Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura

------------------------------
Laura Cowen
Winchester
------------------------------

Thanks for the response

We are planning to continue on TWAS 9.0.5.23 and beyond which supports Modernized Runtime Extensions for Java(More)

With these, we can manage and maintain Liberty managed servers on TWAS with sumeru SDK runtimes for 17 and 21

https://www.ibm.com/products/enterprise-application-runtimes/modernize-runtime-extension?utm_source=ibm_developer&utm_content=in_content_link&utm_id=blogs_ibm-jsphere-suite-java-at-scale&cm_sp=ibmdev-_-developer-blogs-_-product

Is this configuration matured enough to be tested on customer environments

We have a lot of critical and legacy applications running on JDK 8 with TWAS 9.0.5.25/8.5.5.X

Regards,

------------------------------
Adeoye Omoboya
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: Thu December 04, 2025 04:36 AM
From: Laura Cowen
Subject: Traditional WAS on Java 11

Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura

------------------------------
Laura Cowen
Winchester

Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura

Thanks for the response.

Our preference is to adopt MoRE with Liberty in order to maintain the existing architecture and operational model aligned with the WAS ND Cell.

We understand that the native Liberty architecture differs from Traditional WAS. However, our objective is to retain the WAS ND capabilities for clustering, node agent management, discovery, and centralized administration, while running the application JVMs as Liberty runtime profiles managed within the WAS ND Cell.

The key concern we would like to validate is the operational impact of running a hybrid Java estate, where some workloads continue on JDK 8, while Liberty-based workloads run on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

Our new deployment model will be based on Red Hat Linux virtual machines running on-premises. At this stage, we are not adopting containers, Kubernetes, or OpenShift for the Liberty runtime deployment.

Regards,

Regards,

Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura

Hi Adeoye,

>>The key concern we would like to validate is the operational impact of running a hybrid Java estate, where some workloads continue on JDK 8, while Liberty-based workloads run on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

Yes, your understanding was correct. You can modernise some of your applications to JDK 17 or JDK 21 and get them running on a Managed Liberty Server within your current WAS ND Cell. There are AMA and AMA Dev Tools to help with the migration. Please get in touch if need start a PoC with MoRE, AMA or AMA Dev Tools.

Thanks

Emily

Thanks for the response.

Our preference is to adopt MoRE with Liberty in order to maintain the existing architecture and operational model aligned with the WAS ND Cell.

We understand that the native Liberty architecture differs from Traditional WAS. However, our objective is to retain the WAS ND capabilities for clustering, node agent management, discovery, and centralized administration, while running the application JVMs as Liberty runtime profiles managed within the WAS ND Cell.

The key concern we would like to validate is the operational impact of running a hybrid Java estate, where some workloads continue on JDK 8, while Liberty-based workloads run on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

Our new deployment model will be based on Red Hat Linux virtual machines running on-premises. At this stage, we are not adopting containers, Kubernetes, or OpenShift for the Liberty runtime deployment.

Regards,

Regards,

Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura

Hi Emily,

Thank you for the clarification and confirmation.

This aligns with our intended modernization strategy. Our objective is to preserve the existing WAS ND operational model, including the Deployment Manager, Node Agents, clustering, synchronization, and centralized administration capabilities, while progressively modernizing application workloads to Liberty running on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

The confirmation that Managed Liberty Servers can coexist within the current WAS ND Cell alongside existing JDK 8 workloads provides the flexibility required for a phased migration approach and significantly reduces the operational and migration risks associated with a large-scale platform transformation.

We are currently evaluating MoRE as the preferred modernization path for our IBPS platform and broader WAS estate running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual machines. We may engage IBM to validate the migration tooling, including AMA and AMA Dev Tools, and assess application readiness for Liberty and JDK 21.

Thank you again for the guidance and support.

Regards,

Hi Adeoye,

>>The key concern we would like to validate is the operational impact of running a hybrid Java estate, where some workloads continue on JDK 8, while Liberty-based workloads run on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

Yes, your understanding was correct. You can modernise some of your applications to JDK 17 or JDK 21 and get them running on a Managed Liberty Server within your current WAS ND Cell. There are AMA and AMA Dev Tools to help with the migration. Please get in touch if need start a PoC with MoRE, AMA or AMA Dev Tools.

Thanks

Emily

Thanks for the response.

Our preference is to adopt MoRE with Liberty in order to maintain the existing architecture and operational model aligned with the WAS ND Cell.

We understand that the native Liberty architecture differs from Traditional WAS. However, our objective is to retain the WAS ND capabilities for clustering, node agent management, discovery, and centralized administration, while running the application JVMs as Liberty runtime profiles managed within the WAS ND Cell.

The key concern we would like to validate is the operational impact of running a hybrid Java estate, where some workloads continue on JDK 8, while Liberty-based workloads run on JDK 17 or JDK 21.

Our new deployment model will be based on Red Hat Linux virtual machines running on-premises. At this stage, we are not adopting containers, Kubernetes, or OpenShift for the Liberty runtime deployment.

Regards,

Regards,

Hi Adeoye,

Yes, some tWAS apps might need modernising to run on Liberty (many don't; it depends on the app itself). But beyond that, Liberty is absolutely capable of running complex, mission critical application workloads on premise.

I recommend reading our recent article for tWAS users which addresses many of the points you raise about Liberty: Demystifying Liberty for WebSphere Administrators. The article is based on a popular talk by Alasdair Nottingham, Chief Architect for WebSphere and Liberty. It includes embedded video clips from the talk to provide more detail and explanation about each of the points covered.

We also have a new information portal where we're pulling together all the relevant information that someone migrating from tWAS to Liberty might need. We recognise that there are still gaps in the information so we're working to fill them. We are also aware that there are probably questions that aren't even included, so if you have them I encourage you to raise issues with any questions that should be added (and any information you might have to help answer them).

Thanks,

Laura