SunSolve was, and still is, Sun's way of distributing patches; the equivalent mechanism at Oracle is My Oracle Support (MOS), and Gerry just announced thatSun patches now available there. This includes the GlassFish commercial patches like 128640-20, which is one of the patches in GlassFish 2.1.1 patch 6.

I just looked directly for the patch ID (using Sun's patch number), I'll try to dig more info on how to use MOS and will post it later on.

Alexis and Arun went to FISL11 at Porto Alegre (Wikipedia, GeoMap) and have provided reports including photos; see Alexis' Back from FISL, and Arun's AFISL 2010 Trip Report.

Alexis's slides are available via SlideShare: GlassFish OSGi - from modular runtime to hybrid applications and The future of the GlassFish community.  Arun's presentation was all demos, which he has also made available as a YouTube playlist.

Open Source is very strong in Brazil (see for example this post). As you can see from our GeoMap, GlassFish has a fair amount of adoption, but we need to improve our outreach. If you have suggestions or want to contribute, post them as comments on this entry, or contact us at theaquarium at sun dot com.

As promised, the big website merge, of Java.Sun.Com, Developers.Sun.Com and BigAdmin into OTN is here: as late this afternoon, the tree sites map into different sections at oracle.com/technetwork.  Read the details of the merge in Justin's post: We All Are One.

Remember: good feedback leads to happy endings - and be patient with us while we incorporate it!

One of the best features about all the versions of GlassFish 3 is how easy it is to update it through the IPS-based Update Center. The same GUI and CLI tools can be used to upgrade from 3.0 to 3.0.1, to Add or Remove components and to switch from the Open Source to the Oracle's Commercial release.

The same machinery is also used to install Commercial Patches, where it provides an experience that is much easier than in v2. With the transition to Oracle it's taken a bit to get the v3 patch pipeline, but eventually you will see the same frequency as with the v2 patches.

This all normally works through the standard repositories at Oracle but sometimes your computer has limited internet connectivity, so, what do you do? The solution is to create a local repository. This is actually Very Easy to Do (tm). And a local repository is also useful for many other things.

As you noticed if you followed the links, all these topics are now described in the, recently updated, Administration Guide; check out the Extending and Updating the GlassFish Server.

An update on some recent News on JavaOne 2010. As you know JavaOne San Francisco is Sep 19-23, 2010. The Official page has links to the Registration Page and the Online Catalog. News updates include:

• A surprisingly useful & manageable Catalog-as-tweets via @javaoneconf
• Availability of Schedule Builder (post)
• Open enrollment in Java University (post)
• Announcement of dates for JavaOne Brazil and JavaOne China (post).
• The day before there is a MySQL Sunday!
• And, the Duke Awards submissions page seems to still be active.

Also, this year will be the 15th anniversary for Java, and the 5th for GlassFish.  Don't know if there will be a BDay party for Java; still hoping we can put something together for GlassFish, we will see!

More related news are tagged JavaOne.

As everybody that does not live under a rock should know, we are in the middle of integrating Sun into Oracle, and one of the activities has been integrating the web sites. The first step was Moving the Docs, 3 weeks ago. That went pretty well... except for the ugly URLs...

I'm happy to report that, thanks to Exposure and Feedback and help from KenC, SteveH, JustinK, AdamM, HenrikS and others, the problem will be solved.

So, remember, your feedback (and your patience as we react to it!) is very important to quality. Keep that in mind as we continue our integration, including The Big Website Merge this next week.

Java SE 6 update 21 is now available (Downloads, release notes, bug fixes).

This release includes performance improvements, support for Oracle Enterprise Linux, Oracle VM, and Google Chrome, and Visual VM 1.2.2. The Java EE SDK still includes u20; an update with u21 is tentatively scheduled for next week.

The actual release was a few days ago but the official post just came out. BTW, Java SE News is now at BOC; I can't wait for BSC and BOC to be merged so we only have to track one site.

Oracle has released patch 6 for Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server 2.1.1 via SunSolve. This commercial (i.e. available to customers) patch is also patch 12 for GlassFish 2.1 and patch 18 for v2U2.

Patches are cumulative: p6 addresses 23 new fixes since p5 but includes fixes for 139 issues since 2.1.1 and 870 since 2.1U2.

GlassFish For Business (RSS) includes posts for each individual GlassFish release and also has overviews for each family (see, e.g., GF2.11p6 and GFv2 Family).

