Installing and Configuring Tomcat

This article, in which we examine issues specific to Tomcat, is the second in our series on the Jakarta-Tomcat server. In this article we will discuss

• the requirements for installing and configuring Tomcat,
• the process of installing and configuring Tomcat, and
• deploying Tomcat web applications.

Requirements for Installing and Configuring Tomcat

Before performing the tasks outlined by this article you will need to download the items listed in the Table 1.

For this article we will be using the latest versions of the tools listed above.

Installing and Configuring Tomcat

In this article we will be installing Tomcat as a stand-alone server. This means that Tomcat will service all requests, including static content, JSPs, and servlets.

To configure Tomcat as a stand-alone server you will need to download the Tomcat 4.0 beta 1 and the JDK 1.3 Standard Edition from the locations listed above. You should choose the appropriate downloads based on your OS. We will be covering the steps involved in installing to both NT/2000 and Linux.

Installing to Windows NT/2000
The first installation we will be performing is to Windows NT/2000. The first thing you need to do is install the JDK, following its installation instructions. For this article I am installing the JDK to drive D:, therefore my JAVA_HOME directory is D:\jdk1.3.

Now you need to extract the Tomcat server. Again, I am installing to drive D:, which will make my TOMCAT_HOME directory D:\jakarta-tomcat-4.0-b1.

After you have extracted Tomcat, the next step is putting your JDK into Tomcat's CLASSPATH and setting the TOMCAT_HOME environment variable. To do this under NT/2000, you must

1. Open the NT/2000 Control Panel. You should see an image similar to Figure 1.

   Figure 1. NT/2000 Control Panel

2. Start the NT/2000 System Application and select the Advanced tab. You should see a screen similar to Figure 2.

   Figure 2. NT/2000 System Application

3. Select the Environment Variables button. You will see a screen similar to Figure 3.

   Figure 3. Environment Variables Dialog

4. Select the New button on the System Variables section of the Environment Variables dialog. Add a JAVA_HOME variable and set its value to the location of your JDK installation. Figure 4 shows the settings associated with my installation.

   Figure 4. JAVA_HOME Environment Settings

5. Repeat Step 4 using TOMCAT_HOME for the variable name and the location of your Tomcat installation as the value. For my installation I am setting the value to D:\jakarta-tomcat-4.0-b1.

That's all there is to it. You should skip the following section "Installing to Linux" and move on to "Testing You Tomcat Installation."