The Server is the most versatile implementation of Rice. It is a web application that can provide services to multiple applications that integrate with Kuali Rice at your institution. The server distribution contains a web archive or WAR file for the Kuali Rice standalone server. The Server distribution is the one you should use when your enterprise wants to run multiple Kuali applications or when you want to integrate other applications with Rice.

When an application bundles all of the Rice functionality (including what is usually handled by the standalone server) into the client application, it’s called a Bundled Distribution. For example, Kuali Financial Systems (KFS) has done this for their past releases. In those KFS releases, you did not need to set up and install a Rice standalone server; the necessary Rice functionality was bundled with KFS.

Bundled Distributions are not recommended for enterprise implementations, but are good for quick start, testing, and demonstrations.