WAS stands for WebSphere Application Server, a software framework developed by IBM for building and hosting web applications. It is a Java EE (Enterprise Edition) compliant application server that provides an environment for running Java-based applications, including web services, enterprise applications, and dynamic websites.
Key features of WAS include:
- **Scalability**: It supports scaling applications across multiple servers or clusters.
- **Security**: WAS includes robust security features, such as authentication, authorization, and encryption.
- **Integration**: It allows integration with other IBM products and third-party services.
- **High Availability**: WAS supports failover and load balancing, ensuring minimal downtime for applications.
- **Performance Optimization**: It offers caching, session management, and resource pooling to improve application performance.
WAS is commonly used in enterprise environments where large-scale, mission-critical applications require reliability, scalability, and security.