Oracle WebLogic Server Reviews

We are a software solution provider and I am a Java software developer. When I deploy my work, I use an application server like Oracle WebLogic. 

We have not deployed this product for our own use, but rather for a client. It is being used as a SOAP solution for a backend service for a BASE24-eps ACI product. 

The most valuable feature is the performance.

It has good integration with security features, including OWASP.

We have had some problems with cluster solutions when working with a WebLogic domain. It may be because the error codes and error information is poor.

In the future, I would like to see better support for the REST interface.

I have been working with Oracle WebLogic for about three years.

We're having trouble with the stability of this solution.

In our country, we have had trouble with scalability because the DPS is lower.

Our client is a large company, but the market as a whole is small.

The Oracle team is not a good provider when it comes to supporting. They do not have good knowledge of the technical aspects, so Google is better.

The documentation is really good. The community is also good, although the documentation is better.

The initial setup is straightforward. It is not complex.

The deployment takes approximately two weeks at the client's site, on-premises. The total time it takes for implementation is perhaps three months.

In our country, this is an expensive product.

My client is moving from Oracle to a Red Hat solution. The main driver is that it is open-source.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

Primarily we deploy WebLogic both as an in-house and a private cloud-hosted server solution for our customers. We have got a couple of different use cases as per specific clients. Our personal use case is just to understand its functionality deploy it to adapt to client needs.  

The most valued feature is probably simply just the overall functionality. The product has a lot of versatility as far as what we can do with it and that flexibility is valuable in our ability to leverage deployments.  

We have some pain points with the product. First of all, we know that the Oracle-related WebLogic updates tend to be a little volatile. That is in regards to their regular updates. They do quarterly security patch updates.  

People do the updates and over a period and for some of them the updates lead to the product becoming unstable. The updates do not always apply correctly. If there is something that is a little bit off — say, if a customer has installed an extra piece of software or something to modify the system — this can create issues. There are a lot of reasons that can cause WebLogic updates to end up making the whole system unstable.  

Having to do with that update issue, we would like to see Oracle add the Diagnostic Pack back in. They used to have it included with the product and it was removed. There is another piece that was also useful in helping with product analysis and stability that they took out after 10g. Right now these helpful modules are just add-ons. Really they should be part of the standard package.  

We have got a couple of other smaller problems, but right now our main problem is the Oracle CPU updates. They are timely, but primal as far as installations.  

We have been working with Oracle WebLogic Server for a little over five years.  

Besides some issues with updates, the product has been pretty stable for us. The instability that we sometimes experience is not necessarily the fault of the product itself and likely is linked to modifications. I can not downgrade the stability of WebLogic based on trying to make the product do something that it was not exactly designed for.  

The scalability of the solution seems to be fine. We use the standard edition; we do not use the enterprise level, so I do not have direct experience with the enterprise version. We have been talking to Oracle about changing that and possibly upgrading. They are currently setting up a proof of concept for us, but we have not completed that evaluation yet. The enterprise package would hopefully provide even better opportunities to scale.  

We are pretty good at doing our own technical support and supplying it for our clients. The biggest problem right now is versioning. As they update versions we have had to buy extended support to cover potential issues with older versions.  

Oracle has quarterly updates, but the licensing fees are annual. In our case, the licensing runs into the thousands as an annual cost. But the pricing depends on the model that you have adopted.  

As we go through our contracts and bring on new clients, it is just a part of our normal due diligence to review new products and compare what is available on the market to make sure that we are using the best technology. "The best" is not necessarily the most current, and it is better to describe it as "the best" because newer is not always better. Mature options can evolve and sometimes that result is better than using an otherwise immature solution just because it is new. We just look at options and fit them to use cases.  

My advice to people considering WebLogic as a solution is to do the same thing that we do right now and what we make sure our clients do. Doing due diligence is not really an option. You have to make sure that a solution — any solution you are considering — matches up with the use cases you are planning to deploy it for. There is no point in investing in the wrong solution.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Oracle WebLogic Server as a seven or eight. If I had to choose between those, I would say seven. It could easily be better and that really detracts from the user and administrative experience.  

We use it for the deployment of the enterprise's internal applications. 

It has helped us to have different clusters within different servers, which allows us to identify hacker attacks.

The possibility of having several servers running, so we do not lose the service.

The logs consultant, since it tends to be more in the server, we do need complete consult logs for a lot of different files.

