Running webapps in separate processes

Question

I'd like to run a web container where each webapp runs in its own process (JVM). Incoming requests get forwarded by a proxy webapp running on port 80 to individual webapps, each (webapp) running on its own port in its own JVM.

This will solve three problems:

• Webapps using JNI (where the JNI code changes between restarts) cannot be restarted. There is no way to guarantee that the old webapp has been garbage-collected before loading the new webapp, so when the code invokes System.loadLibrary() the JVM throws: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Native Library x already loaded in another classloader.
• Libraries leak memory every time a webapp is reloaded, eventually forcing a full server restart. Tomcat has made headway in addressing this problem but it will never be completely fixed.
• Faster restarts. The mechanism I'm proposing would allow near-instant webapp restarts. We no longer have to wait for the old webapp to finish unloading, which is the slowest part.

I've posted a RFE here and here. I'd like to know what you think.

Does any existing web container do this today?

Answer 1

I'm closing this question because I seem to have run into a dead end: http://tomcat.10.n6.nabble.com/One-process-per-webapp-td2084881.html

As a workaround, I'm manually launching a separate Jetty instance per webapp.