The J2EE approach includes Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). The Enterprise JavaBeans component architecture represents a highly successful step forward in distributed computing. EJB makes it easier for developers to write business applications using re-usable server components without a deep knowledge of system-level programming. Enterprise JavaBeans are a server side component model that allows for the encapsulation of business logic. EJB provides abstraction from system-level functions including transaction processing, resource pooling, object-life cycle, threading, naming, remote access, persistence and security. EJB allows developers language and platform independence by supporting several wire protocols such as RMI, IIOP, RMI-IIOP and DCOM.

Beans exist to provide services to clients. Enterprise JavaBeans function in the context of an EJB Container, which, like web containers, are typically part of an application server. Beans receive services from the EJB Container which gets services from the Applications server. Clients do not access container services directly; this is the role of the bean.

There are three different Enterprise JavaBean models. These are session beans, entity beans and message-driven beans.

Iterations of session beans are accessed by a single client, providing the client access to server resources. Session beans exist only as long as the connection between the session bean and the client lasts. Session beans represent workflow, the processes and tasks associated with business logic, and application state and can be either stateful or stateless. Stateful beans retain transactional and conversational data from client session to another and stateless beans do not. The two types of session beans have a lot in common and it is easy for developers to move between developing stateful and stateless session beans. Both are based on similar development models. Both implement the javax.ejb.SessionBean interface and share container callbacks. EJB components that represent interface objects may be stateful or stateless session beans. But, components that represent control objects called from EJB components representing interface objects must use stateless session beans.