How to Mitigate the Risks of Unsupported Open Source Technologies for Mission-Critical Applications

Open source technologies have become invaluable tools for software developers and software engineers focusing on innovation and experimentation. In particular, open source application servers can greatly help to accelerate project development, reduce costs and foster collaborative approaches within teams and across organizations.

However, when it comes to deploying mission-critical applications in production environments, open source runtimes that are unsupported can present significant risks, exposing businesses to unnecessary vulnerabilities.

The Appeal of Open Source Application Servers

Open source application servers are a favorite among developers for several reasons:

1. Cost-Effectiveness: With no licensing fees, open source application servers are an attractive option for organizations looking to minimize costs.

2. Community Support: The open source community often provides extensive support, including documentation, forums and a networking opportunities to help specialists share their expertise and benefit from expert feedback.

3. Accelerated Development: Open source projects typically have new features and updates released frequently, keeping developers on the cutting edge of technology.

Given these advantages, it’s no wonder that open source application servers have become integral to many software development processes. However, the very attributes that make them ideal for experimentation and innovation in software development can turn into liabilities when unsupported versions of these servers are used for mission-critical applications in production environments.

The Risk of Using Unsupported Open Source Application Servers for Mission-Critical Apps

While open source application servers offer numerous benefits, any of their unsupported versions come with inherent risks, particularly when deployed in mission-critical environments. These include security vulnerabilities, lack of support and regulatory compliance assurances. Our latest guide offers insights on the scale of such issues and their potential impact.

Given these risks, relying solely on unsupported open source application servers can lead to unnecessary downtime, data breaches and financial losses. 

Leveraging a Secure Application Runtime for Production Environments

For organizations seeking the best of both worlds—innovation in development and security in production— Payara Platform offers an ideal solution. In effect, software engineers working on Jakarta EE apps can use the open source edition, Payara Platform Community, when focusing on experimentation. When reliability, compliance and security are key, Payara Platform Enterprise is well-suited to address the demanding needs of mission-critical software applications. 

Ready to safeguard your mission-critical applications? Download a free copy of our guide and learn more about how Payara Platform Enterprise can help you achieve your business goals with peace of mind.