Examine typical topologies and uses for WebSphere Application
Client to determine how you might use this technology.
Before you begin
This topic is one in a series of topics described in
Planning the installation.
Consider all of the planning scenarios that are mentioned in the parent
article to determine the best approach to installing your e-business
network. This topic describes installing and using the WebSphere Application
Server Clients.
Avoid trouble: ![[Updated in August 2011]](../../delta.gif)
Having
multiple WebSphere Application client installs or instances on the
same machine is NOT possible and NOT supported.
![[Updated in August 2011]](../../deltaend.gif)
aug2011
gotcha
About this task
In a traditional client server environment, the client
requests a service and the server fulfills the request. Multiple clients
use a single server. Clients can also access several different servers.
This model persists for Java clients except that now these requests
use a client run-time environment.
In this model,
the client application requires a servlet to communicate with the
enterprise bean, and the servlet must reside on the same machine as
the WebSphere Application Server.
The Application Client for
WebSphere Application Server, Version 6 consists of the following
models:
- ActiveX application client
- Applet client
- J2EE application client
- Pluggable and thin application clients
The following graphic shows a topology for installing
the Application Client and using client applications:

The example shows two types of application
clients installed in a topology that uses client applications to access
applications and data on Machine A:
- The ActiveX application client on Machine B is a Windows only
client that uses the Java Native Interface (JNI) architecture to programmatically
access the Java virtual machine (JVM) API. The JVM code exists in
the same process space as the ActiveX application (Visual Basic, VBScript,
or Active Server Pages (ASP) files) and remains attached to the process
until that process terminates.
- The J2EE application client on Machine C is a Java application
program that accesses enterprise beans, Java Database Connectivity
(JDBC) APIs, and Java Message Service message queues. The application
program must configure the execution environment of the J2EE application
client and use the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) name
space to access resources.
Use the following procedure as a example of installing
the Application Client.