Here are some tips that have been recently published on Java EE 6 & GlassFish:

• SailFin CAFE - GreetingService Demo
• Initial support for GlassFish 3.1 in NetBeans
• CAFE : Sending large file(s) from remote client browser to a Conference using MSRP APIs
• Initial support for GlassFish 3.1
• EJB 3.1 + Hessian = (Almost) Perfect Binary Remoting
• Drupal 6 on GlassFish 3 with Quercus using NetBeans 6.9 in less than 5 minutes
• Websocket/Comet survival guide to Proxy, Firewall and Network Outage
• Using btrace with Glassfish v3
• Apache, (SSL), mod_proxy and Glassfish 3
• An Eclipse / GlassFish / Java EE 6 Cookbook
• RESTful service with JAX-RS (and JPA 2 for the access to the data)
• Configure GlassFish v3.0.1 for Comet Support
• Glassfish over a Zone over OpenSolaris
• JavaEE 6: EJB Webservices in war
Let us know if you have seen or published a detailed tip like shown above and we'll be happy to share them.

Tomorrow is the official deadline for nominations to the 2010 Duke's Choice Award; go ahead and submit your favorite candidates.  Sorry for the short notice; I need to remember to track Blogs.Oracle.Com; I had missed the announcement when it went out last month.

Details of the award and the event at java.com/en/dukeschoice. For details on recent winners check out: 2006, 2007, 2008 (go hudson!) and 2009.

If you can't submit your nomination tomorrow, check out if the submission page is still up; sometimes it stays on for a few days over the official deadline.

My recent entry at GlasFish For Business on Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 was interpreted by some as indicating that Oracle had changed significantly the distribution model of GlassFish from what Sun did. I believe I clarified the situation but this seems a good time to update the old No Bait-and-Switch post from 2007.

Oracle provides two main distributions of GlassFish: the GlassFish Server Open Source Edition and the Oracle GlassFish Server, both delivered using IPS packages. The GlassFish Server Open Source Edition is available under an Open Source license. The Oracle GlassFish Server builds on that distribution adding Oracle branding elements and AddOns - currently only the Oracle GlassFish Server Control - and is available with the standard Oracle evaluation and production licenses.

The Open Source distribution is supported by the Community. Oracle only provides commercial support for the Oracle distribution but switching from one to the other only requires a couple of commands to add the extra IPS modules.

A key difference between the two distributions are the licenses. As the name indicates, the GlassFish Server Open Source Edition is available with CDDL and GPLv2 licenses, while the Oracle GlassFish Server is available under an OTN evaluation license, or a for-fee, production license. The arrangement between the distributions means users can start with one and switch very easily to the other when they are ready to buy support, or when they want to try or use the features in the AddOns.

These transitions are facilitated by the consistent use of IPS as the basic packaging mechanism in GlassFish 3. All distributions (ZIP or native, for the web profile or for the full platform) include the appropriate IPS packages and can later be managed as such. IPS is also used to distribute commercial patches. In the most common case, users and customers will just use the IPS repositories hosted by Oracle, but, customers can also download a full repository from SunSolve (like this one) and use it in an offline mode.

Hope this helps. As you can see, although the technology, the names, and the bundles have changed since 2007, the Basic Model has not.

Docs moved first; the next step in the consolidation of Sun.Com web assets into Oracle.Com will be a large Website Merge" On July 19th, java.sun.com, developers.sun.com, BigAdmin will move to a newly re-architected and redesigned OTN Site. 

The new site will have 4 entry points: Java Developers, Database Admins and Developers, System Admins and Developers and Architects.  We are trying to minimize the impact but this is a big move in a pretty tight schedule, so bear with us during the move.

Justin has a FAQ on the merge that you should check out.  Also see Rick's BigAdmin Content Migrating - How to Stay Informed where he introduces the OTN Garage Blog.  Rick also has two other useful posts, one on BigAdmin channels, the other on Existing Oracle Social Channels

Together with the forum/mailing-list and the issue tracker, the GlassFish wiki is were the community meets and collaborates on the future of GlassFish. This wiki has moved over the week-end to a new infrastructure on wikis.sun.com.

We anticipate this will provide a robust infrastructure (better uptime) via a great wiki engine (Confluence) and better overall security. While the older content is still available, note that it is now in read-only mode.

The migration of the GlassFish Wiki is now complete. From now on, please use : http://wikis.sun.com/display/GlassFish. You'll find a few notes on the migration (FAQ, Wiki syntax, Known issues, ...) here.

Former Sun employees already have an account: first.last@sun.com / LDAP password.
Oracle employees should apply for an account here.
Other community members should apply for one here (assuming you don't have one already).

We're hoping to see you all on our new wiki!

A quick note to share the availability of two more GlassFish screencasts aligned with the recent release of Milestone 2 of version 3.1.

The two 5-minute screencasts focus on more clustering (ssh-based) features and websockets support (Grizzly-powered). Some more details, including links to detailed instructions, are available here

Both screencasts have been added to the GlassFish Channel. Make sure you subscribe to this channel to be notified when new screencasts are being posted.

As part of the integration of Sun.Com web assets into Oracle.Com, last week we moved a number of "framed" documents to new locations at download.oracle.com. Redirects should make the whole thing work transparently so please let us know if you see any broken links in this area (and, yes, the link to the SCA file broke - again).

