I'm developing application for WebSphere Application Server V8.5.5. But there is only trial - 60 days. Websphere Liberty is free. If I will be developing my application on Liberty, it will be fine on normal Application Server? Thanks for response.
asked Feb 18, 2019 at 10:06 563 1 1 gold badge 6 6 silver badges 18 18 bronze badgesI have done this for small applications, and had success. When you use Java EE APIs and their related Liberty features, you have to make sure you stick to only the Java EE 6 versions of those features if you want to maintain full compatibility since that's all WebSphere 8.5.5 supports. There are even some features, like the ones that implement MicroProfile APIs, that only exist for Liberty, not WebSphere.
You should also make sure you run the development server on the same Java SE version you'll deploy on, so you don't try to deploy an app with Java 8 language features on a Java 7-based WebSphere install.
answered Feb 18, 2019 at 14:22 1,229 6 6 silver badges 10 10 bronze badges(In case it helps at all, I wrote a bit about my use of a subset of Liberty for my tWAS application here: ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/Dougclectica/entry/… )
Commented Feb 18, 2019 at 20:57The short answer is "yes", you can develop on Liberty and deploy on traditional WAS, as long as you use Liberty features that are supported on traditional WAS (eg. currently Java EE 8 is not supported on traditional WAS).
Note that both WebSphere Liberty and "traditional" WebSphere Application Server, v8.5.5 and v9.0, are free for development use (defined as 1 developer on a physical or virtual "developer machine"). Check out this blog:
For v8.5.5, there was a free to download "WebSphere Application Server for Developers" offering. For v9.0, we changed the license so the separate Developers offering is no longer needed.
The v8.5.5 developer use is summarized in the v8.5.5 announcement letter (from way back in 2013):
Now you can get WebSphere Application Server, and the corresponding tools needed to create and develop applications, fully supported on the developer desktop as part of your WebSphere Application Server support. Customers with an active support contract for their production WebSphere Application Server are allowed to install the same WebSphere Application Server edition onto developer machines for use in development and testing. These installations of WebSphere Application Server, as well as the free to download WebSphere Application Server for Developers and WebSphere Application Server Developer Tools for Eclipse, are entitled for support on the developer machine as long as an active support contract is in place for the production server. This applies to WebSphere Application Server V8.5 and later.