Simple configuration for Tomcat servlet container

1. Prepared by: Dima Gomaa

2.  Tomcat is a Servlet container (Web server that interacts with
Se rvle ts ) developed under the Jakarta Project of Apache Software
Foundation
 Tomcat implements the Se rvle t and the Java Se rve r Pag e s (JSP)
specifications of Sun Microsystems
 Tomcat is an open-source, non commercial project
◦ Licensed under the Apache Software License
 Tomcat is written in Java (OS independent)

3. Tomcat is a free open source implementation of java server pages
and java servlets, developed as part of the Jakarta project
under the Apache Software Foundation
More info at:
http://tomcat.apache.org/

5.  To use Tomcat web server working need to know about:
 Environment variables
 How to start and stop the server
 How to configure Tomcat to pick up web files from your directory

6.  Extract source zip file into a directory on hard disk. Default directory
is jakarta-tomcat-ve rsio n#.
 A set of subdirectories are automatically created (bin, conf, doc etc)
Tomcat uses two environment variables:
 environment variables:
◦ JAVA_HOME and CATALINA_HOME

7.  Extract source zip file into a directory on hard disk. Default directory
is jakarta-tomcat-ve rsio n#.
 A set of subdirectories are automatically created (bin, conf, doc etc)
 Tomcat uses two environment variables:
 environment variables:
◦ JAVA_HOME (point to directory containing JDK)
◦ CATALINA_HOME (point to directory containing Tomcat)

8.  From UNIX shell prompt, go to where Tomcat is installed
◦ dgomaa_debian: cd /usr/local/jakarta-tomcat-1.6…
 Go to the subdirectory bin
 To START:
◦ ./startup.sh
 Tomcat server executes on TCP port 8080 (in case another
server is using the default port 80)

9.  To test Tomcat, in browser type URL:
http://hostname:8080/
 This will access the Tomcat documentation welcome page if
server working properly
 To STOP Tomcat when it is running
◦ ./shutdown .sh

10.  By default, Tomcat looks in its own WEBAPPS directory for web
application files (e.g. jsps, html etc)
 To hold application files elsewhere, need to edit the se rve r. xm l
configuration file (in the conf directory) to look in alternate location.
Both <host> and <context> element need to be changed -
NOTE: Always make a backup of server.xml before changing!
In server.xml:
 change Host name parameter appbase from ‘webapps’ to the
preferred directory you want
 <Host name="localhost"debug="0"
appBase=“/home/dgomaa/tomcat-apps/webapps" reloadable =
"true"

11. To set up an application directory: -
To create a new web application (e.g. newapp) in your
web application directory Tomcat directory :
◦ create a subdirectory of your WEBAPPs directory in which to hold
the web application files
◦ This directory is now the top level directory for the web application
newapp, accessed as
 http://www.domainname/newapp

12.  An application's directory must contain the following:
◦ The directory WEB-INF/
◦ A legal web.xml file under WEB-INF/
<web-app>
</web-app>

14.  Environment variable java_home incorrect
 Not putting 8080 in URL (http://localhost:8080)
 Not configuring server.xml to look at correct location of your web
files
 Not starting the server…
 Not re-starting the server when you’ve added/ changed your files
 Not re-setting the environment variables when shell re-started