Apache Tomcat Administration Training Course

Introduction to Tomcat 

• A brief overview of Apache
• The Apache Software Foundation
• The Jakarta Project
• Tomcat Licensing details
• J2EE Technologies
• Java Web Development concepts
• Servlet and JSP Containers

Java Web Applications

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

Tomcat Installation

• Steps to download and install Apache Tomcat
• Installing the JVM, Tomcat, and Ant
• Using the Windows installer
• Managing Java memory and tuning the JVM for optimal performance

Tomcat Directory Structure

• Overview of installation directories, including the bin, common, and shared folders
• Detailed look at the conf, logs, server, work, temp, and webapps directories
• Understanding the web application directory hierarchy
• Deploying HTML, JSP pages, and web contexts
• How JSP pages are compiled into generated code
• The process of deploying a web application

Tomcat Configuration

• Configuring Tomcat and exploring key techniques
• Tomcat’s component-based architecture
• Explaining core elements: <Server>, <Service>, <Connector>, <Engine>, <Host>, <Context>, <Realm>, <Valve>, <Listener>, <Loader>, and <Manager>
• The role of the server.xml file
• Modifying server.xml settings

Web Application Management

• Administrating and deploying web applications
• Standard directory structure for web apps
• Working with the web.xml configuration file
• Understanding 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
• Reviewing a sample web.xml file
• Deployment procedures
• The default conf/web.xml file in Tomcat
• Tuning default JSP and static content servlets

Tomcat Manager

• Using the Tomcat Manager to deploy and manage applications
• Accessing and exploring the Tomcat Manager interface
• Reviewing the Manager section components
• Managing Applications, Deployment, and Server Information
• Creating WAR files
• Practical Lab: Deploying a WAR file
• Java Management Extensions (JMX) in Tomcat
• Integrating Tomcat with Ant

Advanced Tomcat Features

• Utilizing advanced Tomcat capabilities
• Configuring Valves, including Access Log and Single Sign-on Valves
• Using Remote Address and Remote Host Filters
• The Request Dumper Valve
• Setting up JNDI Resources
• Understanding Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) and defining resources
• The <environment></environment> and <resource></resource> elements
• Configuring JavaMail Sessions
• Managing Global Resources

JDBC Connectivity

• Configuring Tomcat for database connectivity
• An overview of JDBC
• Working with JDBC Drivers
• Database connections and connection pooling
• Downloading and installing MySQL
• Configuring MySQL for use with Tomcat
• Creating a database in MySQL
• Downloading and deploying JDBC drivers
• Defining Data Sources in Tomcat, both programmatically and manually
• Updating the Deployment Descriptor
• Detecting and closing leaked database connections

Tomcat Security

• Security configurations and considerations for Tomcat
• Key security concerns
• File system security best practices
• Implementing the Java Security Manager
• Granting permissions to Java applications
• Creating and applying custom security policies
• Enabling the Java Security Manager
• Tips for Security Manager usage and Security Realms
• Different types of Realms and configuration methods
• Managing Users and Roles for authentication and authorization
• Creating a Data Source Realm
• Protecting passwords
• Implementing FORM-based authentication
• Setting up Tomcat for SSL
• Enforcing SSL within applications

Integration and Connectivity

• Connecting Tomcat with Apache
• Understanding Connectors
• Configuring HTTP Connectors
• Benefits of using a web server
• Connector protocols
• Setting up an AJP Connector
• Downloading mod_jk
• Creating the mod_jk.conf file
• Starting Tomcat
• Creating a Worker
• Configuring httpd.conf
• Testing the integration setup
• Load balancing across multiple Tomcat instances
• Common load balancing challenges
• Managing server affinity with sticky sessions
• Shared session storage
• Replicating sessions through Tomcat clustering
• Shared Hosting concepts
• Tomcat Virtual Hosting
• Configuring Tomcat for standalone virtual hosting
• Enabling virtual hosting via jk2 or webapp
• Standalone Tomcat configuration
• Configuring Tomcat with AJP
• Using separate JVMs for each host

Load Testing

• Introduction to the JMeter Application
• Conducting load tests with JMeter
• Installing and running JMeter
• Creating a Test Plan
• Configuring the Thread Group and adding tasks
• Setting up HTTP Requests
• Adding a Report Listener
• Executing the Test Plan
• Analyzing test results