires full-text search, especially cross-platform.

Lenya – This project of the Apache Software Foundation is an open source Java/XML based Content Management System and comes with revision control, site management, scheduling, search, WYSIWYG editors, and workflow.

Cocoon - Apache Cocoon is a web development framework built around the concepts of separation of concerns and component-based web development. Cocoon implements these concepts around the notion of 'component pipelines', each component on the pipeline specializing on a particular operation. This makes it possible to use a Lego(tm)-like approach in building web solutions, hooking together components into pipelines without any required programming. Cocoon is "web glue for your web application development needs". It is a glue that keeps concerns separate and allows parallel evolution of all aspects of a web application, improving development pace and reducing the chance of conflicts.

Magnolia - The leading open-source enterprise content- management-system (ECM) built on JSR-170, the standard API for java content repositories (JCR), sporting an outstanding user interface.

Tapestry - Another one of Apaches great Java frameworks.  Developed to make building a web application in Java and JSP more efficient and streamlined.  Tapestry won the 2006 Java Duke's Choice Award.

CWI also supports many other frameworks that are available and may not be as popular. You also can deploy your own custom frameworks and libraries that you have created without any problems or extra charge. If you are needing these services we would recommend either the Linux Starter Plan which can have JSP/Servlet Access for only $3 extra per month or with the Linux Power Plan which includes Java hosting, JSP hosting and Servlet support by default. CWI also provides java hosting containers on our dedicated servers on a by request basis. This means we can install and configure Resin or Tomcat for your own dedicated environment.