In this book, a team of Sun engineers presents the first start-to-finish guide to enterprise application development with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE). This book covers every component of J2EE, providing best practices principles for building secure, high-performance multi-tier enterprise applications, plus a detailed case study showing exactly how to get the job done. The authors begin with an insider's overview of the J2EE platform, and how it can be used. They review each key component, platform, service, and communication technology provided by J2EE; then walk through enterprise development one tier at a time, showing how to leverage J2EE most effectively. The book covers each area: the client tier, Web tier, Enterprise JavaBeans tier, and Enterprise Information System tier, as well as practical techniques for packaging and deployment; extensive coverage of transactions, plus details on the J2EE security model. With the launch of the J2EE Platform, this book is the ideal one-stop resource for IT managers, web providers, EJB developers, database administrators, system administrators and system integrators.