Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview 

• A brief overview of Apache
• The Apache Software Foundation
• The Jakarta Project
• Tomcat Licensing
• J2EE Technologies
• Java Web Development
• Servlet and JSP Containers

Java Web Applications

• An Overview of Servlets
• Servlet Advantages and their Lifecycle
• JavaServer Pages
• JSP, JavaBeans, and JSP Tag Libraries
• MVC frameworks

Installing Tomcat

• Downloading and Installing Apache Tomcat
• Downloading and installing a JVM, Tomcat, and Ant
• The Windows installer
• Java memory management and JVM tuning for performance

Tomcat Directories

• Tomcat Installation Directories, Directory Structure, The bin Directory, Common and Shared Directories
• The conf Directory, logs Directory, server directory, work Directory, temp Directory, and webapps Directory
• Structure of the Web Application Directory
• Deploying HTML and JSP Pages and Web Context
• JSP Pages and Generated Code
• Deploying a Web App

Configuring Tomcat

• Tomcat Configuration and Techniques
• Tomcat's Component Architecture
• The <Server> Element, <Service> Element, <Connector> Element, <Engine> Element, <Host> Element, <Context> Element, <Realm> Element, <Valve> Element, <Listener> Element, <Loader> Element, <Manager> Element
• The server.xml File
• Modifying server.xml

Web Applications

• Web Application Administration and Deployment
• Directory Structure of 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 using the Tomcat Manager
• Starting the Tomcat Manager and interface overview
• Examining the Manager Section
• Applications, Deploy, and Server Information
• Creating a WAR File
• Lab 4: Deploying a WAR File
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) on Tomcat
• Tomcat integration with Ant

Advanced Features

• Utilizing Advanced Features of Tomcat
• 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 a JNDI Resource
• The <environment></environment> Element and The <resource></resource> Element
• Configuring a JavaMail Session
• Global Resources

JDBC Connectivity

• Configuring Tomcat to Connect to a Database
• Overview of JDBC
• JDBC Drivers
• Connecting to a Database and Managing Connection Pools
• Downloading and Installing MySQL
• Configuring MySQL for Tomcat
• Creating a Database in MySQL
• Downloading and Deploying a JDBC Driver
• Defining a DataSource in Tomcat and Manual Data Source Definition
• Modifying the Deployment Descriptor
• Detecting and Closing Leaked Database Connections

Tomcat Security

• Security on Tomcat and Configuration
• 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
• FORM-based authentication
• Configuring Tomcat for SSL
• Requiring SSL in applications

Connecting

• Connecting Tomcat to Apache
• Examining Connectors
• HTTP Connectors
• Advantages 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 issues with load balancing
• 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
• Load Testing with JMeter
• Installing and Running JMeter
• Creating a Test Plan
• Configuring the Thread Group and Adding Tasks
• Configuring the HTTP Request
• Adding a Report Listener
• Running the Test Plan
• Viewing the Results