Union Pacific Railroad is currently in the implementation phase of a multi-year overhaul of its enterprise Java hosting environment. The railroad is transitioning from a highly-shared, heavyweight container platform using WebLogic to a virtualized, light-weight JBoss Enterprise Web Server and JBoss Enterprise Web Platform-based environment. This solution includes Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 and KVM operating system components, which are all managed via JBoss Operations Network. This session: - Covers the standards Union Pacific Railroad uses for its environment and the implementation details that demonstrate the railroad’s usage model - Explains how Union Pacific Railroad implements real-time scalability and high availability using cloud computing concepts - Provides information about how our team uses JBoss Operations Network to manage the environment - Explains how to provide a standardized, consistent management framework for systems support While this is a moderately technical presentation, it also includes some valuable insight for technical management.

2. David A. WebsterChief Architectdawebster@up.com
Enterprise Java Hosting in a Cloud Environment
Sweta Vajjhala
Associate Project Engineer
svajjhal@up.com
Web Infrastructure
Union Pacific Railroad
24 June 2010

3. Agenda
History of WebLogic and J2EE at Union Pacific (UP)
Web Architecture Review
Support Systems
Move to Spring Framework
UP’s Hosting Environment Overview
Current
Future

4. History of Java at Union Pacific
1997
Adoption of J2EE
1995
Java introduced at Union Pacific as a supplement to mainframe systems
Groundwork for later distributed system
2000
Introduction of WebLogic 5.1 at UP
Java otherwise known as “distributed systems”
2014
Retire Mainframe Systems
2002
UP moves to WebLogic 6.1
All Java processing done inside WebLogic based on full J2EE (EJB) spec
2005
UP moves to WebLogic 8.1
2008
UP moves to WebLogic 10.3
2010
UP moves to WebLogic 10.3 and JBoss
2003
Separate JMS & Tuxedo (Jolt) introduced

5. Web Server Architecture

6. Web Request Trace -SiteMinder

7. Supporting Systems
Source Code ControlHome-grown solution
Change Control
•Based on check-out from Subversion
•Build/deploy to test
•Certify in test and deploy to production
Security (SiteMinder & LDAP)
•Each application has its own login ID
JMS
ESB
Monitoring Feeds

8. From Development to Production
Install Desktop Environment
Build initially to desktop
Deploy to DEV using desktop toolsPass user interface inspection
Deploy to TEST
using change control
Certify TEST build
PROD deploy from TEST (no builds)

9. WebLogic and the move to 10.3 (Spring)
Fall 2007
New applications adopt Spring framework
Many apps move to Stand-Alone JVMsFall 2008New Java Policy introducedDeprecated J2EE: No EJBsNo WebLogic-specific dependenciesMove to Java 6Maintain Legacy-EJB domain but at reduced SLA
Summer 2009
New Java Hosting initiative launchedDecember 31, 2010WebLogic 8.1 retires

10. Current EnvironmentOverview/Containers

11. Current EnvironmentAdvantages & Disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Multiple deployment options
Not isolated at hardwareor application levels
Provenplatform
Inefficientresource utilization
Familiar environment
No standard console management tool across development & infrastructure teams
Costs of licensing& administration

12. Java Hosting Environment (JHE) Overview
Stand-Alone
JDK 1.6

13. Java Hosting Environment Strategic Goals
Flexibility
Choices for container options and hardware resources
Standardization
Provide standardized containers, libraries, management and operational consoles, DR strategy, monitoring, logging, etc.
Availability
Provide better application isolation, both at container and hardware level
Cost Avoidance
Provide environment that better utilizes resources, provides more efficient supportability, and flatten growth in most expensive containers

14. Java Hosting EnvironmentTechnology Stack

15. Java Hosting EnvironmentPrivate Cloud
Infrastructure as a Service
RedHat Clustering & Virtualization
Platform as a Service
Java Containers
JBoss Operation Network

16. Java Hosting EnvironmentRedHat Clustering & Virtualization
Benefits
Increased flexibility for:
Administration
Capacity
Increased availability via:
Isolation
Clustering

17. Java Hosting EnvironmentTechnology Stack

18. Java Hosting EnvironmentContainer Choices

19. The Linux Side
Standard filesystem
One ID owns binaries and scripts, second ID owns instances and logs
RHQ Agent under software and instance ID
In DEV developers use instance ID via “PMRUN”
RPM and the Satellite system
RedHat binaries

20. The “Split Brain”
EWS
$CATALINA_HOME and $CATALINA_BASE both have standard Tomcat directory structure
/lib in $CATALINA_HOME forms system classpath
/conf and /webapps in $CATALINA_BASE for each instance
EWP
run –c <full path to instance>
Single set of binaries, multiple instances

21. ews_start.sh JAS-A1

22. ewp_start.sh WTG-A1 WTG-A 1

23. Desktop Development
ITL images
Custom app servers that are pushed by request
“Clone” EWS/EWP and packages of Linux configurations
Eclipse Galileo with WTP
Use same $CATALINA_HOME/$CATALINA_BASE for EWS
Same –c runtime for EWP
Dynamic Web projects with Maven facets
Allows for step debugging of web apps, including JSP

24. Spring Framework support
Class Loadtimeweaving (needed for AOP and JPA)
EWS–context.xml and Spring ApplicationContext.xml
Setenv.sh
Context.xml
ApplicationContext.xml
EWP–Spring ApplicationContext.xml and web.xml
ApplicationContext.xml
Web.xml

25. “Single pane of glass” for all Java processes
Web-based GUI for all JHE operations (start/stop/re- deploy)
Supplemental monitoring capability
JBOSS Operations NetworkOverview

29. Winning the political battle
Lay the groundwork
Establish container-agnostic development standards
“Upgrade” the existing container
Allow only apps meeting modern standards in new version
Shut down old container
Keep familiarity
Same processes
Same domain/cluster hosting model
Same development tools
Stand-Alone versus container execution of Spring services