12/09/2003

JBoss Group, provider of “the most popular Java application server,” unveiled JBossCache, “a new generation of cache technology that unifies all caching on the JBoss application server into a single implementation.

“JBossCache is the backbone for clustering on JBoss and implements an aspect-oriented programming (AOP) framework that significantly improves replication and speeds performance without compromising on fault-tolerance or reliability.

”JBossCache features a tree-structured replicated transactional cache, which can be used for replication of serializable keys and values, and an AOP-enabled subclass, which allows for replication of any plain old Java objects (POJOs). These combine to enable a host of new services, previously unavailable, which will be integrated with JBoss,” JBoss says.

"Cache technology has always had to trade off between high reliability or high performance," said Bela Ban, developer at JBoss Group and lead developer of JGroups, a JBoss Group-sponsored open source project. "With its flexible configuration, plus the AOP functionality, JBossCache can be used both as a high-performance or a high-reliability cache, all provided by the same code."

JBoss explains that, “JBossCache can be either local or replicated. JBossCache performs basic functionality such as locking, replication and transaction management, all of which can be configured. The AOP subclass takes JBossCache functionality to the next level and enables Java objects with AOP capability. That is, it allows objects to be inserted and replicated transactionally between nodes in a cluster. The AOP-enabled cache automatically analyzes an object when it is inserted in the cache and knows exactly when any field has been changed. Auto-detection of modifications substantially cuts down on network communication, resulting in improved performance and speed.”

JBossCache will feature the following services, AS DESCRIBED BY JBOSS:

• JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Service), a fail-safe lookup service that will be distributed



• HTTP Session Replication, which is critical for integrating the Tomcat Web container, making transactions available on all nodes, so a server crash is invisible at the application level



• Stateful Session Bean (SFSB) Replication, which allows objects to be replicated to all servers



• Entity Bean Replication, which is important for clustering. This allows caching of entity beans without going to database or having to serialize those objects. The ability to cache in memory, locally results in huge performance gains, in some cases speed increases by a factor of 20.