Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview 

• A concise overview of Apache.
• The Apache Software Foundation.
• The Jakarta Project.
• Tomcat licensing models.
• J2EE technologies.
• Java web development concepts.
• Servlet and JSP containers.

Java Web Applications

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

Installing Tomcat

• Downloading and installing Apache Tomcat.
• Installing the JVM, downloading Tomcat, and setting up Ant.
• Using the Windows installer.
• Java memory management and JVM tuning for performance.

Tomcat Directories

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

ConfiguringTomcat

• Tomcat configuration 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.
• The 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 and exploring the Tomcat Manager.
• Examining the Manager section.
• Applications, deployment, and server information.
• Creating a WAR file.
• Lab 4: Deploying a WAR file.
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) in Tomcat.
• Integrating Tomcat with Ant.

Advanced Features

• Utilizing advanced Tomcat features.
• Valves, including the 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 pools.
• Downloading and installing MySQL.
• Configuring MySQL for Tomcat.
• Creating a database in MySQL.
• Downloading and deploying a JDBC driver.
• Defining a data source in Tomcat and manual configuration.
• Modifying the deployment descriptor.
• Detecting and closing leaked database connections.

Tomcat Security

• Security considerations and configuration in Tomcat.
• General security considerations.
• File system security and filesystem recommendations.
• The Java Security Manager.
• Granting permissions to Java applications 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.
• An overview of connectors.
• HTTP connectors.
• The 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.
• Challenges associated 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 standalone server.
• Configuring Tomcat for virtual hosting using jk2 or webapp.
• Configuring Tomcat as a standalone instance.
• Configuring Tomcat with AJP.
• Assigning a separate JVM for each host.

Load Testing

• The JMeter application.
• Load testing using 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.
• Viewing results.