What are Web Application Servers?

Most modern software applications are used on the Internet. These computer programs require special server software to run effectively. An application server is a program that manages the resources and connectivity of a web software application. This software is responsible for the management and load of many thousands of users across a computer network.

A typical Internet software application uses many layers of technology. This is necessary to adequately manage the demand of users. Internet applications are unique because they use individual components on multiple servers. Web application servers are the middle tier components that are responsible for directing traffic from the Internet web site to a company's external systems.

Many types of web application servers are available. These range from free, open-source products to more elaborate commercial-grade applications. Each type of application server requires special training and engineering expertise to correctly manage the system.

JBoss is a free, open-source web application server. It is a good option for organizations looking for an inexpensive application server that is well accepted by the development community. There is good support and documentation available for this type of software on the Internet, which makes it a viable option for open-source servers.

Using distributed applications provides several benefits. This approach allows the sharing of computer hardware and operating systems, which saves a company money. Most web application servers can simultaneously manage dozens of software applications on a single set of hardware.

Web application servers are an important part of a distributed application design. These servers run web applications for the Internet. An application server works better than a standard client-server application. Web application servers also allow remote access and management of the computer system.

There are many software programs to help manage a web application server. These software tools include monitoring and auditing functions to manage the computer system. An application server typically requires significant hardware and memory to run efficiently. This is primarily due to the workload required by the application. A typical server will be clustered with multiple computer processing units to generate fast processing.