Overview of XPages in Bluemix™

In order to fit into the Bluemix™ architecture and to benefit from Bluemix™ features like scalability and to leverage other services, XPages applications hosted on Bluemix™ are split into two parts - application code and data. While this separation has been adopted as a best practice by most XPages applications already, the Bluemix™ architecture now requires it.

To create XPages applications Bluemix™, you are provided with three application building blocks to get you started. These include the following:

• A boilerplate cloud-based starter application that uses the IBM® XPages NoSQL Database for Bluemix™ service and the IBM® XPages for Bluemix™ runtime. Use this boilerplate application to get up and running quickly with a cloud-based XPages application.
• IBM® XPages NoSQL Database for Bluemix™ service that can be used on its own
• IBM® XPages for Bluemix™ runtime that can be used on its own

With support of XPages applications running on Bluemix™, IBM® provides new options for you to host XPages applications in the cloud. In addition to other options where Domino® is hosted on Infrastructure as a Service offerings like Softlayer®, you can also easily use other services in Bluemix™ and mix those in your applications. For example, XPages applications can use the cognitive Watson™ services in Bluemix™ and store data in other databases without having to set up infrastructure first. The applications can also use the auto-scalability functionality and data caching of Bluemix™ and much more.

In summary, using XPages in Bluemix™ gives you the following advantages as a developer:

• The ability to use other Bluemix™ services to build new apps easily
• The ability to have the most up-to-date XPages runtime available when developing your application
• The ability to scale your applications
• The ability to put your XPages development skills and experience to good use
• The ability to host your applications in the cloud

This section provides topics that describe each of the three application building blocks in detail and provides information on how to use them with Domino® Designer.