Day 11 · Java

Install and Configure Tomcat Server

By Published Java / Tomcat~1h to complete

Technical Overview

Apache Tomcat is an open-source web server and Java Servlet container developed by the Apache Software Foundation. Unlike full Java EE (Enterprise Edition) application servers (like JBoss/WildFly, WebSphere, or WebLogic), Tomcat is a lightweight container implementing only the core Java Web technologies: Java Servlets, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Java Expression Language (EL), and Java WebSockets.

Core Architecture & Components

  1. Catalina (Servlet Container): Catalina is Tomcat’s implementation of the Java Servlet specification. It is the engine that handles web request routing, instantiates servlet objects, manages user sessions, and invokes servlet lifecycle methods (such as init(), service(), and destroy()).

  2. Coyote (HTTP Connector): Coyote is Tomcat's HTTP/1.1 connector component. It listens for incoming TCP network requests on a designated port (default 8080), decodes the HTTP protocol streams, wraps them into Java request and response objects, and forwards them to the Catalina engine for processing.

  3. Jasper (JSP Engine): Jasper is Tomcat's JSP compiler engine. When a client requests a .jsp page, Jasper dynamically parses the file and compiles it into a Java Servlet class file, which is then compiled into bytecode and executed by the JVM.

Use Cases

  • Hosting Java Web Applications: Running enterprise Java applications packaged as WAR (Web Archive) files.
  • REST API Services: Hosting backend Java APIs built with frameworks like Spring Boot, Jersey, Struts, or Quarkus.
  • Microservices Hosting: Deploying small, scalable Java-based services behind a reverse proxy (e.g., Nginx or Apache HTTP Server) which handles SSL termination and load balancing.

This guide details the steps to copy the application ROOT.war archive from the Jump Host, install Tomcat on the application server, change its connector port to 8085 in server.xml, deploy the archive, and verify page delivery.

Infrastructure & Configuration Requirements

  • Target Host: Nautilus App Server 1 (stapp01)
  • SSH User: tony
  • Application Package: ROOT.war (Located at /tmp/ROOT.war on the Jump Host)
  • Tomcat Port Configuration: 8085 (configured in /etc/tomcat/server.xml)
  • Tomcat Webapps Directory: /usr/share/tomcat/webapps/

Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Copy the WAR File to the Application Server

From the Jump Host, copy the ROOT.war package to the target server's temporary storage directory using scp:

scp /tmp/ROOT.war tony@stapp01:/tmp/

Step 2: Connect to the Application Server

SSH into App Server 1 from the Jump Host:

ssh tony@stapp01

Step 3: Install Apache Tomcat

Install Tomcat along with its administrative web apps and helper tools using the yum package manager:

sudo yum install -y tomcat tomcat-webapps tomcat-admin-webapps

Step 4: Configure the Tomcat Listening Port

Open the primary Tomcat configuration file (server.xml):

sudo vi /etc/tomcat/server.xml

Locate the connector configuration block (usually searching for port 8080). Modify the port attribute value to 8085:

<Connector port="8085" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
           connectionTimeout="20000"
           redirectPort="8443" />

Save and exit the file (in vi, press Esc, type :wq, and press Enter).

Step 5: Deploy the Web Application Archive (WAR)

Copy the ROOT.war file from /tmp/ to the Tomcat webapps/ deployment directory. In a standard CentOS installation, Tomcat automatically extracts (deploys) .war files placed in this folder.

  1. Delete any existing default ROOT folder in webapps:
    sudo rm -rf /usr/share/tomcat/webapps/ROOT
  2. Move the new ROOT.war file to the deployment directory:
    sudo cp /tmp/ROOT.war /usr/share/tomcat/webapps/
  3. Set correct ownership so the tomcat service user can read and modify the files:
    sudo chown tomcat:tomcat /usr/share/tomcat/webapps/ROOT.war

Step 6: Start and Enable the Tomcat Service

Configure the Tomcat systemd service to start automatically during system boot and run it in the current session:

# Start and enable the service
sudo systemctl enable --now tomcat

Check the service status to verify that it is running successfully:

sudo systemctl status tomcat

Post-Deployment Verification

1. Check Listening Ports

Verify that the Java process is listening on the newly configured port 8085:

sudo ss -tulpn | grep :8085

Expected output:

tcp   LISTEN 0      100    [::]:8085            [::]:*                   users:(("java",pid=12345,fd=43))

2. Query the Deployed Web Application

Run a local HTTP query using curl to confirm the application responds correctly on port 8085:

curl -I http://localhost:8085

Expected HTTP response header snippet:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html;charset=UTF-8

Log out of the Application Server to return to the Jump Host:

exit