I want to provide a Java-based Web Service, but I don’t require the features of a full-blown J2EE Application Server. I would like it to start as quickly as possible, though that’s not a hard requirement. The Web Service will handle multiple connections and require access to an Oracle database so it will at least require a thread pool and database connection pool. I may want to put a JSP interface onto it later to provide an internal maintainence interface.
I have looked at Jetty with an Apache CXF stack, but it looks like I’ll have to do a fair amount configuration before even coding the web service – Will it be worth it? Will it even work? Should I forget about the complexity and simply go with JBoss/Weblogic/etc and put up with the bloat and extra start-up time?
I’d go with JAX-WS RI on Jetty, Tomcat or GlassFish v3 (I do not agree with other opinions expressed here and according to my practical experience with GFv3, GFv3 offers a highly productive environment for development).
And please, don’t go Axis 2 (I won’t even talk about its architecture and horrible deployment model and packaging hell, just have a look at the JAX-WS RI 2.1 benchmark details).