Apache Tomcat

Intro to Java

• Overview
• Relationship to Tomcat
• Standards vs implementation
• Servlets/JSPs
• Overview
• Life-cycle
• Advantages
• Role of the application server (i.e. servlet container)
• Comparison to other web technologies
• Model-view-controller (MVC) design pattern
• Quick overview
• Impact on application design and troubleshooting

Apache Tomcat Overview

• Background of Tomcat
• Apache Software Foundation
• Tomcat project
• Tomcat licensing
• Uses of Tomcat in the real world
• Versions of Tomcat
• Future direction for Tomcat
• Alternative distributions of Tomcat

Installing Apache Tomcat

• Installing Java
• Getting Java
• Java SE vs. Java EE
• JDK vs. JRE
• Installing on Unix/Linux/Windows
• Getting Tomcat
• Pre-built binary release
• Using vendor-supplied pre-compiled release
• What do download?
• Life-cycle management
• Which scripts to run?
• Running in background vs. foreground
• Understanding the shutdown process
• Running Tomcat as a system service
• Installing Tomcat as a NT sevice on Windows
• Running Tomcat with jsvc on Unix/Linux
• Using SysV framework to manage auto-start/shutdown

Tomcat Directory Structure

• The bin/ directory
• The lib/ directory (libraries on Tomcat pre-v6: shared/, common/, server/)
• Class loading on Tomcat
• The conf/ directory
• The context directories
• The webapps/ directory
• The temp/ directory
• The logs/ directory
• The work/ directory
• Running multiple Tomcat instances off the single installation
• CATALINA_HOME vs. CATALINA_BASE

Tomcat Architecture and Configuration

• Tomcat architecture: the big-picture
• Overview of XML
• Overview of Tomcat conf/server.xml file
• Walk through the Tomcat component hierarchy
• The element
• Configuring the shutdown port
• The element
• The element
• Overview of connectors
• Configuration
• Tuning
• The element
• Understanding thread pooling
• The element
• Overview
• Understanding background threads
• The element
• Overview
• Configuration
• Virtual hosting on Tomcat
• The element
• The element
• Overview
• Configuration
• The element (more on this later)
• The element (more on this later)
• The element
• Overview
• The element (more on this later)
• The element (more on this later)
• The element
• Overview
• Extending Tomcat
• The element (more on this later)

Logging on Tomcat

• Defaut system logging
• Using Log4J
• Access Log Valve
• Request Dumper Valve

Deployments and Web Apps on Tomcat

• Directory structure of web apps
• Class-loading revisited
• The WEB-INF/web.xml deployment descriptor
• Common elements
• Defining and mapping Servlets and Filters
• Initializing web apps
• Session configuration
• Welcome file list
• Error pages
• Resources
• JNDI entries
• Web Archives (i.e. .war files)
• Overview
• Creating
• Deploying
• Pros/cons
• Tomcat's conf/web.xml file
• Static file handling
• Performance implications
• JSP handling
• Overview
• Memory/performance implications
• Tuning
• Pre-compiling JSPs
• Default MIME-types
• Default session config
• Default welcome file list

Monitoring and Management on Tomcat

• Tomcat Manager application
• Overview
• Accessing
• Features
• Starting and stopping applications
• Deployments and undeployments
• Automation with non-HTML mode
• Using wget (i.e. command-line)
• Ant Integration
• Monitoring
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) on Tomcat
• Overview
• Architecture
• Tomcat MBeans
• JMX Proxy Servlet
• Run-time monitoring and management of the entire server
• Automation with Ant
• JConsole
• Overview
• Connecting to Tomcat
• JVM Monitoring
• MBeans support

Managing Resources on Tomcat

• Overview of JNDI
• Resources and JNDI on Tomcat
• The Element
• The Element
• The Element
• Global vs. local resources
• The role of deployment descriptors
• JavaMail on Tomcat
• Overview
• Adding support to Tomcat
• Configuring JavaMail as a Tomcat resource
• Database Integration on Tomcat
• Overview of JDBC: API vs. drivers
• Overview of Database Connection Pools (DBCP)
• Configuring DBCP resources on Tomcat with MySQL
• Handling connection pool leaks

Tomcat Security

• Security of Tomcat
• The shutdown command
• Running on privileged ports
• jsvc
• TCP Port Relaying
• User and directory permissions
• Running with the Security Manager
• Overview
• Java Permissions and grants
• Tomcat's policy file
• Customizing policies
• Pros and cons of the security manager
• Securing applications running on Tomcat
• Using valves for access control
• Address vs Host valve
• Authentication and Authorization
• Overview of container-managed security
• When to use?
• A look at Manager app secrity
• Requiring authorized users
• Authentication options
• Basic vs. form authentication
• Realms
• Overview
• Types of realms
• Using DataSource realm
• Overview of JNDI realm
• Protecting privacy of passwords
• Combining realms
• Lock-out realms
• SSL/TLS on Tomcat
• Overview
• SSL Certificates
• Configuring SSL connector
• Requiring the use of SSL in applications

Tomcat Performance Tuning

• Java/JVM tuning
• Heap sizing
• Garbage collection policies
• HotSpot JIT compilers
• Scaling
• Approaches
• Tomcat tuning
• Connectors
• JSPs
• Sessions
• Scaling

High Availability (HA) and Scalability of Tomcat

• Fronting Tomcat with Apache
• Overview
• Pros/cons
• AJP vs. HTTP
• mod_jk vs. mod_proxy_ajp
• Using mod_jk
• Compiling/Installing
• Configuring
• Monitoring
• Load Balancing
• Benefits and issues
• Pros/cons
• Sharing sessions via persistent manager
• Pros/cons
• Session-replication
• Clustering on Tomcat
• Architecture
• Configuration
• Monitoring
• Pros/cons
• Massive-scaling with cluster groups

Load Testing with JMeter - Appendix

• Overview of JMeter
• Installation
• Running
• Creating a Test Plan
• Configuring Thread Groups
• Adding Tasks to Thread Groups
• Configuring HTTP Requester
• Managing Report Listeners
• Running Test Plans