Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview 

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

Java Web Applications

• Introduction to Servlets
• Benefits of Servlets and their lifecycle
• JavaServer Pages
• JSP, JavaBeans, and JSP Tag Libraries
• MVC frameworks

Installing Tomcat

• Process for downloading and installing Apache Tomcat
• Installing a JVM, Tomcat, and Ant
• Using the Windows installer
• Java memory management and JVM optimization for performance

Tomcat Directories

• Overview of installation paths, directory structure, the bin directory, and common/shared directories
• Details on the conf, logs, server, work, temp, and webapps directories
• Analysis of the Web Application Directory Structure
• Deployment of HTML and JSP pages and the Web Context
• JSP Pages and generated code
• Deploying a Web Application

ConfiguringTomcat

• Techniques for configuring Tomcat
• Tomcat's Component Architecture
• Explanation of the <Server>, <Service>, <Connector>, <Engine>, <Host>, <Context>, <Realm>, <Valve>, <Listener>, <Loader>, and <Manager> elements
• The Server.xml file
• Modifying the server.xml configuration

Web Applications

• Web Application Administration and Deployment
• Directory structure of a Web Application
• 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
• Example of a web.xml file
• Deployment of a Web Application
• Tomcat's default conf/web.xml file
• Optimizing default JSP and Static-content servlets

Tomcat Manager

• Using the Tomcat Manager for Web Application deployment and management
• Starting and exploring the Tomcat Manager interface
• Overview of the Manager section
• Managing Applications, Deployment, and Server Information
• Creating WAR Files
• Lab 4: Deploying a WAR File
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) in Tomcat
• Integrating Tomcat with Ant

Advanced Features

• Utilizing advanced Tomcat capabilities
• Valves, including Access Log and Single Sign-on
• Remote Address and Remote Host Filters
• Request Dumper Valve
• Configuration of 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
• JDBC Overview
• 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 considerations and configuration in Tomcat
• Key security considerations
• File System Security and filesystem best practices
• 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
• Reviewing different Realm types 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
• Enforcing SSL requirements in applications

Connecting

• Connecting Tomcat to Apache
• Reviewing 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 issues with load balancing
• Server affinity through 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 Stand-alone
• Configuring Tomcat with AJP
• Assigning a separate JVM for each Host

Load Testing

• JMeter Application
• Conducting Load Testing with JMeter
• Installing and running JMeter
• Creating a Test Plan
• Configuring the Thread Group and adding tasks
• Setting up the HTTP Request
• Adding a Report Listener
• Executing the Test Plan
• Analyzing the Results