Customer Reviews

IBM(R) Websphere(R) Application Server: The Complete Reference

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I rarely criticize a text book, but for this one I must make an exception. My biggest complaint is that the examples are full of errors and the procedures are incomplete - leaving out critical steps to make the procedures work. For someone trying to learn Websphere from scratch, this poses an insurmountable obstacle to learning this topic. This indicates to me a rush job putting this book to press and failure to proofread the textbook and failure to test the examples.

I could go on, but the shortcomings already expressed are, in my opinion, justification for avoiding this book.

This book is good at covering a wide range of details, but I wouldn't recommend it for an in-depth knowledge of Websphere, especially if you're a developer.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to general J2EE topics. Relatively little information is provided in regards to WebSphere. If you are wanting to learn about J2EE/EJB and an intro to WebSphere, this might be a good book. If you have plenty of books on J2EE and looking for in-depth information on WebSphere, this is not the book.

I had a very frustrating experience with this book. All I wanted to do was to try install a simple web application with a welcome page and a servlet just to get a feel. But i could not do it easily. The topic of Servlets and JSP is split across many sections with each chapter of 4-5 pages. I would have loved it if all of them had been clubbed together so I could atleast say that I know now everything on servlets. The book has over 40 chapters and tries to cover everything that IBM has to offer. Not for someone wishing to master the WebSphere Application Server. No way. I have used the WebLogic bible before and it was great.

I was looking for a book to help us integrate our product, iMercury, into IBM's WebSphere Application Server. iMercury is a 100% Internet designed java messaging product that is lightweight, self configuring, RSA security enabled, and provides automated installation and configuration. I stumbled onto Ron Ben-Natan & Ori Sasson's "IBM WebSphere Application Server: The Complete Reference". Given my past pleasant experience with their previous book, IBM WebSphere Starter Kit, I felt that this would be a good reference source for the WebSphere Application Server.

This book is ideal for developers, System Administrators, System Architects, and Managers. Developers get an overview of the different technologies with simple and clear examples. References are given if additional detail is required. System Administrators have a source which provides information on installing, starting, and troubleshooting WebSphere. System Architects and Managers will enjoy this single reference which covers all the hot internet topics from EJBs, Connection Pooling, to Web Services. I also loved the CD-ROM that comes with trial versions of the WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Server, WebSphere Studio Application Developer, and VisualAge for Java (I would buy the book just for the CD). The only part I would change is to put the last part, which deals with administrating WebSphere sites, earlier in the book.

IBM WebSphere Application Server: The Complete Reference is a comprehensive book that is an ideal for any WebSphere Administrator or Developer. It would also be very useful to any person who wants to understand the components of Internet development.

The authors give a high-level overview of the WebSphere environment, then drill down for a deep look at WebSphere's core technologies: servlets, JSP, EJB, JMS, and other J2EE support.

Also, they explain how to use Visual Age for Java and WS apps server.

A few chapters on LDAP integration and JMS messaging are really interesting.

Data Access Beans, which streamline web data access allows you to masterize the pooling connection.

some extensive tools : debugging servlets and JSP from within VisualAge; using transactions; and taking advantage of IBM's EJB extensions are well explained.

Finally, I'd say, there's also a solid coverage of WebSphere security via passwords, custom user registries, encryption, and other techniques.

If you're building WS apps, i think this book is the one u have to have.
Anyway, i'd say : how do u think about WSAD 4.0 vs WLS 7.0....!

--PR

This is one of the best development reference books I've read. On a subject that is broad and deep, Ben-Natan and Sassoon (also the authors of the IBM WebSphere Starter Kit) do an outstanding job of covering the WebSphere product line with a broad brush, while diving into detail when needed. It reads like a cross between a tutorial and a reference, and I find their prose actually fun to read (is that allowed in a technical book?).

Importantly, the book is current - WebSphere has changed significantly over the past year.

The authors of WebSphere Starter Kit did a great job again.
I missed the source code examples from the CD (and could not find a place to download from) but when I asked for it, the publisher sent it right away...

The book is extremely well structured, offering a broad scope of information for the entire horizon of users ranging from the people who want a high level understanding of the functionality and purpose of the application server, to installation details for system administration and troubleshooting purposes.

It is excellent from a developer and architect perspective as it offers a complete explanation of what the functions are, where they should be applied and how they should be coded, including sample code, covering all key areas such as JMS, EJB, web services and LDAP. Further to these the book also explains the use of other applications such as Visual Age for developing Websphere.

The book also provides a CD with trial versions of the applications including Visual Age and the Websphere Developer Studio.

All in all an excellent well thought through book offering both high level and in-depth detail of a very complex application.

We were looking for a book that would encompass a broad range of web application related features and this book really came through! I was especially glad to see Web services and J2EE discussed, and in an easy to understand, well written format. I am planning to keep track of upcoming work from the same authors!

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more not only about the websphere application server, but some other new and exciting technologies as well.

Loved the examples!