Java EE Application client container

Question

There are 3 types of containers for a Java EE server

1. EJB container

2. Web container

3. Application client container for which I found a definition saying;

Manages the execution of application client components. The client container runs on client machine.

But I don't understand how a Java EE container can reside in a client machine in contrast to the EJB and Web container that both run on a server?

Can someone give me a example of what is really meant by application client components?

Answer 1

Application client container is nothing but the group of you application client e.g. EJB Client, along with required libraries and the Java Virtual Machine(JVM).

To better understand, take example of EJB. You develop and deploy your EJB on your application server(EJB Container). Now you can distribute your EJB client JAR along with dependent JARs(if any) which can be used to access your deployed EJB bean using a simple JAVA client program running on a JVM. This client execution environment is termed as Application client container.

Further details are available here : Application client container