Sun releases open fork of Sun Java System Web Server

Sun Microsystems has released the open source fork of its Sun Java System Web Server 7.0 (SJSWS) as Open Web Server 1.0. Open Web Server is a BSD licensed fork of Sun's proprietary web server, previously known as Sun ONE Web Server, or iPlanet Web Server, and originally developed by Netscape as Netscape Enterprise Server. Sun plans to continue development of SJSWS and say it may integrate features and bug fixes into the Open Web Server project, as well as adding enhancements from the open source version.

The fork does not contain a complete set of the SJSWS 7.0 functionality. A chart on the Sun Wiki notes that the Open Web Server lacks an administration GUI or CLI, installer, SNMP management and support for Java content, WebDAV, Search or NetBeans. What it does have though, is SSL and ECC support, native monitoring, access control lists and LDAP support.

The Open Web Server is now part of the OpenSolaris project's Web Stack, and will be governed by OpenSolaris processes. The Web Stack project already integrates the Apache HTTPd server, MySQL, PHP, PostgreSQL, Ruby on Rails, Squid and memcached. It is possible that the Open Web Server could become an optional replacement for the Apache HTTP server and Squid proxy. A review of SJSWS in 2007, benchmarked the server at around twice the speed of Apache's server. Details of the project can be found on the Sun hosted Open Web Server wiki and build instructions are provided. Currently, there is no pre-built binary of Open Web Server available.

(djwm)