Running Application Servers in Docker

In the Deploying applications to Application Servers, we explored how to utilize the deployments scan to deploy a Jakarta EE application on application servers, such as Glassfish, Payara, WildFly, Open Liberty.

With the deployments scan feature, it is easy to deploy a Jakarta EE application to an application server that running in a Docker container.

Assume you have installed Docker in your local development environment. If not, check the official Docker installation guide to install it firstly.

Payara Server

Once Docker is installed, you can start a Payara server with the dockercommand quickly.

docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 4848:4848 -v ./deployments:/opt/payara/deployments payara/server-full

If this is your first time to run this command, it will take some seconds or minutes to download the payara/server-full docker image firstly, the create a docker using payara/server-full image. Please be patient and drink a cup of coffee.

After it is running, copy the packaged war archive to the location ./deployments. The Payara server will scan the /opt/payara/deployments in docker to deploy it automatically.

More simply, you can start a Payara server by docker-compose. There is a Docker compose file docker-compose.yml available in the root of jakartaee8-starter .

Run the following command to start a Payara server using docker-compose command.

docker-compose up payara

In the docker-compose.yml , it defines a service for payara server.

version: '3.3' # specify docker-compose version

# Define the services/containers to be run
services:
  payara:
    image: payara/server-full
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "8181:8181" # HTTPS listener
      - "4848:4848" # HTTPS admin listener
      - "9009:9009" # Debug port
    restart: always
#    environment:
#    JVM_ARGS: ""
#     - "AS_ADMIN_MASTERPASSWORD=admin" #default password is `changeit`
    volumes:
      - ./deployments:/opt/payara/deployments

## WildFly Server

Similar with Payara server, start a WildFly server with docker command like this.

docker run -p 8080:8080 -p 9990:9990 -v ./deployments:/opt/jboss/wildfly/standalone/deployments/ -it jboss/wildfly /opt/jboss/wildfly/bin/standalone.sh -b 0.0.0.0 -bmanagement 0.0.0.0

When it is running, copy jakartaee8-starter.war to to the location ./deployments. It will scan it and deploy it automatically.

Alternatively, start a WildFly server via docker-compose command.

docker-compose up wildfly

The wildfly services defined in the docker-compose.yml.

version: '3.3' # specify docker-compose version

# Define the services/containers to be run
services:
...
  wildfly:
    image: jboss/wildfly
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
      - "9990:9990" # admin listener
    restart: always
    command: /opt/jboss/wildfly/bin/standalone.sh -b 0.0.0.0 -bmanagement 0.0.0.0
#    environment:
    volumes:
      - ./deployments:/opt/jboss/wildfly/standalone/deployments/   

Open Liberty Server

Start a Open Liberty Server with docker command.

docker run -p 9080:9080 -p 9443:9443 -v ./deployments:/config/dropins open-liberty:full

Instead, start a Open Liberty Server by docker-compose command. Define a service in the docker-compose.yml file.

version: '3.3' # specify docker-compose version

# Define the services/containers to be run
services:
...
  openliberty:
    image: open-liberty:full
    ports:
      - "9080:9080"
      - "9443:9443" # HTTPS listener
    restart: always
#    command: configure.sh # use for open-liberty:kernel image.
#    environment:
    volumes:
      - ./deployments:/config/dropins  

Unfortunately, there is no official Glassfish v5.1 in docker hub. There are some third party Glassfish docker images available, such as adam-bien’s docklands, jelastic/glassfish.