Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview

• Brief introduction to Apache
• The Apache Software Foundation
• The Jakarta Project
• Tomcat licensing models
• J2EE Technologies
• Java Web Development fundamentals
• Servlet and JSP Containers

Java Web Applications

• Introduction to Servlets
• Benefits of Servlets and their Lifecycle
• JavaServer Pages (JSP)
• JSP, JavaBeans, and JSP Tag Libraries
• Model-View-Controller (MVC) frameworks

Installing Tomcat

• Download and installation process for Apache Tomcat
• Installing the JVM, downloading Tomcat, and setting up Ant
• Utilizing the Windows installer
• Java memory management and JVM tuning for performance

Tomcat Directories

• Overview of installation directories, directory structure, the bin directory, and common/shared directories
• Details on the conf, logs, server, work, temp, and webapps directories
• Understanding the Web Application directory structure
• Deployment of HTML and JSP pages and Web Contexts
• JSP Pages and the resulting generated code
• Processes for deploying a Web App

Configuring Tomcat

• Tomcat configuration techniques and methodologies
• Tomcat's Component Architecture
• Key Elements: <Server>, <Service>, <Connector>, <Engine>, <Host>, <Context>, <Realm>, <Valve>, <Listener>, <Loader>, <Manager>
• The server.xml file
• Methods for modifying server.xml

Web Applications

• Administration and deployment of Web Applications
• Directory structure for Web Apps
• The web.xml configuration file
• Deployment Descriptors
• The <web-app></web-app> Element
• Mapping Servlets to URLs
• The <resource-ref></resource-ref> Element
• The <env-entry></env-entry> Element
• The <ejb-ref></ejb-ref> Element
• Examining 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 interface overview
• Exploring 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

• Leveraging 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
• Setting up a JavaMail Session
• Global Resources

JDBC Connectivity

• Configuring Tomcat for database connectivity
• 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 DataSource in Tomcat and manual Data Source configuration
• Modifying the Deployment Descriptor
• Detecting and closing leaked database connections

Tomcat Security

• Security configurations on Tomcat
• Key Security Considerations
• File System Security and filesystem best practices
• The Java Security Manager
• Granting permissions to Java Apps and reviewing Java Permissions
• Creating and implementing custom security policies
• Enabling the Java Security Manager
• Security Manager tips and Security Realms
• Types of Realms and Realm configuration
• Users and Roles (authentication and authorization)
• Creating a Data Source Realm
• Password protection mechanisms
• FORM-based authentication
• Configuring Tomcat for SSL
• Enforcing SSL in applications

Connecting

• Integrating Tomcat with 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
• Challenges associated with load balancing
• Server affinity via sticky sessions
• Shared session storage
• Replicated sessions via Tomcat clustering
• Shared Hosting
• Tomcat Virtual Hosting
• Enabling virtual hosting for Tomcat as a stand-alone server
• Enabling virtual hosting for Tomcat using jk2 or webapp.
• Configuring Tomcat as Stand-alone
• Configuring Tomcat with AJP
• Separate JVM for Each Host

Load Testing

• Introduction to the JMeter Application
• Performing 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
• Executing the Test Plan
• Reviewing the Results