This JDK 1.1 tool is now available to larger developers
On June 30, 1997, JavaSoft released JavaServer Toolkit as a source-code-only product. The JavaServer team has used the Toolkit as the underlying framework for developing its Java Web Server, released on June 5. Available to larger developers interested in a source code license, the JavaServer Toolkit builds on JDK 1.1 and its technologies. This release of the Toolkit is not available to the general public, and the licensing terms are confidential to each licensee.
Among the issues most important to a broader developer audience is the need for an API and a binary form of the Toolkit, which would enable developers to write new kinds of servers without incurring the significant cost of a source code license. The Toolkit is intended for writing general server functions, such as Web servers, proxy servers, mail servers, or print servers, that can be further refined by servlets.
“We have used the Toolkit to build a Web server, Proxy server, and NC server,” said Sandeep Khanna, senior engineering manager of the JavaServer team at Sun. “Our initial licensees are acting as a reference check by using the Toolkit to build other kinds of servers with our source. For example, we used the Server Toolkit to build an NFS server for our NC server. In doing so, we had to enhance the Server API to support simultaneous TCP and UDP connections. We expect to get similar exposure from our licensees.” (Sun has not yet shipped the NC Server.)
It seems that independent application developers will have to wait for a more accessible version of the Toolkit. “JavaSoft fostered a low-margin, high-volume market for the Java Web Server, and it looks like they’ve done something very different with the Toolkit,” said James Cooper, a software engineer at Organic Online, a Web developer in San Francisco, CA. “It’s too bad the Toolkit is not yet available in bytecode. I’d be willing to spend a reasonable amount for the bytecode version.”
While initially the server applications built with the Toolkit must be deployed on their own, the JavaServer Toolkit can improve the time-to-market of network-centric servers written in Java. The foundation classes provided in the Toolkit include: Administration, Security, Thread Management, Connection Management, and Session Management.
The benefits of using the JavaServer framework for developing server-side Java products include: a network and threading framework that supports both connection- and datagram-based protocols; dynamic, remote administration via the Web; “native” Java servlet support; access controls for identity-based security; a server “sandbox” for untrusted servlets; and SSL for strong cryptographic privacy and authentication.
Contact JavaSoft at 1-800-JAVASOFT and select prompt #2 for licensing information. For those outside of North America, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands, call (512) 343-1591.
