Thorntail: Fat, Thin, and Skinny Approaches for Running Microservice Applications

Thorntail, originally WildFly Swarm, is the most suitable for packaging applications as JAR , WAR or EAR files. The most important value is in the functional agility the Thorntail provides. You can start with the stripped down version of Thorntail adding the required parts and application code on top.

Below we will describe how to build and deploy Thorntail based applications using Fat, Thin and Skinny approaches. The application will be packaged in the Jar/War format automatically with the help of Builder add-ons prepared by Jelastic. The topology will consist of Maven build node and JVM containers for running microservices. 

Thorntail Fat JAR Builder Installation

To get started, log in to Jelastic dashboard, find the Thorntail Fat Jar Builder in the Marketplace and click Install.

To do that, open the button in the opened window. Import window, paste the link and confirm installation by clicking Import.

If required, change installation settings such as environment name or GitHub repository link to a custom Thorntail Fat project. Then press Install.

When the installation and building of the project are completed, a corresponding message appears. You still need to wait a few minutes for deploy to be finished (feel free to track the process in context in the Tasks panel). In the default implementation, it is done under api/greeting.

Afterward, you can make sure, that application is up and running by pressing the button Open in browser.

Thorntail Skinny JAR Builder Installation

Find the Thorntail (WildFly Swarm) Skinny Jar Builder in the Marketplace and click Install.

Or import Thorntail (WildFly Swarm) Skinny JPS manifest using the GitHub link.

If required, change installation settings such as environment name or GitHub repository link to a custom Thorntail Skinny project. Then press Install.

When the installation and building of the project are completed, a corresponding message appears. You still need to wait a few minutes for deploy to be finished (feel free to track the process in context. Tasks panel). In the default implementation, it is done under api/greeting

Afterward, you can make sure, that application is up and running by pressing button. Open in browser

Thorntail Thin WAR Builder Installation

Find the Thorntail (WildFly Swarm) Thin War Builder in the Marketplace and click Install.

Or you can import Thorntail(WildFly Swarm) Thin JPS manifest using the GitHub link.

If required, change installation settings such as environment name or GitHub repository link to a custom Thorntail Thin project. Then press Install.

When the installation and building of the project are completed, a corresponding message appears. You still need to wait a few minutes for deploy to be finished (feel free to track the process in context in the Tasks panel). In the default implementation, it is done under api/greeting.

Afterward, you can make sure, that application is up and running by pressing the button Open in browser.

Multiple Thorntail Projects With Microservices

You can use the node you just to build extra projects and deploy them to different environments to get a set of distributed microservices.

First of all, create a separate environment with Java Engine.

Then click Add Project next to the Maven node in the initial environment.

Specify the name and link to the project, as well as choose the environment where it should be deployed. Additionally, you can activate automatic updates. Then confirm pressing Add + Deploy.

More details on how to build and deploy Java applications can be found in the Maven node documentation.

In this way, you can easily build and deploy your Thorntail (WildFly Swarm) based applications packaged as JAR and WAR files using Fat, Skinny, or Thin approach. Register and try out this implementation for your custom project to feel the benefits of microservices running in the cloud.