Apache Tomcat - What is it...

What is Apache Tomcat?

-          Open source servlet container.

-          It implements Java Servlet & JSP specification.

-          Provides pure Java HTTP Web Server environment.

It should not be confused with Apache Web Server which is totally different – basically a C implementation of HTTP web server.

What are the main components of Tomcat?

-          Catalina – Servlet Container.

-          Coyote – HTTP Connector. It listens for incoming connections on specific TCP ports on server and forwards them to tomcat engine and then from server to clients.

-          Jasper – It is nothing but a JSP engine. It parses JSP files & compile them into Java code as servlets. It also detects changes to JSP files at runtime and recompiles if necessary.

Directory Structure

·         /bin – Various binaries and script files. Main scripts to see are the startup & shutdown scripts.

·         /conf – Various configuration files. The most important configuration file is server.xml.

·         /logs – Default location for log files.

·         /webapps – All your webapps will be placed in this folder.

To learn how you can install and configure tomcat see the article – Installing Apache Tomcat.