Hi
Can anyone help me to choose from Tomcat or Websphere web server.
regards
harish
harishreddy 
(BOB member since 2006-05-11)
Tomcat is merely a web container. Websphere (which has Tomcat built-in) on the other hand is an application server. You are comparing apple to orange.
substring 
(BOB member since 2004-01-16)
Hi
I appreciate your help but i want to know if we use Tomcat there is no need to use websphere or Vice versa.
regards
harish
harishreddy (BOB member since 2006-05-11)
Unless you are using EJB or Bean, there is no need for Websphere. It is an overkill.
XIr2 out of the box requires only Tomcat (or IIS) to host the web application.
substring (BOB member since 2004-01-16)
Tomcat is a freeware which comes free with BO XI R2. For Web Sphere you need to spend $$
The issue ith Tomcat is the version .BO XI r2 support 5.0.27 which is too old version of Tomcat ( current version is 5.5).But since BO is supporting 5.0.27 …nothing to worry
niranjan_d (BOB member since 2003-11-21)
Tomcat has limited scalability capability . You can run only one instance of java run time engine on the tomcat server out of the box which limits scalability no matter the amount of hardware (CPU’s and memory) which is a big limiting factor. The maximum amount of memory that can be handled by tomcat 5.0.27 supported by B.O in XI R2 is 1.4 GB.
On the other hand Websphere can launch multiple instances of Java run time engine out of the box and can better utilize the CPU and memory on the server. Websphere can utilize upto the maximum amount of memory on the server , in our case upto 16 GB on a 4 CPU Windows Server.
We started with tomcat server for our XI R2 environment and realized there are scalability and load balancing concerns with tomcat and are moving down the path of Web Sphere 6 Application Server Edition.
Tomcat also has other limitations based on out internal load test results that it can handle a maximum of 90 concurrent users per server or less if there are more dashboard users, irrespective of the CPU and memory on the server. Web Sphere can handle upto 400 Concurrent Users per 4 CPU server. Web Sphere Application Server Edition or Express Edition also includes the IBM HTTP Server which is more efficient in handling static content than the java app servers.
Websphere is supported by IBM where as tomcat is freeware 
!!
I like freeware but we have encountered many issues with tomcat for our XI R2 environment when the usage has increased , which is driving us down the path of Web Sphere 6.
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)
"The maximum amount of memory that can be handled by tomcat 5.0.27 supported by B.O in XI R2 is 1.4 GB. "
Is this true?
So, my server might as well only have 2 GB RAM on it?
I’m preparing to do a Java/Tomcat install on a Windows 2003 server, but if this is true, it’s a huge issue to me.
pgeadmin (BOB member since 2007-02-14)
When you running Tomcat as a single instance (default installation from B.O) , the single tomcat java instance can utilize a maximum of 1.4 Gb irrespective of the amount of the memory on the server. In our case we have a 4 CPU / 16 GB server and the tomcat service hardly exceeds 1.1 GB memory limit . When the number of concurrent users are high , tomcat crashes and the service needs to recycled frequently .
After working through this issue with B.O Professional Services consultants , it was determined that tomcat is a memory bound application with these limitations on scalability .
In the case of web sphere 6.0 , the web sphere application server edition and express edition can launch multiple tomcat java instances automatically without special configuration and utilize the maximum amount of memory available on the server.
I have requested B.O Technical Support if we could reconfigure tomcat to run multiple instances of tomcat service on the same machine and that configuration would not be recommended or supported by B.O Tech Support.
Based on all the research and recommendation from B.O Professional services and Tech Support , we had no choice but to switch to Web Sphere Application Server Edition version 6.
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/webserver/appserv/was/Appserver_Comparison.pdf
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)
What is best never has an easy answer.
I will add a few comments from my personal experience with both.
Tomcat:
- Easy to install and manage
- No cost
- Easy to manage and configure if you have a tomcat expert
- Compile of additional modules and configurations are easy
- Limited in very high user configurations
Websphere
- More robust for large deployments
- More memory intensive than tomcat
- Lag in support by BO for latest release with will frustrate your Web sphere team
- Less knowledge on the market available.
What we typically recommend (this will based on customer configuration)
Single Server (all inclusive) run Web server and BO on the same box
This is typically a Tomcat recommendation
Dedicated Web server(high volume,reliability)
If you have many session it can be useful to move the web server to another box.
