A server is a computer that serves up applications. Any computer can be turned into a server if you install server software and connect the computer to the Internet. A number of servers are supported by the IDE.
A J2EE application server, also known as a J2EE container, is any server that is fully compliant with the J2EE 1.4 platform. Unlike a regular web server, an application server can run full enterprise applications, enterprise bean modules, and web services. It can also use Container-Managed Persistence (CMP) entity beans to handle communication with a database.
The IDE supports the following application servers:
Use this server and its libraries for the following activities:
Before you can deploy an enterprise application, web application, JSP, servlet, or EJB module, the server to which you are going to deploy needs to be registered with the IDE. When a server is registered with the IDE, its libraries are available for production, or deployment, or both. For versions of the IDE that are bundled only with the Tomcat Web Server, the Tomcat Web Server is automatically registered in the IDE. For versions of the IDE that are bundled with both the Tomcat Web Server and Sun Java System Application Server, both servers are automatically registered in the IDE. You must register all other servers yourself.
When a server is registered with the IDE, you can see its node in the Runtime window under the Servers node. When you create a project in the New Project wizard, you can select the server to which you want to deploy your application. After you create the application, you can change the server by right-clicking the project, choosing Properties, clicking Run, and selecting a different server.