About Enhydra.org
The Enhydra.org project is similar to Apache, but with a focus on E-Business software revolving around the application server. It now consists of thousands of developers and committers from over 50 countries! You can count on the project because it is backed by a number of commercial sponsors. Many of these are able to offer commercial products, support, consulting and training.
To get involved join up to the appropriate mail list. I suggest that enhydra-announce@enhydra.org and enhydra@enhydra.org are essential!
The website is divided into many individual projects in four areas:
The Platforms
Enhydra.org started with Enhydra, the first and leading Open Source Java/XML application server. It was initially created by Lutris Technologies, Inc an Open Source Enterprise Software and Services company. Over 4 years in development it was open sourced on Janurary 15th 1999. We christened the technology "Enhydra" after the California sea otter (Enhydra Lutris) - a popular inhabitant of Santa Cruz.
To find out more about what an application server is and why you need one, read more.
Enhydra's design and evolution was driven out of real world consulting experience and thus facilitates the rapid development and deployment of Java™ and XML based applications. A flexible development environment supports complete separation of interface design, business logic, and data objects, geared towards building maintainable applications and supporting flexible deployment scenarios.
Thanks to the fantastic Enhydra community and Enhydra.org partners, Enhydra continues to advance at an amazing pace.
The Application Servers:
The application server platform is available in two forms:- Enhydra - This is a servlet based offering, with a very big difference! While the servlet API is use to support presentation logic, the platform contains just about all enterprise level services to build extreme high volume web sites in an n-tier architecture. The architecture is designed for perfomance and in recent tests we showed that it can operate 8-10 times faster then WebLogic! Thousands of Enhydra severs are powering the Web today, some catering to millions of transactions a day. One of the most talked about features of Enhydra is its Enhydra XMLC technology - an object-oriented standards based replacement for JSP that completely separates the designer and developer. Rather than force a development environment, Enhydra provides plug-ins for the leading IDEs such and Borland's JBuilder. In addition to all this, Enhydra includes object-to-relational mapping tools, clustering web server extensions and much more. Check it out, you won't be sorry! :-)
- Enhydra Enterprise - Billed as "the only application server you will ever need" this platform is a 3rd generation design leveraging all of the capabilities of Enhydra, but adding full J2EE™ support and more importantly a JMX managed plug'n'play services based architecture that allows the platform to be configured with different size footprints depending on desired functionality. Thus J2EE™ need never be a limitation - if you need more, simply add in a new service and expand the functionality. Shortly we will be announcing a slew of additional plug-ins such as aggregated logging, scheduling, distributed time, SOAP and more. Read more about the architecture and be sure to let us know what you think. Better still, join the working groups and pitch in...
InstantDB:
InstantDB is a 100% Java relational database. It got its name because it was so easy to use it was almost "instant". Don't be fooled though, it now supports much of SQL92 and fully implements JDBC2.0! It is very efficient and has found its way into hundreds of products and devices. Ask IBM... they ship it with WebSphere!!The real power of InstantDB, will come shortly as it is made available as a service to the Enhydra Enterprise application server platform. It is destined to offer distributed and transactional deployment and namespace support. Stay tuned...
Platform Extensions and Services
When we set about designing the J2EE compliant Enhydra Enterprise we started with a clean architectural slate. Using the intellectual prowess of specialists from around the world the unique "services based architecture" was born. This allows the application server platform to be configured, even upgraded dynamically, even at run time with the required functionality. In this section of the site you will find multiple projects that implement Enhydra Services that can be used as building blocks for your ideal platform. You will find most conveniently incorporated into the Enhydra Enterprise builds, but these projects are the place to get your hands dirty.Applications
An application server is not complete without applications! This area contains projects that are building applications, or useful functionality that can be incorporated into a larger application, on top of Enhydra (both classic and Enterprise). This ares is quite new and most of the projects are in the early days - a great time to get involved.Tools & Technologies
This section contains two types of project. First you will find tools that facilitate developing with the Enhydra platform. For example, Kelp is creating Enhydra plug-ins for your favorate IDE to make programming as easy as running a wizard. The "Technology" projects are simple good ideas. Quite often they build technology that is incorporated into the application server platforms, but these projects are equally valuable outside of Enhydra. They are all easy to participate in and download independently of Enhydra.Have fun! And if you like what you find, please tell your friends...
