Introducing the GAS

The Genero Application Server (GAS) is an engine that plugs in to a Web server for the purpose of delivering Genero Web applications and services. A general knowledge of how the GAS operates can be helpful in the planning and deploying of Web applications.

The GAS manages the Genero Browser Client or the Genero Desktop Client application requirements of the Web server. It uses dispatchers and proxies to optimize reliability, performance, and integration in Web servers. The dispatcher handles the GAS configuration and keeps a persistent session table of all proxies for the Dynamic Virtual Machine (DVM) or runtime it starts.

In development environments, it is possible to exclude the Web Server and run applications as standalone on the GAS. The httpdispatch is the standalone dispatcher used to connect to applications from the local machine. From version 3.10 onwards a GAS written in Java (JGAS) can be packaged in a Java Web Archive (war) file and applications can be run as standalone without the need for a separate GAS installation or a Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) server.

A brief summary of some of GAS features are described:

  • Connections between the DVM and the front-end are handled by the GAS in a one-to-one relationship. The GAS manages an application session and provides a debugging and logging mechanism for dispatchers and proxies. Session information is saved in case the Web server fails, which allows for the application to continue when the server restarts.
  • The GAS features a command line tool (gasadmin), which allows you to perform several administration tasks including stopping a DVM, if required, without affecting any other applications that are running concurrently on the server.
  • The GAS supports a timeout feature called AUTO_LOGOUT which can be configured to log out a user and display a log out page after a specified time of user inactivity on a GUI client.
  • The GAS allows for user authorization and authentication to be implemented via delegation and Single sign-on.
  • A GAS installation is required if you provide Genero Web Services (GWS) servers because it is designed to manage a pool of connections for clients accessing your Web services.
  • Applications that are deployed to run on a GAS on a Web server can be easily configured based on default application configurations and resources defined in the GAS configuration file as.xcf.

For more information, refer to the Genero Application Server User Guide.