Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Tomcat Overview 

• Brief introduction to Apache
• The Apache Software Foundation
• The Jakarta Project
• Licensing terms for Tomcat
• Overview of J2EE technologies
• Fundamentals of Java web development
• Understanding Servlet and JSP containers

Java Web Applications

• Introduction to Servlets
• Benefits of Servlets and their lifecycle
• JavaServer Pages (JSP) overview
• Integration of JSP with JavaBeans and JSP Tag Libraries
• MVC framework concepts

Installing Tomcat

• Process of downloading and installing Apache Tomcat
• Acquiring and setting up a JVM, Tomcat, and Ant
• Using the Windows installer
• Java memory management and JVM tuning for enhanced performance

Tomcat Directories

• Tomcat installation paths, directory structure, the bin directory, and common/shared directories
• Details on the conf, logs, server, work, temp, and webapps directories
• The internal structure of the web application directory
• Deploying HTML and JSP pages and understanding web contexts
• JSP pages and the resulting generated code
• Procedure for deploying a web app

ConfiguringTomcat

• Tomcat configuration methods and techniques
• Overview of Tomcat's component architecture
• Examination of the <Server>, <Service>, <Connector>, <Engine>, <Host>, <Context>, <Realm>, <Valve>, <Listener>, <Loader>, and <Manager> elements
• The server.xml file
• Methods for modifying server.xml

Web Applications

• Administration and deployment of web applications
• Directory layout of a web app
• 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 web.xml file
• Deploying a web application
• The default Tomcat conf/web.xml file
• Tuning default JSP and static content servlets

Tomcat Manager

• Managing and deploying web applications via the Tomcat Manager
• Launching the Tomcat Manager and interface exploration
• Overview of the Manager section
• Applications, deployment tools, and server information
• Creating WAR files
• Lab 4: Deploying a WAR file
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) within Tomcat
• Integrating Tomcat with Ant

Advanced Features

• Utilizing advanced Tomcat capabilities
• Valves, including the Access Log Valve and Single Sign-on Valve
• Remote Address and Remote Host Filters
• The Request Dumper Valve
• Configuration of JNDI resources
• JNDI: Java Naming and Directory Interface, and defining JNDI resources
• The <environment></environment> and <resource></resource> elements
• Setting up a JavaMail session
• Global resources

JDBC Connectivity

• Configuring Tomcat for database connectivity
• JDBC overview
• JDBC drivers
• Database connection and connection pooling
• Downloading and installing MySQL
• Configuring MySQL for Tomcat integration
• Creating a database in MySQL
• Downloading and deploying a JDBC driver
• Defining a DataSource in Tomcat and manual data source configuration
• Modifying deployment descriptors
• Detection and closure of leaked database connections

Tomcat Security

• Security configuration and considerations for Tomcat
• Key security factors
• File system security and best practices
• The Java Security Manager
• Granting permissions to Java applications and reviewing Java permissions
• Creating and adding custom policies
• Activating the Java Security Manager
• Tips for the Security Manager 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
• Requiring SSL in applications

Connecting

• Connecting Tomcat to Apache
• Overview of 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 in load balancing
• Server affinity through sticky sessions
• Shared session storage
• Session replication 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

• Introduction to the JMeter application
• Conducting load tests with JMeter
• Installation and execution of JMeter
• Developing a Test Plan
• Configuring the Thread Group and adding tasks
• Configuring HTTP Requests
• Adding a Report Listener
• Executing the Test Plan
• Analyzing the results