Java’s failure at shared hosting will contribute to its downfall
My experience with shared java hosting has been quite bad. Some time back I wrote about the problems I encountered with logging but overall, the feel I got was that J2EE just wasn’t suited for shared hosting. What was especialy irritating was the lack of control I had over the library JAR files and even my own web.xml file. The shared hosting provider even locked my web.xml file and I had to contact support if I wished to modify it! The per month cost for Java hosting was also 5 times that of the PHP hosting.
Getting good Apache + PHP + MySQL / PostgreSQL shared hosting is very simple. There are many hosting providers available and you could just browse to findmyhosting.com and quite easily pick up a reliable hosting provider. However think of shared hosting for J2EE and it’s an entirely different story.
There’s myjavaserver.com which offers free j2ee hosting, and can get you started. But what about deploying J2EE applications in production? It looks like it’s imperative that you have your own dedicated server if you wish to host Java J2EE applications in production!
I did a google search for “shared java hosting”, to check if somebody has recorded any wonderful experience he/she has had with java hosting on a shared environment. However I could not find anything except one blog by Stefan Mischook titled “Java hosting is kicking my ass!“. He concludes by saying “Java is brittle in a shared environment, hard to configure and problematic – it sucks. I think this is a symptom of the Java community’s need to over-engineer everything and shows how Java is no longer suitable for small and medium size application development.”
I have to agree with Stefan. Java’s failure at shared hosting, I think, is a very serious problem that the Java community is ignoring at its own peril.
Is something being done in the next version of enterprise java (JEE)? Have you ever had a good experience with shared Java hosting? It’s high time we stop ignoring this problem saying that Java is for enterprises who have their own dedicated servers. Enterprises constitute only a small fraction of the millions of websites out there. PHP has conquered the small and mid sized segment primarily because of Java’s failure. If hosting a Java web application was just as simple and cost effective as hosting a PHP web application, I am sure many would adopt Java over PHP.
PHP is now also taking strides into the enterprise market. Once PHP manages to come up with a good offering even in the enterprise space, Java will be in trouble. Its better if the Java community wakes up while the going’s good and tackles shared hosting issues on high priority.
This blog is an invitation for comments on shared, simple and cost effective java hosting.
>>> Harshad Oak is the founder of Rightrix Solutions and the author of the three books Oracle JDeveloper 10g: Empowering J2EE Development, Pro Jakarta Commons and Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4 (J2EE 1.4) Bible
He can be reached at harshad at rightrix dot com
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>> When Java? When PHP?
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>> Python is “cleaned-up Java”
I was trying to host some non-J2EE stuff on Lunarpages.com and was shocked to find out that they have banned many useful Java libraries.
[URL=http://desk.lunarpages.com/faq.php?do=article&articleid=120]Banned frameworks[/URL] and [URL=http://desk.lunarpages.com/faq.php?do=article&articleid=232]allowed frameworks[/URL].
Hello,
I’d have to agree – that finding good, shared hosting with J2EE is difficult to find…
I have published scripts which make this job easier, using the system I use to provide shared hosting. Of course, ‘real’ shared Java hosting is out of the question for the reasons you stated above, not to mention the security implications; So we provide users with their own private tomcat instance & JVM and add their virtual host settings and connector to Apache & mod_jk’s config.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/virtual-tomcat/
http://www.enterprise-hosting.co.uk
Hello,
I’d have to agree – that finding good, shared hosting with J2EE is difficult to find…
I have published scripts which make this job easier, using the system I use to provide shared hosting. Of course, ‘real’ shared Java hosting is out of the question for the reasons you stated above, not to mention the security implications; So we provide users with their own private tomcat instance & JVM and add their virtual host settings and connector to Apache & mod_jk’s config.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/virtual-tomcat/
http://www.enterprise-hosting.co.uk
The cost of a dedicated server is trivial compared to the costs of development. Even in the ‘not developed world’ as Guest observes. Providing good support for shared hosting only really affects hosting providers that are focusing on providing low-cost/commoditized hosting facilities.
The customization required of a good J2EE implementation is really not compatible with the approach most take to PHP development. I honestly think that criticizing J2EE for not providing good ‘shared hosting’ misses the mark.
