Red Hat and Microsoft have collaborated to bring enterprise solutions to Java Enterprise Edition (EE) / Jakarta EE developers with solution templates on Azure Marketplace. Deploy Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) on Azure Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Virtual Machines (VM) and Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) if you are migrating away from proprietary application servers to a production supported open source application server or from on-premises to the cloud.
Red Hat and Microsoft
The Azure Marketplace offerings for JBoss EAP on RHEL is a joint solution from Red Hat and Microsoft. Red Hat is the world's leading provider of enterprise open source solutions and a contributor for the Java standards, OpenJDK, MicroProfile, Jakarta EE, and Quarkus. JBoss EAP is a leading open source Java application server platform that is Java EE Certified and Jakarta EE Compliant in both Web Profile and Full Platform. Every JBoss EAP release is tested and supported on a variety of market-leading operating systems, Java Virtual Machines (JVMs), and database combinations. Microsoft Azure is a globally trusted cloud platform with a range of services from VMs on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to platform as a service (PaaS). This joint solution by Red Hat and Microsoft includes integrated support and software licensing flexibility. Read the press release from Red Hat to learn more about the collaboration and JBoss EAP on Azure.
Why JBoss EAP and RHEL?
Customers heavily invested in Java EE / Jakarta EE who want to migrate to the cloud while preserving their investments with open-source solutions can utilize JBoss EAP on Azure RHEL VM/VMSS solutions. This reduces the time, complexity, and cost of migrating Java applications to Azure as it is fully supported and offers flexible subscription choices with Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) and Bring-Your-Own-Subscription (BYOS) options. With the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) PAYG option, your operating system can be more secure and up to date with Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) on Azure and can benefit from running older versions with the Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS) option.
Azure Marketplace Offerings
The Azure Marketplace solutions use the latest versions for RHEL, JBoss EAP, and OpenJDK for production deployments. JBoss EAP is offered only as BYOS, and you can select either BYOS or PAYG for RHEL. Once deployed, you can perform an upgrade by running the *yum update* command. These Marketplace solutions create the Azure compute resources to run JBoss EAP on RHEL. Solution configuration includes stand-alone and clustered mode on Azure VM and VMSS.
Support and subscriptions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is available as on-demand PAYG or BYOS via the Red Hat Gold Image model using Red Hat Cloud Access. To use RHEL in the PAYG model, you will need an Azure Subscription. Red Hat JBoss EAP is available through BYOS only for now. Customers will need to supply their Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) credentials along with RHSM Pool ID showing valid JBoss EAP entitlements when deploying this solution.
If you are a new JBoss EAP customer and don’t have a Red Hat subscription, create an account on the Red Hat Customer Portal and you can work directly with Red Hat to get set up. Red Hat provides a variety of flexible billing options.
Benefits of using Azure VMs and VMSS
With Azure VMs and VMSS, you get built-in identity with AAD, Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC), networking, data, storage, and security management. You can troubleshoot with Serial Console or enterprise support and have cloud spend transparency with Azure Cost Management.
In addition, JBoss EAP on VMSS allows automatic scaling of resources, up to 600 VMs. VMSS supports integration with a load balancer or Application Gateway. High availability and resiliency are available across single or multiple Data Centers. VM instance scaling can automatically increase or decrease in response to demand or a defined schedule that you can set after template deployment.
Customers will receive integrated support from Microsoft and Red Hat for any production issues with JBoss EAP on RHEL VM and VMSS solutions.
Migrating to JBoss EAP on Azure
The Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications (MTA) is a collection of tools that support large-scale Java application modernization and migration projects across a broad range of transformations and use cases. It is recommended to use MTA for planning and executing any JBoss EAP-related migration projects. It accelerates application code analysis, supports effort estimation, accelerates code migration, and helps you move applications to the cloud and containers. MTA allows you to migrate applications from other application servers to Red Hat JBoss EAP.
Image 1 - Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Applications Dashboard
Interested in Other Azure Hosting Options for Red Hat JBoss EAP?
JBoss EAP is also available on Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO) and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (for multi-cloud strategy) if you are looking for a container-based solution. For a managed hosting option, try JBoss EAP on Azure App Service (in preview). These services include integrated support where you can start your ticket with either Microsoft or Red Hat. So, the real question should be “How much control do you want or need?” Check out the flow chart and technology stack images below to help you identify the best-suited service for your JBoss EAP apps on Azure.
Image 2 - Migration Paths to Red Hat JBoss EAP on Azure
Image 3 - Comparison of Customer vs. Cloud Provider Responsibilities for JBoss EAP Hosting Options on Azure
Try it!
Here are great resources to help you get started.
- Get started with JBoss EAP on Azure Marketplace -- https://aka.ms/AMP-JBoss-EAP
- Migrate to JBoss EAP on Azure inquiry -- https://aka.ms/JavaCloud
- More on Red Hat workloads on Azure -- https://aka.ms/redhat-docs
- JBoss EAP for Azure App Service -- https://aka.ms/jboss-app-service-overview
