If you're developing systems using WebSphere, it makes sense that best practices should have a substantial share of mind. To that end, IBM's developed a WebSphere Best Practices Zone, which provides a collection of best practices for administering WebSphere Application Server.

Located at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/bp, the WebSphere Best Practices Zone has a library of 47 best practices papers, as well as links to other best practices resources. Topics of the zone, shown in Figure A, range from avoiding or minimizing synchronization in servlets to improving HttpSession performance with smart serialization and even a paper that describes using WebSphere Plugin configuration parameters to prevent delays and to improve performance in high volume Web sites in a WebSphere environment.

FIGURE A

Get your best practices here. Click picture for a larger image.

Some of the articles on the WebSphere Best Practices Zone are short, others are quite extensive. But no matter what you're doing with WebSphere, you owe it to yourself and your organization to bookmark this site and save it as a resource to visit again and again.

Product availability and resources For more information on the WebSphere Best Practices Zone, visit http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/bp. Your site can earn this special banner Do you run a special site, one that offers an exceptional example of WebSphere in action, or provides a great resource for WebSphere IT professionals? If so, your site may be eligible for consideration as the WebSpherePower Site of the Month. If chosen, you'll even be entitled to display the lovely banner shown in Figure B. FIGURE B Is your site cool enough to be WebSpherePower Site of the Month? If you'd like your site to be considered for WebSpherePower Site of the Month, send email to editor@zatz.com. Please specify "WEBSPHEREPOWER COOLSITE" in the subject field of your email.

For more than 20 years, David Gewirtz, the author of Where Have All The Emails Gone? and The Flexible Enterprise has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and can be reached via email at david@zatz.com.