The latest development directions of IBM traditional WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Liberty/Open Liberty

In the article “Goodbye, WebSphere Traditional; Goodbye, My Youth” I updated last month’s information to state that, for traditional WebSphere Application Server (referred to as tWAS below) v8.5.5 and tWAS v9.0, IBM currently has no plans for End of Support. IBM will continue releasing fix packs for these two versions and will also continue supporting the IBM Java SDK v8 required by these versions.

However, here’s the catch. As the successor to tWAS, WebSphere Liberty/Open Liberty (referred to as Liberty below) has long announced that Java 8 support will only extend up to version 26.0.0.9. This means that starting from October 2026, Liberty version 26.0.0.10 will no longer support Java 8. Whether this means Liberty will fail to start on Java 8 or that newer versions will encounter unresolved issues on Java 8 remains to be seen. (My initial guess is the latter—it’s unlikely to be the former.)

The support dates for various Java versions in Liberty can be referenced from the article: Removal notices. Here is a simple summary I’ve prepared:

Therefore, Liberty’s support for Java 8 differs from tWAS’s support for Java 8, which is an important distinction to keep in mind.

Although tWAS v8.5.5 and tWAS v9.0 currently have no announced EOS dates, IBM HTTP Server (IHS) has already set the precedent. On November 18, 2024, IBM officially announced the End of Support (EOS) date for IHS v8.5, which is scheduled for December 31, 2025. For more details, you can refer to: Product Life Cycle dates for IBM HTTP Server.

The official recommendation is to upgrade to IHS v9.0, which breaks the longstanding practice we’ve advised for years—namely, that the versions of IHS + WebSphere Plugin + tWAS should always be consistent. Moving forward, the system architecture for tWAS v8.5.5 will look like this:

It’s worth noting that the EOS for IHS v8.5 may be due to its foundation on Apache HTTP Server v2.2, which itself reached EOS years ago (2018). IBM likely chose not to invest further resources into maintaining a version that Apache no longer supports.

However, this event might serve as an indicator of the future direction for tWAS. System administrators and application developers working with WebSphere should start planning and evaluating a transition to Liberty and newer Java versions. This proactive approach will help ensure compatibility and alignment with IBM’s long-term support strategies.