The cost of a dedicated server is trivial compared to the costs of development. Even in the ‘not developed world’ as Guest observes. Providing good support for shared hosting only really affects hosting providers that are focusing on providing low-cost/commoditized hosting facilities.
The customization required of a good J2EE implementation is really not compatible with the approach most take to PHP development. I honestly think that criticizing J2EE for not providing good ‘shared hosting’ misses the mark.
Dedicated Servers cost more than $250 per month. That’s not worth it for most businesses in the not developed world… Even ‘enterprises’
So saying that enterprises can afford dedicated server hosting is anyway untrue.
Dedicated Servers cost more than $250 per month. That’s not worth it for most businesses in the not developed world… Even ‘enterprises’
So saying that enterprises can afford dedicated server hosting is anyway untrue.
Tried http://dailyrazor.com/? They have shared Java 5+Tomcat 5.5.x+MySQL/PostgreSQL. Administration is all through Tomcat’s web tools plus some other custom tools. It actually works pretty painlessly and is cheap.
Tried http://dailyrazor.com/? They have shared Java 5+Tomcat 5.5.x+MySQL/PostgreSQL. Administration is all through Tomcat’s web tools plus some other custom tools. It actually works pretty painlessly and is cheap.
http://rifers.org/hosting
I worked on a project a year ago for a medium sized firm. All of the pages GUI were in JSP and any complex bussness logic was independent classes. That was hosted with a shared hosting provider.
It works pritty well, although its hardly a high traffic site. I know they use Resin. It worked quite well as an alternative to PHP or god forbid VB. You just have to bring a bit of structure to the design.
I wouldnt recommand using a large frame work in a shared enviroment.
In fact the shared hosting provider activley ban you using most of them. Which is why for my own company I have a dedicated server running a Tapestry site on Tomcat (its relativly low traffic site at the momment) but relatively cheap.
http://rifers.org/hosting
I worked on a project a year ago for a medium sized firm. All of the pages GUI were in JSP and any complex bussness logic was independent classes. That was hosted with a shared hosting provider.
It works pritty well, although its hardly a high traffic site. I know they use Resin. It worked quite well as an alternative to PHP or god forbid VB. You just have to bring a bit of structure to the design.
I wouldnt recommand using a large frame work in a shared enviroment.
In fact the shared hosting provider activley ban you using most of them. Which is why for my own company I have a dedicated server running a Tapestry site on Tomcat (its relativly low traffic site at the momment) but relatively cheap.
Too bad this jsr has been around for a few years and I think they are going to finally get around to implementing it. Maybe after Mustang.
http://bitser.net/isolate-interest/slides.pdf
Too bad this jsr has been around for a few years and I think they are going to finally get around to implementing it. Maybe after Mustang.
http://bitser.net/isolate-interest/slides.pdf
Take a look at javaservlethosting.com. They are now supporting tc 5.5/java 5
Take a look at javaservlethosting.com. They are now supporting tc 5.5/java 5
Why not use VPS (Virtual Private Server) for $20/mo
(like RIMU)
Why not use VPS (Virtual Private Server) for $20/mo
(like RIMU)
In Java’s primary space, which is the enterprise world. In that world, the vast majority of companies have dedicated hosting, or self-host. Shared hosting is mostly of interest to smaller players and hobbyist, and although this is an important market in its own right, it has completely different requirements than Enterprise development, where manageability, scalability and auditability are key.
In Java’s primary space, which is the enterprise world. In that world, the vast majority of companies have dedicated hosting, or self-host. Shared hosting is mostly of interest to smaller players and hobbyist, and although this is an important market in its own right, it has completely different requirements than Enterprise development, where manageability, scalability and auditability are key.
[QUOTE]Once PHP manages to come up with a good offering even in the enterprise space, Java will be in trouble.[/QUOTE]
Possibly, but I don’t see PHP managing to come up with a good offering in the enterprise space anytime soon. As long as PHP lacks namespace support I can’t take it very seriously for large scale apps…
[QUOTE]Once PHP manages to come up with a good offering even in the enterprise space, Java will be in trouble.[/QUOTE]
Possibly, but I don’t see PHP managing to come up with a good offering in the enterprise space anytime soon. As long as PHP lacks namespace support I can’t take it very seriously for large scale apps…
Have you tried eApps?
Have you tried eApps?