Railo Express for a portable web app on a USB stick

Question

Here's my scenario. I am writing a web app for a client that needs to be portable, i.e. they need to plug it into different PCs (Windows) and have it simply work. Life would have been easier if they could just put it up on a domain, but no can do in this case, cause internet access might not always be available. So, I am trying out Railo Express with Jetty (http://www.getrailo.org/index.cfm/download/) which has everything I need. I actually managed to install (well, copy and configure really) the package on a USB stick, created a new site in the "/webapps" folder and wired that up, then downloaded the drivers for SQLITE and got that connected and working just fine.

This is not going to be a very intense web app at all, or does it need many users connected to it (max 2-3 at a time). I use Bootstrap and other than a Dashboard with a couple of graphs, all the pages are basically forms and read/write to the SQLITE db.

So, while everything seems to work do you think this is a viable solution? It seems to work fine, but will I run into any issues, like perhaps performance or compatibility issues with the different PCs the client might be using? And is there a better way of doing this?

EDIT: Thanks for replying guys. Here's some more info to hopefully clear things out. I should have been more specific as to why use a portable web app. The app is for a car wash business to log the business going through. There is basically one computer at the counter where things will be accessed from (and the USB will be attached here), and possibly one iPod at the entrance where cars going in will be logged by the attendant (and will connect to the local computer via wireless). The reason for portability? They want to take the stick home with them and review stats, so it's either a full installation on the computer and a backup on the stick (extra work), or just everything on the stick. The reason for not simply going online and making things easier for everyone: tricky internet reception, which would mean downtime of the app.

Answer 1

From your descriptions it looks like a simple and not very intensive application. Based on my experience with Railo Express, I think you have the power needed to run this.

What I would do is to install the application on the computer at the counter since that is the main hub (you mention the iPad connecting wireless). Use the stick as a backup and before they take it home, make sure the stick is updated with data. You might also consider designed the app so that there is separation between writing data and consuming it (e.g. people at home running reports).

Will the app on the stick run at home, most likely it will work, or if you run into some problems will not be hard to fix.