Special Edition Using Java™ 2 Enterprise Edition

How Enterprise JavaBeans Are Packaged

One of the disadvantages of a graphical deployment tool is that it is often cumbersome when you just need to make a quick change. Some companies also make a policy of doing a software build every night, and those builds must be automated. It is much easier to automate EJB builds and deployments when you don't need to go through a graphical tool.

You can build an EJB JAR file manually, just by creating one or two XML deployment descriptors that describe the bean or beans you want to deploy. According to the EJB specification, the only deployment descriptor you are required to provide is a standard one called ejb-jar.xml. Some EJB vendors such as WebLogic, however, require an additional file that fills in some ...