The Development of Open Source Software for Efficient Web System Construction -Supporting the construction of Web systems using Struts, Tomcat and JBoss-

The Development of Open Source Software for
Efficient Web System Construction

—Supporting the construction of Web systems using Struts, Tomcat and JBoss—

July 8, 2004
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI: Tokyo; Akihisa Fujinuma, President, CEO & COO) has developed Altostratus, an open source framework (development code name:FT-Struts), using open source software such as Struts, Tomcat and JBoss.

Open source middleware applications, such as Struts, Tomcat and JBoss, which are available free of charge and are in no way inferior to commercially available ones, are attracting attention as important system construction components. NRI's Open Source Software Center (OSSC), one of the company's initiatives to encourage the use of such open-source software, was established last year. Using the OSSC as its main vehicle, NRI has examined and assessed recommended architectures for system construction which employ a combination of open source software such as Struts, Tomcat and JBoss.

The main features of Altostratus may be summarized as follows:

	It is an open source framework which provides the functions needed to develop Web applications using EJB (Enterprise JavaBeans), in a way to add them to Struts.
	It provides various functions, such as calling EJB from Struts, automatically acquiring user's attributes at the user authentication, relaying data between screens without using session objects and expanding access logs for audit trails and troubleshooting (Figure 1)
	Its use enables more efficient development of web applications.

Furthermore, in Altostratus the fundamental functions required by a business system infrastructure, such as log recording, queuing or cache processing, are separated. The implementation of these functions is usually dependent upon the web application server. By separating the implementation of fundamental function layers from the interface, a system architecture using Altostratus will make it possible for system development to be independent of the web application server. (Figure 2)

NRI has developed and supplies "Object Works" as an application development framework to improve the productivity and quality of web system development. NRI will encourage web system construction by using "Objectworks" for corporate information systems with mission critical requirements and by applying open source software, including Altostratus, to systems which need the advantages offered by open source.

"Altostratus" is scheduled for disclosure as open source in the future. Mainly through the OSSC, NRI will continue its activities for promoting the diffusion and application of open source software to corporate systems.

{Figure 1} Major functions of Altostratus

Function	Outline
EJB calling function	Calling EJB from Struts as a business logic
User authentication support function	Taking and holding user attribute information–e.g. member organizations and Japanese names —from a database at each user authentication.
Inter-screen data transfer function	Sharing data between screens without using session object. Invoked when multiple windows are used, where data sharing via session object is inconvenient.
Double-transmission protecting function	Preventing system problems caused by incorrect operation such as double-clicking an execute button or clicking an execute button immediately after clicking the "Return" button.
Access log extension function	Recording in an access log data that are input into and output from a web server, so as to make them available for later use in troubleshooting and audit trails.

[For general inquiries, please contact:]
Masaki Yokoi/Takeshi Nomura
Corporate Communications Department
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd.
Phone: +81-3-5255-1981
E-mail: kouhou@nri.co.jp

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