Free Open-Source High – Availability Solution for Java Web Application Using Tomcat And MySQL

Abstract

With the growth of the internet, the number of web applications is also growing. Many web applications are becoming more important to the stakeholders that they cannot afford downtime which can cause loss of revenue, loss of productivity, etc. In the past, only big organizations with deep pocket could afford implement high-availability for their web application, but nowadays there are free open-source software programs that support high-availability feature available to everyone. This research studied the feasibility of implementing high-availability for Java web application system without using commercial software. This research compared the capability of proprietary and free open-source high-availability solution for Java web application based on a simple high-availability design, where a test Java web application was deployed into the environment based on proprietary and free open-source solutions, and tested how well each solution perform when problem occurs. The result showed that the free open-source high-availability solution worked, but not as well as proprietary one. However, the proprietary high-availability solution for database did not perform well, and neither did the open-source one. This research concludes that the free open-source high-availability solution works and thus made high-availability become much more affordable, especially for individual or small organizations with budget constraints.