Top 5 Application Servers for Liferay Deployments

liferay application server

We often get asked by new Liferay customers, “What application server should we deploy Liferay on?”. Our answer always starts with, ”What are you using today?”.   If your organization already runs applications using a Java stack then there’s a good chance you can leverage that experience when building out your Liferay environment.

That said, here are our top five application servers for Liferay deployments:

1. Tomcat 7.0

Tomcat is an open source web server and a supported Liferay application server developed by the Apache foundation. Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations. There’s a good chance it is running applications you are using on the Internet daily. The Tomcat application is lightweight, reliable and does its job well.

Veriday has been running Liferay on Tomcat for over five years. It has become our go-to server for new deployments.

2. JBoss 7.1 AS

JBoss is an open source application server developed by RedHat. It complies strictly with the Java EE 6.0 Web Specification and OSGi Core 4.2. If a full J2EE stack has appeal or your organization is already using JBoss internally, then it is a very good choice. This is also a support Liferay application server.

3. Websphere 8.5

4. Weblogic 12c

IBM’s Websphere and Oracle’s Weblogic are the big guns in the Java application server world. They do their job very well but they don’t come cheap. If you’re using them, then you likely have good reasons and likely aren’t looking for change. Liferay fully supports both Websphere and Weblogic environments.

5. Glassfish v3.1

Glassfish is an open source application server originally developed by Sun and now sponsored by Oracle. It’s a solid choice if you’re already using Glassfish, however, its future is gloomy.  Glassfish application server wouldn’t be Veriday’s top choice for new Liferay deployments.

A note about bundles.

Liferay is available bundled with Tomcat, JBoss and Glassfish. These bundles simplify the process of installing, configuring and running Liferay. Keep this in mind when selecting a target application server for your Liferay installation.

Application servers supported by Liferay but not making our top list include Resin, Tcat, tcServer, JOnAS as well as older versions of our top 5 picks. Your businesses experience, existing infrastructure and support needs might lead you to one of these options.

Of course, we’re always available for support in your decision making process and designing your Liferay target Architecture. From conceptual planning to implementation to technical support, we have your back when it comes to making your next online project a milestone success.