Several Web-Application-Servers work with PostgreSQL both open-source and
commercial versions. The popular open-source Web-Application-Servers are
Perl based Application Servers like SmartWorker, WIRM, Velocigen,
Enhydra(Java) and Zope(Python) and commercial Web-Application-Servers are IBM Websphere,
BEA Weblogic.
It is recommeded that you use secure web server like Apache + mod_ssl + OpenSSL.
See Redhat StrongHold secure server at
http://www.c2.net/products/sh3.
Web Application Servers can be classified according to the
programming language which they support.
You must choose a Web Application server based on the
programming language which you like the most.
Classifications of Web Application servers are:
Based on PERL language
Based on PHP language (which is similar to PERL, little Java-like)
Based on Python language (Object oriented scripting language)
Based on Java language (Sun Microsystems Java)
Based on Tcl language (Tcl/Tk - called "Tickle" scripting language)
Perl language has a very long life just like "C" language, and Perl will be
in use for a long time in the future! Perl runs 3 times
faster than Java for some operations (but Java runs faster than perl
for some operations).
Java is a very complex system with virtual machine and interpreter which makes
it extremely slow, unstable and unreliable. Perl is very simple, fast and object oriented.
Also Perl programs can be easily compiled for even better performance. Use
Perl2Exe which is a command line utility for converting
perl scripts to executable files
http://www.indigostar.com/perl2exe.htm
The following Web Applicaiton servers are available for PERL
Mason
http://www.masonhq.com is a powerful Perl-based web
site development and delivery
engine. With Mason you can embed Perl code in your
HTML and construct pages from shared, reusable components.
BingoX
http://opensource.cnation.com/projects/BingoX
is an open source, object oriented
Web Application Framework written in
mod_perl meant to dramatically reduce the
time required to build large dynamic,
database driven web sites and applications.
SmartWorker is a collection of Perl classes that
allow you to build web applications like
they were true applications and not just HTML templates with random embedded code.
SmartWorker
http://www.smartworker.org
Apache-Perl integration project
With mod_perl it is possible to write Apache modules entirely in Perl. In addition,
the persistent interpreter embedded in the server avoids the overhead of starting an
external interpreter and the penalty of Perl start-up time.
Visit
http://perl.apache.org
and also see mod_perl_garden project at
http://modperl.sourcegarden.org
Apache::ASP
http://www.apache-asp.org
provides an Active Server Pages port to the Apache Web
Server with Perl as the host scripting language.
Apache::ASP allows a developer to create dynamic web applications
with session management and embedded perl code. There
are also many powerful extensions, including XML taglibs, XSLT
rendering, and new events not originally part of the ASP API.
WIRM (Web Interface Repository Manager) is a Perl-based
application server that provides a
high-level programming environment for developing web
information systems. The WIRM consists of an
object-relational database and a suite of Perl interfaces for
visualizing, integrating and analyzing heterogeneous
multimedia data. WIRM provides facilities for creating
context-sensitive views over a multimedia database,
allowing developers to rapidly build dynamic web sites that
adapt their content and presentation to multiple classes of
end-users.
Visit
http://www.wirm.org
EmbPerl
http://perl.apache.org/embperl
Embperl gives you the power to embed Perl code in your HTML documents. Using Perl
means being able to use a very elaborate programming language, which is widely
used for WWW purposes. You can also use hundreds of Perl modules which have
already been written - including DBI - for database access to a growing number of
database systems.
ePerl
http://www.engelschall.com/sw/eperl
interprets an ASCII file bristled with Perl 5 program statements
by evaluating the Perl 5 code while passing through the plain ASCII
data. It can operate in various ways: As a stand-alone Unix filter or
integrated Perl 5 module for general file generation tasks and as a
powerful Webserver scripting language for dynamic HTML page
programming.
XPP
http://opensource.cnation.com/projects/XPP
XPP stands for 'XPP Parses Perl' or 'XPML Page Parser', and is a
fast/efficient HTML parser that parses embedded perl, as well as
HTML like tags, from dynamic html pages called XPML pages.
Gamla - a perl-based RAD and application server
The gamla project aims to create a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool
and a web application server based on Perl.
All the source code produced by the Gamla project will be under the public domain.
Gamla at
http://gamla.iglu.org.il
AxKit
http://www.axkit.org is an XML Application Server for
Apache (and mod_perl). It provides
on-the-fly conversion from XML to any format, such as
HTML, WAP or text using either W3C standard techniques, or
flexible custom code. AxKit also uses a built-in Perl
interpreter to provide some amazingly powerful techniques for XML transformation.