Technologically, the product offers excellent performance and high reliability. Because it is an application platform on which applications and products are deployed, these are probably among the most important features. For administration purposes, it also offers a robust and easy-to-understand interface. Performance monitoring tools are also comprehensive.

I have used it for four years.

It is a complex product with many "moving parts". Installation, upgrade and patching are probably the most challenging administration tasks. Individual components may need to be upgraded to support the deployed applications, and yet these components and their patch level have to be compatible with each other. One should not underestimate the human administration requirements for the product, although these are not that far out of line when compared with similar products. This can be somewhat complex technology.

Oracle Technical Support tends to be excellent in general, and that extends to this product as well.

Initial setup is straightforward, but as noted, ongoing maintenance requires a significant investment in time, effort and technical administration expertise.

As an IT consulting firm, we handled implementation in-house. A full range of in-depth skills are needed, especially in troubleshooting issues and for ongoing maintenance. One needs not only senior-level WebLogic Server experience, but also experience in the related technologies such as Java, virtual machines, Linux OS, among others.

Once again, the model for Oracle technology in general, applies to this product. For the most part, Oracle is a technology leader in the functionality of the products it delivers, such as this application server, the database server, BI and analytics and others. But they are also among the more expensive for initial licensing and for ongoing product support. The products likewise require a high level of expertise. It is clearly a high-end, enterprise-scale solution, and pricing reflects this. At the same time, absolute costs and ROI based upon successful deployment and use of technology are not exactly the same.

There are many valuable features in Oracle WebLogic Server. For sure, production redeployment is one of the best, in order to deploy the new version of your application without removing the old one. Also, Exalogic optimizations provide the best performance for I/O and thread management when using WebLogic Server on Oracle Engineered Systems. Finally, the Active Grid Link datasource: When connecting to Oracle RAC Database, it guarantees Fast Connection Failover and Connection Load Balancing.

Another important feature is workload separation that can be achieved using custom Work Managers or Multitenancy (in the new 12.2 version).

Thanks to WLST, we were able to standardize the deployment of standard WebLogic components (for example, JMS server, migratable targets, datasources, ...).

So, we can improve the quality of change management and reduce the time and the effort needed. We use also WLST to stop/start WebLogic domains and we apply best practices after domain creation.

The one thing I really miss is the possibility to define a metric extension (on Enterprise Manager) that uses a custom WLST script on a managed server target.

Oracle WebLogic Server is not fully integrated with Oracle Enterprise Manager. Most of the operations are available from Enterprise Manager, but you still need the WebLogic Administration Console as a graphical interface.

Oracle Weblogic Server has its own web interface (Administration Console) to monitor/change the configuration of a weblogic domain.

Not all the operations can be done using Enterprise Manager Cloud Control, but, in particular, I would like to create metric extensions using wlst scripts to implement custom metrics.

I have used it for about five years. We started with the 10.3.3 release.

The most critical issue is with Oracle Service Bus. There are limitations for configuration or deployment changes in production environments; in particular, when activating changes in SB Console, during high load, sometime deadlocks are generated inside the JVM, which requires restarting the JVM itself.

I have not encountered any stability issues.

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

Customer service is 7/10.

Technical support is 7/10.

We use different kinds of application servers. The choice of type depends on the situation and on the environment.

The basic installation is simple. The Configuration Wizard helps you to easily create your domain.

After that, you need to define a set best practices (JDBC transaction log, active grid link datasource, JTA and so on).

We implemented it by ourselves.

WebLogic provided the foundation to install ExaLogic.

Before choosing this product, I did not evaluate other options.

If you are interested in Oracle Fusion Middleware products (Business Intelligence, Oracle Service Bus, Identity Management, etc.), I suggest before installing a standard WebLogic Server: investigate the installation, the configuration, the high availability and backup/restore. Also don't forget to apply patchset updates and recommended patches, to avoid known bugs or issues.

Administrative console, Work Manager, WebLogic Config Wizard, Node Manager, WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST).

• Work Manager in WebLogic Server helped a lot in making it easy to manage application access and utilisation of JVM resources and also help in prioritising requests.
• WLST makes it easier to automate deployments, application configuration etc.

6 years

Stability was an issue in earlier versions, it was sometimes difficult to bring up the server whenever it goes down, which seldom happens. But there was great improvement as new versions were released.

WebLogic setup and deployment is very user friendly and easy to implement.

I have always worked with Oracle partners and we usually implement for clients. Implementation is relatively easy.

