A system for supporting the use of portable partitions in an application server environment, comprising: one or more computers, including an application server environment having a first application server domain and a second application server domain (400, 420) for execution of software applications, and one or more partitions (402, 422) and resource groups (406, 426), wherein each partition is associated with a partition identifier and configuration, provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of a said application server domain and includes one or more resource groups, wherein each resource group is a collection of deployable applications or resources that can reference a resource group template (410, 430) that defines one or more applications and resources, and wherein the system enables a said partition that forms an administrative and runtime subdivision of the first application server domain to be a portable partition that is exportable from the first application server domain and importable into the second application server domain, the system being configured to create a partition archive that includes a partition configuration, including exportable or configurable values associated with said partition, and resource group or resource group template information, and during deployment or import of the partition archive to the second application server domain, to use the information in the partition archive, including the exportable or configurable values associated with the partition, to configure the partition for use in the second application server domain, including any modified configurable values received either from an administrator or from another source. one or more computers, including an application server environment having a first application server domain and a second application server domain (400, 420) for execution of software applications, and one or more partitions (402, 422) and resource groups (406, 426), wherein each partition is associated with a partition identifier and configuration, provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of a said application server domain and includes one or more resource groups, wherein each resource group is a collection of deployable applications or resources that can reference a resource group template (410, 430) that defines one or more applications and resources, and wherein the system enables a said partition that forms an administrative and runtime subdivision of the first application server domain to be a portable partition that is exportable from the first application server domain and importable into the second application server domain, the system being configured to create a partition archive that includes a partition configuration, including exportable or configurable values associated with said partition, and resource group or resource group template information, and during deployment or import of the partition archive to the second application server domain, to use the information in the partition archive, including the exportable or configurable values associated with the partition, to configure the partition for use in the second application server domain, including any modified configurable values received either from an administrator or from another source. wherein each partition is associated with a partition identifier and configuration, provides an administrative and runtime subdivision of a said application server domain and includes one or more resource groups, wherein each resource group is a collection of deployable applications or resources that can reference a resource group template (410, 430) that defines one or more applications and resources, and wherein the system enables a said partition that forms an administrative and runtime subdivision of the first application server domain to be a portable partition that is exportable from the first application server domain and importable into the second application server domain, the system being configured to create a partition archive that includes a partition configuration, including exportable or configurable values associated with said partition, and resource group or resource group template information, and during deployment or import of the partition archive to the second application server domain, to use the information in the partition archive, including the exportable or configurable values associated with the partition, to configure the partition for use in the second application server domain, including any modified configurable values received either from an administrator or from another source. to create a partition archive that includes a partition configuration, including exportable or configurable values associated with said partition, and resource group or resource group template information, and during deployment or import of the partition archive to the second application server domain, to use the information in the partition archive, including the exportable or configurable values associated with the partition, to configure the partition for use in the second application server domain, including any modified configurable values received either from an administrator or from another source.