The emphasis with AxKit is on separation of content from
presentation. The pipelining technique that AxKit uses
allows content to be converted to a presentable format in
stages, allowing certain platforms to see data differently to
others. AxKit allows web designers to focus on web site
design, content developers to work on a purely content basis,
and webmasters to focus on their core competencies.
Commercial Web Application Servers for Perl:
Zelerate AllCommerce
http://www.zelerate.org/html/eng/home.shtml
is a commerce, content, customer and
relationship management system. This high-performance, scalable Internet
application is written in Perl and uses a backend database.
VelociGen serves dynamic content stored in XML, the
database or live data feeds as fast as
static HTML - up to 60x faster than CGI without the need to modify your exiting application.
VelociGen also makes new development easier with server-side XML tags, crash protection
and load balancing across multiple machines.
VelociGen plugs seamlessly into any Web server on any platform, increasing
server performance and speeding the response
times of dynamic content driven web sites. VelociGen can process large volumes
of simultaneous requests as much as 10x faster than Java Servlets
and 4x faster than Cold Fusion.
Velocigen
http://www.binevolve.com/velocigen
Ariadne
http://www.muze.nl/software/ariadne
is a web application system. It consists of a
complete framework for the easy development and
management of web applications, using PHP. The system
uses a modular approach, using abstract interfaces for all
transactions. This results in maximum freedom to change
parts of the systems workings or add new functionality
without needing to reprogram other parts
Enhydra supports PostgreSQL database.
Enhydra is a immensely popular Java/XML/J2EE Web-Application-Server
created by 'Lutris Corporation'. It is the world's best Java/XML/J2EE Web-Application server.
It supports EJB, Servlets, JSP, JNDI, JDBC, JTA, CORBA, XMLC/Rocks, DODS
and internationalization.
It is used by many large fortune 500 companies in US and Europe. Companies like "French
Telecom" are directly sponsoring the Enhydra.
It is written in 100% pure Java and is available from
http://www.enhydra.org. Enhydra is a open source code project but is
commercially sold and supported by Lutris Corp. Visit
http://www.lutris.com
You would use Borland Corp's JBuilder along with Enhydra. JBuilder is at
http://www.inprise.com
Python is becoming immensely popular "pure" object-oriented scripting language.
Zope is a Web-Application server and provides interfaces to PostgreSQL.
Zope is available at
http://www.zope.org
Python is at
http://www.python.org
OpenACS (Open ArsDigita Community System)
http://openacs.org
is an advanced toolkit for
building scalable, community-oriented web applications. It relies on AOLserver,
a web/application server, and PostgreSQL, a true ACID-compliant RDBMS.
These are two high-quality products available for free under open-source licenses.
ACS is created by ArsDigita,
http://www.arsdigita.com, their ACS
(ArsDigita Community System) attempts to be as DB independent as
possible, though it is based on Oracle (hence Open ACS have to
take time out to port it).
PortalSphere Web Application Server is built in C++ and runs
on Unix (and Linux) for ultimate in speed and stability. Strictly
adhering to the CORBA standard, PortalSphere supports both the
standard Internet HTTP
communications protocol and the IIOP point-to-point
protocol for ultra-high-speed client-server
links. Coupled with direct (native) access to all popular databases,
these features give PortalSphere lightening-fast performance and the
unique inherent ability to support real-time events over the internet.
PortalSphere is - Up to 100 X faster than HTTP/CGI,
Direct (native) access to most popular databases,
Scalable to 10,000+ concurrent user sessions.
Visit PortalSphere at
http://www.portalsphere.com/overview.html.
FlashPoint C++,C,PERL Web Application Server
project exists to support high speed web application service in a
multi-threaded environment, to support a variety of development languages including C & C++, and to support good
software engineering practices to a degree difficult in many other environments. It can be used alongside Apache, and
in some instances can replace it, depending on your needs
Visit
http://www.bouldersoftware.com/products/flashpoint and download the
from
FlashPoint Redhat RPM package.
"C Server Pages"
http://cserverpages.20m.com is One efficient
and Scalable Application Server written in C/C++, which powers
web server pages written in C++
and Templates with Dynamics Elements embedded. You can use the
approach you prefer or both.
You can build your business objects using C++.
Your pages can be the CORBA clients for any ORB in the market.
Has connectivity to all SQL databases.
