The Extensible Administration Console is designed to support and enhance the flexibility of Geronimo's modular architecture. While previous versions of the console were configured statically via XML files, the new Extensible Console changes dynamically when services are activated or deactivated in the application server. This framework allows developers to include Administration Console Extensions (ACEs) for Geronimo's web console in their service modules. On installation of a service, this new content will automatically be added to the console, so that the administrator can manage all of the services and tools from one place.

The following guides are available:

• Administration Console Extension Developer's Guide
• Administration Console Extension User's Guide

Common Terminology

Plugin - An archive file (.car or .war) that can be installed into Geronimo to install a specific new service, such as ActiveMQ. For more about plugins, or to look at available plugins, check out geronimoplugins.com or geronimoplugincentral.org.
.CAR file (Configuration ARchive) - An archive file that stores Geronimo-specific configurations, as well as the classes, libraries, web pages, and other information associated with an application.
.WAR file (Web ARchive)- An archive file that contains a web application, including all of its classes, libraries, HTML and JSP pages, and other information. It can be deployed on any Java Enterprise compatible servlet container.
ACE (Administration Console Extension) - An archive file (either a .car or a .war), that includes Administration Console portlets. These portlets will be added to the Extensible Administration Console when the ACE is activated.
Extensible Administration console - A flexible version of Geronimo's original administration console. Once installed it is available at http://localhost:8080/console, and includes some portlets that correspond to the currently activated services in Geronimo.
Service - a component or set of functionality for Geronimo - it may be pre-installed, such as the Tomcat or Jetty web container, or it may be installed as a plugin
Minimal console - The administration console as it is first installed - with only the services necessary for basic functionality
Portlet - A web user interface component that can assembled together with other similar components to create a web (portal) page. See the Portlet Specification JSR 168.