WebLogic initial cost (acquisition and implementation) is relatively expensive, but I believe it's worth its price and the long-term benefits are enormous.

I have used other products but I always find WebLogic Server superior to the others especially because of the management tools that are bundled with it.

I'll advise potential customers to go for this product, especially large enterprises.

We're using the web server very tightly and operating the Java E7 specifications. The most important point for the prime web server is to operate Java E7. WebLogic is historically the default standard of financial systems and our systems interlock with them. I think that WebLogic is best application server, the E7 system.

The web server is just a Java E7 application server. But a special point is the operational functions, especially for the mission controls, and enterprise managers, and some easier management functions.

We are satisfied with the current functionality, but I am concerned about the future of Java E8 and 9. Also the server, the EJB and the RMI, OOP and maybe a T3 protocol in the WebLogic server and the next Java E specifications. The financial systems are increasingly in our company now using RMI over OOP protocols, so we need more support for the future efforts with OOP.

It's basically stable, but sometimes runs out of memory.

We're now using a binary WebLogic server without coherence so the in-memory replication we are operating, sometimes fail. So we are now continuous rebooting, once a week.

We're pleased with the support.

I believe WebLogic is the most important application server.

WebLogic Server gives us two main features that we use the most and which are the most valuable to us:

• Administration console - Compared to open source application servers, the WLS administration console is quite complete in terms of features. It would be easier for developers and sysadmins to manage, monitor and config the app server from an administration console.
• Clustering - The clustering capability is also pretty robust.

I'd like to have a lighter version for micro-service architecture. In my experience, it can sometimes take 15-30 minutes just to start the server if we deploy a lot of applications. I think this may be in the latest version, although I'm not sure.

I've been using it for three to four years.

We had no issues with the deployment.

We've had no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues scaling it for our needs.

The initial setup was pretty straightforward, but my advice would be to read the documentation first. Their documentation is very comprehensive and contain basic tips for installation and tuning the products.

I implemented as part of a vendor team. I have seen and heard of implementations where the basic configuration and features are not configured, which can actually enhance the reliability and performance of the app server.

WebLogic is a mature Java application server and when compared to competitors, it excels in speed, scalability and stability. Important features out-of-the-box are the JMS server, database tuning options, full script ability, and Java EE 6.0 support.

It's improved our organization in lots of ways. For example, using the WLST scripting allowed us to build a continuous integration environment. We’ve also managed to increase throughput and reliability by replacing an older JMS server with the internal WebLogic JMS engine.

Although WebLogic is fully supported with different Linux distributions and most installations run on Linux machines, on a clean installation there are no startup or service scripts, requiring time investment and perhaps external help for a robust set up.

I've used it for over ten years. WebLogic server was developed by BEA systems as an early adopter of the J2EE specification and was later bought by Oracle.

We have had no issues with the deployment.

There have been no issues with its stability.

We've had no issues scaling it for our needs.

Oracle support is expensive, but they're good and available 24/7. Support for any version is for years and any given version of WebLogic is already extremely stable. Bug fixes, security updates, and bundle patches come often.

For a 120 requests/second web shop I was consulted in, WebLogic was chosen because of the seamless service – production redeployments allowed for user sessions ending and the new application taking over without any end-user errors. Rolling upgrades and automatic server migration on failure were also important arguments that other offerings could not match.

As mentioned, some Linux scripting is needed to set up a system that will survive reboots. However, after the first graphic or command-line setup, it’s easy to roll out additional domains: you have many options for different levels of expertise such as domain extension, templating, having the installer saving the installation script and so forth.

I set up implementations for our customers. If implementing a mission critical system, you should consider getting external expertise for advice on monitoring and failover configuration and such.

WebLogic uses a per-physical core pricing model. The basic “WebLogic Server” license does not support clustering and is useless in most enterprise situations. The often-bought “WebLogic Suite” license is very expensive if you do not plan on using the included Coherence cache. Take special care when using virtualization: Oracle licensing will insist on counting the number of physical cores on the hypervisor and will not care for configured partitioning of CPU’s!

When compared to Tomcat and JBoss, WebLogic performed better with the same applications and also allowed for easier scaling and system administration.

WebLogic is an amazing product, reflected by its pricing model. I would always advise on setting up a clustered environment, even if this is not a user requisite, as this allows for more flexibility. Also, consider using Apache with the WebLogic plugin as a web tier and SSL terminator instead of a commercial offering.