The list of documents that have moved make for a trip down memory lane; they include the APIs for J2EE 1.2.1, J2EE 1.3, J2EE 1.4, Java EE 5 and Java EE 6, and the tutorials for SunOne (J2EE 1.3-based), J2EE 1.4, Java EE 5 and Java EE 6, as well as the First Cup of Java EE.  Note that the Tutorial for J2EE 1.3 based on the RI has not moved (yet) because it does not use frames.

Summer is here (and so is the World Cup), but the traffic on the GlassFish aliases is going up as we continue to move towards GlassFish 3.1.

Last week was Milestone 2 which included several demos: SSH-based cluster management, Deployment and WebSockets (scripts only so far, screencasts on the way).  See Carla's post on creating and starting instances on remote hosts and also Arun's detailed TOTDs based on M2: #141: Running on Ubuntu AMI on Amazon EC2  and #142: SSH Provisioning and Start/Stop Instance/Clusters.

Also, we have restarted the Brown Bags for the development team (we did a few back in 2007). Jerome gave the first one (on Config) 3 weeks ago, and tomorrow Tom, Bhakti and Byron will present on Cluster Infrastructure Dev Test development. The BBags are intended for the DEV team but are open to all; check Rajiv's announcement for details.

Here are some tips that have been recently published on Java EE 6 & GlassFish:

• Steps to configure Verisign SSL certificate in Oracle Glassfish
• Using Tapestry Jumpstart in GlassFish 2.1
• A simple JAX-RS security context example in GlassFish
• EJB 3.1 + Hessian = (Almost) Perfect Binary Remoting
• Initial Support for GlassFish Server 3.1 in NetBeans
• SailFin-CAFE GreetingService Demo
• CAFE : Sending large file(s) from remote client browser to a Conference using MSRP APIs
• Running GlassFish 3.1 on Ubuntu 10.04 AMI on Amazon EC2
Let us know if you have seen or published a detailed tip like shown above and we'll be happy to share them.

Eclipse 3.6 is now available as a final release. This is the yearly major release for the IDE and its main projects such as WTP (the one most relevant for server-side developers). Ludo has all the details if you want to use this release with GlassFish : v3 and 3.0.1 of course but also earlier v2.x versions.

While for earlier versions of Eclipse developers had the choice of using the GlassFish Tools Bundle for Eclipse (an all-in-one bundle) or simply adding the GlassFish plugin using a pre-wired software site, it's a tiny bit more complicated for the time being with this 3.6/Helios release. You'll need to add http://download.java.net/glassfish/eclipse/helios as a new software site (preferences>install/update>Available Software Site) and install the plugin (Help>Install New Plugin) while making sure that "Group Items by Category" is unchecked.

Real soon now this feature should be on the Eclipse marketplace (check this out) and in the longer term, the GlassFish plugin is being moved to the Oracle Enterprise Pack for Eclipse (OEPE). Finally, note that no matter how you get the plugin, it'll come with full Java EE (5 & 6) javadocs. Feedback and bug reports should go to glassfishplugins.dev.java.net.

PS: it's fun to see Sun Microsystems still listed in the IDE's splash screen.

Metro 2.0 was released together with GlassFish v3 and Java EE 6 last December (2009) and had a lot in store around JAX-WS, WSIT (WS-* beyond the Java spec), and good old JAXB. As announced by Marek, it's now time for Metro 2.0.1.

Metro 2.0.1 includes JAX-WS (RI) 2.2.1 (update: see Jitu's announcement) and is already integrated into GlassFish 3.0.1 but will also work with other containers such as Tomcat. The best developer experience at this point is probably using NetBeans 6.9 but support in other IDEs are making good progress and there's of course the command-line.

Plans for GlassFish 3.1 are to integrate Metro 2.1 and offer session failover for WS-RM and SecureConversation sessions (see recent community update from earlier this month). Full details in the Metro 2.1 one-pager.

Oracle has released GlassFish 3.0.1, following the plans we had outlined in our RoadMap. The open source GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 3.0.1 was released yesterday; it was available directly from GlassFish.org and also bundled in NetBeans 6.9.  Today we released a new version of Java EE 6 SDK, based on this same open source distribution, as well as the commercial Oracle GlassFish Server 3.0.1 product which also includes some closed-source AddOns.

The release has the new Oracle branding, new support for additional platforms like JRockitm Oracle Enterprise Linux, and HP-UX, and more than 100 bugs fixed.  Maven artifacts are available as well as multi-lingual distributions.  You can download the release or just use the UpdateCenter feature to upgrade from earlier 3.x releases.

Key Links:

• GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 3.0.1 - downloads
• JavaEE SDKs (includes GlassFish Server Open Source Edition) - downloads
• Oracle GlassFish Server - home page, Official Docs
• GlassFish @ OTN
• GlassFish Roadmap (see adjustment).
• Comparison matrix (GlassFish 2.1.1 vs GlassFish 3.0.1)
• John's Announcement at USERS

Blogs and News:

• Alexis's Release Overview and French version.