JDK product registration is one of the most significant features in the new Java SE 6u5 release. This provides the ability to register the JDK installations through Sun Connection. Registering the JDK is optional. We would like the JDK registration to provide mutual benefits to both Sun and the developers.

JDK Installation Experience

There is a change in the JDK installation flow for this feature.

The above is the new panel of the Windows installer at the end of JDK installation. When you click "Finish", the JDK Registration Login page will be opened in a browser. To complete JDK registration, you will need to login your existing Sun Developer Network (or other Sun online account). If you do not have an existing account, you can create one during the registration process. After you login and the JDK is registered, you will see a "Thank You" page.

JDK Registration Login page

Thank You page

Offline JDK Registration Page

There is an offline JDK registration page located in the JDK install directory (<JDK>\register.html) along with two localized versions (Japanese and simplified Chinese) that allows you to register your JDK any time after installation.

Technical Details

The registration process begins after the JDK installation completes where you get the last panel providing the information about JDK registration. When you click "Finish", the following happens:

Step 1:
Collect the product registration data about the installed JDK including:

• JDK service tag. See "What is a Service Tag" in my previous blog
• System information including hostname, OS name, version and architecture.

The completed list of data being collected is described at the JDK Product Information page. In the next release, additional system information may be collected and the JDK Product Information page will be updated accordingly.

Step 2:
Post the JDK registration data to Sun Connection via https and the data will be temporarily stored in a Sun Connection server until the JDK is registered. The data will be purged after a short period of time after it is received from the HTTP POST and if the JDK is not registered.

Step 3:
Launch the default desktop browser and open the JDK Registration Login page. Each JDK registration has a unique identifier which will be passed as part of the URL parameters and the Sun Connection registration web application will use it to look up the registration data it receives from the HTTP POST in step 2.

Thanks to the new java.awt.Desktop API added in Java SE 6 release which helps the implementation a lot.

Known limitation: On Solaris and Linux, the JDK registration implementation is dependent on Gnome libraries. If those libraries are unavailable, the Desktop API is not supported and no browser will be opened. See the Swing Tutorial for details.

Step 4:
A new file, <JDK>/register.html, and its localized versions (register_ja.html and register_zh_CN.html) will be generated in the JDK install directory. We call this file as an offline JDK registration page which combines step 2 and step 3 in an HTML form. This offline JDK registration page can be used to register your JDK any time. You may see this page opened in the browser in step 3 if your system doesn't have internet connection or fails to post the registration data in step 2 for example due to the network or firewall configuration.

Step 5:
Once the browser is launched, the JDK installation process will finish and exit. At this point, the JDK is not registered until you login your Sun Developer Network account or other Sun online account. If you do not register, no data will be saved in Sun Connection database.

JDK Registration and Service Tags

My previous blog gave an overview of the Service Tags technology. Service tag is a digital product identifier to enable product registration. JDK registration process generates a service tag for the JDK. The service tag information will then be uploaded to Sun Connection during registration. If the JDK is installed on a Service Tags enabled system (i.e. the Service Tags software has been installed on your system), the JDK service tag will be created in the service tag registry and the JDK will be discoverable with the Registration Manager client tool.

Benefits

JDK product registration is part of Sun's larger effort to support registration across its hardware and software products. NetBeans, Glassfish and many other Sun products also provide the ability to register the products. You can track and manage your registered products at Sun Inventory Channel. Sun Inventory Channel is one of the Sun Connection services and it is a free inventory management portal that provides a centralized repository to organize and manage your deployed products on your systems.

Registering the JDK and other products will enable us to provide faster and efficient services and collaboration, for example:

• provide you more customized updates including new releases, security fixes, and news relevant to your deployed products.
• inform you when a change in one version of a product on your system would have an impact on other products you have running (related to performance, compatibility or security, for example).
• enable us to better test and optimize performance for your system.
• effectively communicate our product or service offerings based on the software you have installed on your system.

References

• JDK Product Registration Information (Japanese version)
• Sun Connection
• Sun Inventory Channel
• Sun Service Tag FAQ