Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview 

• A brief overview of Apache
• The Apache Software Foundation
• The Jakarta Project
• Tomcat licensing details
• J2EE technologies
• Java web development fundamentals
• Servlet/JSP containers

Java Web Applications

• An introduction to Servlets
• The benefits of Servlets and their lifecycle
• JavaServer Pages (JSP)
• Integration of JSP, JavaBeans, and JSP Tag Libraries
• MVC frameworks

Installing Tomcat

• Downloading and installing Apache Tomcat
• Acquiring a JVM, Tomcat, and Ant
• Using the Windows installer
• Java memory management and JVM tuning for performance

Tomcat Directories

• Tomcat installation paths, directory structure, the bin directory, and common/shared directories
• The conf, logs, server, work, temp, and webapps directories
• The structure of a web application directory
• Deploying HTML and JSP pages and managing web contexts
• JSP pages and their generated code
• Deploying a web application

Configuring Tomcat

• Tomcat configuration methods and techniques
• Tomcat's component architecture
• Key elements: <Server>, <Service>, <Connector>, <Engine>, <Host>, <Context>, <Realm>, <Valve>, <Listener>, <Loader>, and <Manager>
• The server.xml file
• Modifying server.xml

Web Applications

• Web application administration and deployment
• Directory structure for a web app
• The web.xml configuration file
• Deployment descriptors
• The <web-app></web-app> element
• Mapping a Servlet to a URL
• The <resource-ref></resource-ref> element
• The <env-entry></env-entry> element
• The <ejb-ref></ejb-ref> element
• A sample web.xml file
• Deploying a web application
• Tomcat's default conf/web.xml file
• Tuning default JSP and static-content servlets

Tomcat Manager

• Deploying and managing web applications via the Tomcat Manager
• Starting the Tomcat Manager and navigating its interface
• The Manager section
• Applications, deployment, and server information
• Creating a WAR file
• Lab 4: Deploying a WAR file
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) on Tomcat
• Integrating Tomcat with Ant

Advanced Features

• Utilizing advanced Tomcat features
• Valves, Access Log Valve, and Single Sign-on Valve
• Remote Address Filter and Remote Host Filter
• Request Dumper Valve
• Configuring JNDI resources
• JNDI (Java Naming and Directory Interface) and defining JNDI resources
• The <environment></environment> element and the <resource></resource> element
• Configuring a JavaMail session
• Global resources

JDBC Connectivity

• Configuring Tomcat for database connectivity
• An overview of JDBC
• JDBC drivers
• Database connections and connection pooling
• Downloading and installing MySQL
• Configuring MySQL for Tomcat
• Creating a database in MySQL
• Downloading and deploying a JDBC driver
• Defining a DataSource in Tomcat, including manual definition
• Modifying the deployment descriptor
• Detecting and closing leaked database connections

Tomcat Security

• Security configuration for Tomcat
• Key security considerations
• File system security and recommendations
• The Java Security Manager
• Granting permissions to Java apps and reviewing Java permissions
• Creating and adding custom policies
• Enabling the Java Security Manager
• Security Manager tips and security realms
• Types of realms and configuring a realm
• Users and roles (authentication and authorization)
• Creating a data source realm
• Password protection mechanisms
• FORM-based authentication
• Configuring Tomcat for SSL
• Requiring SSL in applications

Connecting

• Connecting Tomcat to Apache
• Understanding connectors
• HTTP connectors
• Benefits of using a web server
• Connector protocols
• Configuring an AJP connector
• Downloading mod_jk
• Creating the mod_jk.conf file
• Starting Tomcat
• Creating a worker
• Configuring httpd.conf
• Testing the setup
• Load balancing applications across multiple Tomcat instances
• Common load balancing issues
• Server affinity via sticky sessions
• Shared session storage
• Replicated sessions via Tomcat clustering
• Shared hosting
• Tomcat virtual hosting
• Configuring Tomcat for virtual hosting as a stand-alone server
• Configuring Tomcat for virtual hosting using jk2 or webapp.
• Configuring Tomcat as stand-alone
• Configuring Tomcat with AJP
• Separate JVM for each host

Load Testing

• The JMeter application
• Conducting load tests with JMeter
• Installing and running JMeter
• Creating a test plan
• Configuring the thread group and adding tasks
• Configuring HTTP requests
• Adding a report listener
• Executing the test plan
• Reviewing results