WebSphere Application Server V8.5 Concepts, Planning, and Design Guide

360 WebSphere Application Server V8.5 Concepts, Planning, and Design Guide

11.5.1 Naming for applications

Try to give the enterprise archives meaningful names that clearly indicate what the application

is about. Choose a name that you, as a developer, can understand, but also that a system

administrator, deployer, or tester, for example, can understand or interpret. The same

guideline applies for the files or archives that are packaged within an application archive.

Avoid including a number sign (#) in the name of the files, because doing so causes the

deployment to fail.

Generally, a form of the version, release, modification, fix (VRMF) schema is used to organize

code and builds. Commonly, a dotted number system, such as 1.4.0.1, is used. In this way,

code management systems can be certain to identify, create, and re-create application builds

accurately from the correct source code. Systems administrators and developers know

exactly which version is used.

Append the version number to the EAR file name, such as in OrderApplication-1.4.0.1.ear.

Consider appending only relevant information to the EAR file name to avoid names that are

too long. You do not need to append the date if you correctly log the version number to that

date.

Sometimes, the version number of included components, such as utility JAR files packaged in

the EAR file, can also have version numbers in their file names. This practice can cause

problems. Consider a utility JAR file with a version number in the file name, such as

log4j-1.2.4.jar. If the number is updated to log4j-1.2.5.jar, each developer must update

the class path settings in their workspace, which costs time. Instead, use a Source Code

Management system and label the new JAR file as version 1.2.5. This allows you to keep the

file name constant, such as log4j.jar.

To track all the versions of included components, consider including a bill of materials file

inside the EAR file. The bill of materials file can be a simple text file in the root of the EAR file.

This bill of materials file includes the following information:

 Versions of all included components

 Information about the tools used to build it

 The system on which the application was built

The bill of materials file can also include information about dependencies to other

components or applications, and a list of fixes and modifications made to the release.

11.5.2 Naming for resources

When naming resources, associate the resource to both the application that uses it and the

physical resource to which it refers. As an example, you can use a data source, but the

concept holds also for other types of resources such as a messaging queue. Messaging

queues can have names related to the business activity to which they are related. Remember,

if your company already has a naming convention for other environments (non-WebSphere)

in place, consider using the same naming convention in WebSphere.

For example, assume that you have a database called ORDER that holds orders placed by

your customers. The obvious name of the data source is Order, and its Java Naming and

Directory Interface (JNDI) name is jdbc/Order.

If the ORDER database is used only by a single application, the application name can also be

included to further explain the purpose of the resource. The data source is then called

Order_OrderApplication, and its JNDI name is jdbc/Order_OrderApplication.