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App Server in DevOps

App Server in DevOps

$249.00
How you learn:
Self-paced • Lifetime updates
Toolkit Included:
Includes a practical, ready-to-use toolkit containing implementation templates, worksheets, checklists, and decision-support materials used to accelerate real-world application and reduce setup time.
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This curriculum spans the technical breadth of a multi-workshop program focused on enterprise middleware integration, comparable to an internal capability build for standardizing and operating application servers across CI/CD, security, and cloud infrastructure teams.

Module 1: App Server Selection and Standardization

  • Evaluate Jakarta EE compliance levels across Open Liberty, WildFly, and TomEE when integrating with existing enterprise APIs.
  • Decide between embedded versus standalone app server deployment based on microservices packaging requirements and CI/CD pipeline constraints.
  • Standardize JVM version and garbage collection configuration across app server instances to ensure consistency in performance testing and production.
  • Assess licensing implications of commercial app servers (e.g., IBM WebSphere, Oracle WebLogic) in containerized environments with dynamic scaling.
  • Document supported app server versions and patch levels in configuration management databases (CMDB) to enforce deployment governance.
  • Balance startup time and memory footprint of app servers when selecting between full-profile and web-profile distributions for cloud-native workloads.

Module 2: Configuration Management and Immutable Deployments

  • Externalize app server configuration (e.g., data sources, JMS queues) using ConfigMaps in Kubernetes while preserving environment-specific overrides.
  • Implement configuration drift detection by comparing running app server configuration against source-controlled manifests using tools like Ansible or Puppet.
  • Build immutable app server images with baked-in security patches and configuration to eliminate runtime dependency on remote configuration servers.
  • Manage sensitive app server settings (e.g., keystore passwords) using HashiCorp Vault integration instead of environment variables in deployment manifests.
  • Version app server configuration artifacts alongside application code in Git to enable rollback and auditability of configuration changes.
  • Enforce configuration consistency by disabling admin console and JMX remote access in production-deployed app server images.

Module 3: CI/CD Pipeline Integration

  • Integrate app server packaging steps (e.g., WAR assembly, deployment plan injection) into Jenkins or GitLab CI pipelines using Maven or Gradle.
  • Validate app server deployment descriptors during pipeline execution to catch schema violations before promotion to staging.
  • Use build-time scanning of app server images for CVEs via Clair or Trivy before pushing to private registries.
  • Orchestrate blue-green deployments of app server instances using Argo Rollouts or Spinnaker to minimize downtime during updates.
  • Automate smoke testing of app server health endpoints post-deployment to verify application context loading and datasource connectivity.
  • Implement pipeline gates that prevent deployment if app server thread pool or connection pool settings exceed defined thresholds.

Module 4: Security Hardening and Compliance

  • Disable outdated SSL/TLS protocols and ciphers in app server configurations to meet PCI-DSS compliance requirements.
  • Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) on app server administrative interfaces using LDAP or SSO integration.
  • Rotate keystores and truststores automatically using scheduled jobs and integrate with enterprise PKI systems.
  • Remove default applications and sample content from app server installations to reduce attack surface.
  • Enable request filtering in the app server to block malicious URL patterns and HTTP methods at the container level.
  • Log app server security events (e.g., failed logins, deployment attempts) to a centralized SIEM using syslog or JSON formatting.

Module 5: Monitoring, Logging, and Observability

  • Expose app server metrics (e.g., thread usage, session count) via Micrometer and scrape them using Prometheus for long-term trend analysis.
  • Inject correlation IDs at the app server level to maintain trace context across distributed transactions in OpenTelemetry pipelines.
  • Configure asynchronous logging in the app server using Logback or Log4j2 to prevent I/O bottlenecks during high load.
  • Set up alerts on app server-specific conditions such as stuck threads, classloader leaks, or connection pool exhaustion.
  • Aggregate app server logs using Fluent Bit and route them to Elasticsearch with index retention policies aligned to compliance.
  • Use JMX exporters to monitor MBeans from non-JVM monitoring tools without enabling insecure remote JMX access.

Module 6: High Availability and Clustering

  • Configure session replication in clustered app servers using in-memory data grids like Hazelcast or Redis instead of file-based persistence.
  • Design load balancer health checks to validate both app server liveness and application readiness endpoints separately.
  • Implement sticky sessions only when required by legacy applications, preferring stateless designs with centralized session stores.
  • Test failover scenarios by simulating app server node outages and measuring session recovery time and transaction loss.
  • Coordinate cluster membership and deployment synchronization using Consul or ZooKeeper in dynamic cloud environments.
  • Size thread pools and heap allocations based on expected concurrent load per node to prevent cascading failures during traffic spikes.

Module 7: Scaling and Performance Tuning

  • Profile application response times under load to identify app server bottlenecks in connection pooling or JSP compilation.
  • Adjust garbage collection settings (e.g., G1GC region size) based on heap dump analysis and pause time requirements.
  • Pre-warm app server instances in autoscaling groups by triggering context initialization before routing traffic.
  • Limit concurrent deployments to app server clusters to prevent resource contention during peak business hours.
  • Use JVM-level flight recording to diagnose performance issues in production without enabling verbose logging.
  • Validate scaling efficiency by measuring request throughput per CPU core across different app server instance sizes.

Module 8: Disaster Recovery and Lifecycle Management

  • Define RTO and RPO for app server-hosted applications and align backup strategies for deployment artifacts and configuration.
  • Test disaster recovery runbooks by restoring app server environments from backup in an isolated recovery zone.
  • Automate backup of app server configuration and deployed applications using scheduled scripts integrated with version control.
  • Decommission outdated app server versions by tracking application dependencies and coordinating with development teams.
  • Maintain offline copies of approved app server installers and patches for air-gapped environments.
  • Enforce lifecycle policies that automatically flag app server instances running unsupported versions for remediation.
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