Tomcat is a web server and servlet container for Java applications. It is developed as an open-source project by the Apache Software Foundation and is available under the Apache license 2.0.
This guide explains how to run Tomcat on your Managed Flex Server.
Requirements
The following requirements must be met to run Tomcat:
- Tomcat can be run on Managed Flex Server M and higher.
- Java Runtime Environment (JRE) – available on your Managed Flex Server and updated by us regularly
Installation and getting started
To complete these steps, you must be logged into your Managed Flex Server via SSH.
We recommend creating an ~/app/ directory for your own applications and then creating a subdirectory for each of your applications. This keeps everything neat and tidy at all times. So, for Tomcat, we will create the directory ~/app/tomcat.
mkdir -p ~/app/tomcatDownloading Tomcat
To download Tomcat, navigate to the application directory you just created:
cd ~/app/tomcatNext, download the latest version from the Tomcat website and unzip it:
wget https://www-eu.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-x/vx.x.xx/bin/apache-tomcat-x.x.xx.tar.gz
tar xzvf apache-tomcat-x.x.xx.tar.gzWe recommend creating a symlink from ~/app/ tomcat/current to the downloaded folder to avoid having to work with version numbers in the configuration files. To create this symlink, enter the following command:
ln -s ~/app/tomcat/apache-tomcat-x.x.xx ~/app/tomcat/currentIntegration
Using Custom Service Control
The Custom Service Control (CSC) can handle operations and the automatic management of your application, e.g. starting and stopping it when performing maintenance on your server.
Configuring Tomcat in the CSC is fairly simple. Set up a new custom service for Tomcat:
hpservices supervisord add tomcat
successfully created dir for tomcat: /home/username/.services/supervisord/tomcat
successfully created dir for tomcat: /home/username/.services/supervisord/tomcat/log
successfully created dir for tomcat: /home/username/app/tomcat
supervisord service config file written: /home/username/.services/supervisord/tomcat/service.confA configuration framework is created in the file ~/.services/supervisord/tomcat/service.conf for the new service. For Tomcat, the command has to be modified and the environment variable included as well. You can leave all other suggested values alone (delete the semicolon at the beginning of the line).
[program:tomcat]
command=%(ENV_HOME)s/app/tomcat/current/bin/catalina.sh run ; the program (can take args)
directory=%(ENV_HOME)s/app/tomcat/ ; directory to cwd to before exec (default no cwd)
autostart=true ; start application at supervisord start (default: true)
stopwaitsecs=10 ; max num secs to wait before SIGKILL (default 10)
stdout_logfile=%(ENV_HOME)s/.services/supervisord/tomcat/log/default.log
stdout_logfile_maxbytes=1MB ; filesize at which to rotate logfiles (default ist 50MB)
stdout_logfile_backups=10 ; number of stdout logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
stderr_logfile=%(ENV_HOME)s/.services/supervisord/tomcat/log/default.err
stderr_logfile_maxbytes=1MB ; filesize at which to rotate logfiles (default is 50MB)
stderr_logfile_backups=10 ; number of stderr logfile backups (0 means none, default 10)
environment=CATALINA_HOME="%(ENV_HOME)s/app/tomcat/current",JAVA_HOME="/usr/local/openjdk8",JAVA_OPTS="-Xms128m -Xmx1024m"JAVA_OPTS
The environment variable JAVA_OPTS, which is configured with environment=, lets you pass Java options to Tomcat. For example, -Xmx1014m sets the configuration to allocate a maximum of 1 GB RAM to Tomcat. You can modify this value to best suit your needs.
Using supervisorctl update, you can apply the new configuration to Tomcat:
supervisorctl update
tomcat: added process groupAttention: If you receive an error, you must uniquely execute before "hpservices supervisord start".
For more detailed information on working with CSC and the options it offers, refer to the guide for Custom Service Control.
Web server configuration
If you now want to make your application accessible via HTTP(S), you must configure your website in the Hostpoint Control Panel so that the web server will route requests to your application via proxy.
In your Hostpoint Control Panel, create a website of the type “Nginx proxy for own application”:
- Server address and port
- The proxy function expects that your application will be listening to the IPv4 loopback address 127.0.0.1, meaning that you only have to enter the port: 8080 (default port for Tomcat).
Additional information
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