If you are not a websphere shop go for tomcat and maybe use some distributed tomcat servers
Use Webshpere if it is the corporate standard and if your web team understands the lag in supported releases provided by BO.
Yes we clearly have a preference for tomcat, Another big reasons is that it is the main development platform for BO. The bugs should have been found before you get the software(it is not a guarantee but it helps). Support and expertise is widely available.
ClaireB 
(BOB member since 2002-08-09)
I remember at my old job with a telecom company. When I was the first one to develop a web application using Tomcat in the company, people went nuts! They had concerns that, unlike the commercial software, there is no “paid” tech support for Tomcat available. Since they love to spend money, I told them they can pay me the maintenance money and I’ll support it myself. 
We spent weeks to discuss back and forth on this, and we had meeting after meeting with 20, 30 people. Finally, it was a go, and you know what? The web application was used by our call centers and we never had any problem with Tomcat.
substring (BOB member since 2004-01-16)
The version of tomcat 5.0.27 supported by B.O XI R2 is a very old version and the Apache foundation itself acknowledged that were many under the hood improvements (improved memory handling) made to Tomcat 5.5 version which is currently not supported by B.O in the XI R2 Version.
Since many of the Business Objects Larger customers use Web Sphere platform , B.O as a vendor is very responsive to any issues which popup while using Web Sphere or Web Logic.
The Web Sphere 6 - Express Edition / application server edition on Windows is more of a plug 'n play application with support available from the Web Server vendors (IBM /BEA) .
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)
I’m glad I found this thread.
I’m going to go back and propose we look into using Websphere.
Our company is trying to get all applications on there anyway, this would just be an early adaptation.
Or a good example. 
Besides, I’m sure it’d run a lot better on Websphere/AIX then on Windows 2003 anyway.
pgeadmin (BOB member since 2007-02-14)
Just to update this very intersting thread, The above hasn’t been my experience in the UK. BO has said there is no problem with having multiple intsalls of Tomcat on one machine and this will not invalidate your support contract.
Mak 1 
(BOB member since 2005-01-06)
Do many people use Wbsphere now ? I want to know that .
Everyone can discuss this too ? 
Arthur Huang 
(BOB member since 2007-07-04)
We’re on the verge of making a decision and we had one thing brought up that I didn’t have an answer for:
Tomcat is: "- Limited in very high user configurations "
How high are we talking here? 100? 500? 10,000?
We have a 1000 user accounts on our BOXI system, but only a small fraction of them are on at one time.
Could we get away with a Tomcat setup?
pgeadmin (BOB member since 2007-02-14)
A Tomcat Server supports roughly 100 concurrent users per server (CPU and Memory hardly matters as long as you have a minimum
of one CPU and 2.5 GB memory) , if you have a need for multiple servers you can do the math.
Another way to improve tomcat scalability is to use VMWare to create multiple Virtual machines from one server . ( 4 CPU /16 GB Memory Windows Server can be split into 3 Virtual Machine Servers with 4 GB memory and 10 GB Disk space each.)
Install One instance of Tomcat on each virtual machine windows server and gain scalability.
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)
If I wanted to add a second and third server, is there anything specific I need to setup on them to make sure that they’ll be ready for concurrent Tomcat connections?
Right now, my secondary server has a CMS running on it.
My third server, however, only has these:
Crystal Reports Job Server
Crystal Reports Page Server
Program Job Server
Is that the same setup I’d use on a Tomcat setup? (I didn’t cluster these myself).
pgeadmin (BOB member since 2007-02-14)
Each Server running tomcat is considered independent and there is no load balancing for tomcat web server level.
If you have a Cisco CSS Router , it can do load balancing for the web servers and distribute the requests to one of the available web servers.
For more information , please take a look at the Architecture and Sizing post in the downloads section of this forum.
https://bobj-board.org/t/86530
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)
But does the .NET version of Enterprise do this load balancing? Does WebSphere?
Also, I can’t thank you enough for this help.
Also also, that link is really useful. Thanks.
pgeadmin (BOB member since 2007-02-14)
Tomcat is a java container and support sJava Infoview , if you are planning to use .NET Infoview , IIS Web Server will be a better option.
Please note that Performance Management Applications (Dashboards & Scorecards) are available in Java flavor only.
EnterpriseArchitect (BOB member since 2006-03-23)