WebSphere is IBM’s entry into the application server market. It is a collection of tools that adapt, integrate, or provide an environment for serving Java Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications. Beneath the surface, WebSphere provides support for scaling, reliable operations, and distributed services. Besides providing native capabilities, WebSphere depends upon Web servers, database servers, Java runtimes, network services, and network security. Because of the number of services and issues involved, configuring, running, and tuning WebSphere requires both broad and deep system administration skills, combined with a knowledge of the types of applications being supported.
Neat’s book is based on his experience in developing, deploying, and managing WebSphere installations. The tone of the book is conversational. In 14 chapters, Neat discusses performance analysis; scalability and availability; WebSphere component architectures; application architectures; processor, network, and disk choices; infrastructure requirements; clustered databases; Java Virtual Machine performance issues; legacy application integration; and performance and tuning tools. Not present, by design, are detailed descriptions of most configuration parameters or tools.
Like the operational skills required, the book is broad, touching on all areas of WebSphere architecture; hardware and software selection; configuration; deployment; and tuning. However, the book is unevenly deep; many areas contain either more detail than necessary, such as a broad discussion of potential processor architectures, or less detail than one would expect, such as a lack of tuning and measurement case studies. All the same, the author does provide excellent checklists and suggestions for ways to improve the performance, robustness, and scalability of WebSphere installations.
Unfortunately, Neat’s arguments supporting the need for performance analysis rest on reasonable-looking but unsubstantiated statistics. Moreover, many of his examples, such those showing relative costs of adding more hardware to servers versus adding new servers, appear hypothetical instead of presenting hard data. In a book on performance tuning, where quality measurements are essential, this lack of hard data is disconcerting.
Given its conversational tone and broad coverage, this book should find an audience with two types of readers. First, WebSphere administrators who are looking for a bigger picture of performance analysis or for ideas on how to approach their installations will find it useful. Second, the book might find a role as a secondary text as a case study for students seeking to learn more about performance analysis. In this secondary role, Neat’s book would serve as an introduction to the issues in analyzing and improving today’s complex systems.
