As of this month, there will no longer be any public JDK 8 releases. This means that security fixes won’t be publicly accessible. A Payara support contract lets you take advantage of Payara’s partnership with Azul, providing you with access to Zulu Enterprise. This means that you will have access to all future JDK 8 security fixes. Below are some common questions we receive regarding Zulu Enterprise and how it works with a Payara support contract.
What is Azul Systems / Zulu?
Azul Systems is a company that provides the Zulu JDK, which is an standards-compliant open source build of OpenJDK. It’s provided for free, and comes with a variety of support options for many configurations including both enterprise and cloud. The partnership between Azul Systems and Payara gives Zulu JDK support included in the price of a Payara support contract. For additional information, visit their website.
Can I Raise JDK Issues?
Payara customers can raise issues with Zulu JDK distributions in the same fashion as other Payara issues via our support. You get one point of contact.
Why Would I Switch to Zulu JDK from Oracle JDK?
Zulu is designed to be a drop-in replacement for Oracle Java. This is to say that there should be no functional difference when switching JDKs. Should any issues be encountered, the Azul support team is happy to assist (The Azul team will also treat a > 5% performance degradation as a bug). So while switching shouldn’t produce any issues, it also provides you with access to the latest Zulu binaries complete with all the most recent security fixes.
Is Payara Providing Payara + Zulu Bundles Only to Paying Customers?
While public Zulu releases are available to everyone, new releases with the latest security fixes will only be available to customers.
Does the OpenJDK Support Include JDK 9 Support?
In general, Azul support periods all last longer than their corresponding Oracle support period. Azul JDK 9 support will continue until March 2020.
Is it Possible to Apply JCEs on Zulu Enterprise?
(Bonus marks for spotting the subtle reference to the 5.184 release feature)
Yes, the Zulu Cryptography Extension Kit zip file can be downloaded from the Azul website. The downloaded ZIP file includes a README.txt file with some instructions where/how to install the cryptography extensions. There should be no differences compared to Oracle Java.
In short, the best way for Payara users to receive the latest Zulu JDK updates is as part of a Payara support contract. To learn about the pricing of our support packages see our pricing calculator.
To learn more about the Zulu Enterprise support, see this summary blog.
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