iddleware products such as the Oracle WebLogic Server provide multiple services to help perform various enterprise business functions. These services include the following:

In addition to these services, there are other services such as security, for example, which is discussed in Chapter 9. This chapter focuses on the four main middleware services: naming and directory services, database services, transaction support, and messaging services. For naming services, WebLogic Server uses the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) protocol. You configure database connectivity by configuring JDBC data sources and then target those resources to the servers in a domain. For transaction services, WebLogic Server implements (and extends) the Java Transaction API (JTA). For messaging, WebLogic Server implements the Java Messaging Service (JMS) API. The loose coupling of the WebLogic Server in a three-tier system with various application components in the provisioning of the persistence services enhances the reliability of the middl....