These directions allow you to install and configure Apache Tomcat 6 for use as a standalone Web server (for development) that supports servlets 2.5 and JSP 2.1.
You can to install Apache Tomcat 6 in one of two ways . Either download a preconfigured version of the software from the Apache Software Foundation or, if you want more control of its settings, you can manually install it.
For a preconfigured approach, you download Apache Tomcat 6 from site at http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0.x-proconfigured.zip (where “x” represents the latest version_ from the Apache Software Foundation site. In this case – which assumes you are using Microsoft Windows – you follow these steps:
1.Unzip Tomcat. Unzip tomcat-6.0.x-preconfigured.zip into the top level of the C drive. This should result in C:apache-tomcat-6.0.x. This version of Tomcat has the following settings already in place. For details on customizing this configuration, please see the detailed configuration guide.
– The port is changed from 8080 to 80. This lets you enter URLs of the form http://localhost/… instead of http://localhost:8080/….
– When you download Tomcat from the Apache site, the port is 8080 in case you already have another server running on port 80.
– Servlet reloading is enabled. This lets you deploy a modified servlet .class file without restarting the server..
– When you download Tomcat from the Apache site, servlet reloading is disabled for performance reasons. You might want it disabled on a server used for a deployed application, but you definitely want it enabled during development.
– The invoker servlet is enabled. This lets you drop a servlet .class file into webapps/appName/WEB-INF/classes/packageName and immediately run it with a URL of the formhttp://localhost/appName/servlet/packageName.servletName. That is, the invoker servlet saves you from editing web.xml to give a servlet-mapping to your servlet.
– When you download Tomcat 5.5 or a newer version from the Apache site, the invoker servlet is disabled. You definitely want the invoker servlet disabled on a server used for a deployed application, but having it enabled on your development server is very convenient for quick testing.
– Tomcat monitors struts-config.xml and faces-config.xml and tracks tomcat performance. Whenever either of these files changes, Tomcat reloads the Web application. This saves you from restarting the server when you change these files.
– If you do not use Struts or JSF, this change will not be beneficial to you. But it does not hurt either way.
– Directory listings are turned on. If you type a URL ending in / and there is no welcome file, Tomcat shows a directory listing.
– Directory listings were on by default in previous Tomcat versions. They are not required but are convenient, especially during development.
2. Set JAVA_HOME. Set this environment variable to point at the top-level of your Java installation directory (e.g., C:Program FilesJavajdk1.6.0_14.) For details, see the sample autoexec.bat file orthis section of the page on configuring your development environment.
3. Set CLASSPATH. Set this environment variable to include “.”, C:Servlets+JSP, and the servlet/JSP JAR files. For details, see the sample autoexec.bat file or this section of the page on configuring your development environment.
For a very quick test, open C:Servlets+JSP, double click on the shortcut to startup.bat, and open http://localhost/ in your browser. If you see something about Tomcat, the setup was successful. But be sure to do the more complete server tests to verify that you have your development and deployment environment also set up properly.