Install Tomcat 7 on Debian (Lenny) with virtual hosts and Apache2 integration

11 December 2010 sebastian Linux, 35   Switch language:

This article is a new version of my Apache Tomcat 6 article. This article describes how to install Apache Tomcat 7 on Debian Lenny, Apache2 integration and virtual hosts. Tocat 7 is not available over the regular sources on Debain Lenny (and Etch) it need to be installed by hand.

Tomcat 7 is still BETA. Please use Tomcat 6 for productive servers.

1. Install Java 6 runtime:

Choose one of the following Java JDK installations:

1.1 OpenJDK

aptitude install openjdk-6-jre

1.2 Sun Java (non-free)

vim /etc/apt/sources

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free
deb-src http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ lenny main non-free

aptitude update
aptitude install sun-java6-jre

Note: Keep in mind that you need a different Apache connector configuration if you use the Sun JDK.

2. Download Tomcat

Download Tomcat 7 from Tomcat 7 Download page.

For example:

wget http://artfiles.org/apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-7/v7.0.5-beta/bin/apache-tomcat-7.0.5.tar.gz

3. Install Tomcat

tar -xzvf apache-tomcat-7.0.5.tar.gz
mv apache-tomcat-7.0.5 /opt/tomcat

4. Create tomcat user and group

groupadd tomcat
useradd -g tomcat -d /opt/tomcat tomcat
usermod -G www-data tomcat
chown tomcat:tomcat /opt/tomcat -R

This create a new user “tomcat” and a group “tomcat”. It set the home directory for this user to “/opt/tomcat” and join the “tomcat” user the “www-data” group. This is necessary to access the virtual hosts. Finally give the “/opt/tomcat” directory to the new “tomcat” user.

5. Create Init-Script

vim /etc/init.d/tomcat

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/init.d/tomcat -- startup script for the Tomcat 7 servlet engine
#
# Modified init-Script from Ubuntu Tomcat init-script
#
# 2010 - Sebastian Mogilowski - http://www.mogilowski.net
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          tomcat
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs $network
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs $remote_fs $network
# Should-Start:      $named
# Should-Stop:       $named
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start Tomcat.
# Description:       Start the Tomcat servlet engine.
### END INIT INFO

set -e

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/opt/tomcat
NAME=tomcat
DESC="Tomcat servlet engine"
DEFAULT=/etc/default/$NAME
JVM_TMP=/tmp/tomcat-tmp

if [ `id -u` -ne 0 ]; then
	echo "You need root privileges to run this script"
	exit 1
fi

# Make sure tomcat is started with system locale
if [ -r /etc/default/locale ]; then
	. /etc/default/locale
	export LANG
fi

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

if [ -r /etc/default/rcS ]; then
	. /etc/default/rcS
fi

# The following variables can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# Run Tomcat 7 as this user ID and group ID
TOMCAT_USER=tomcat
TOMCAT_GROUP=tomcat

# The first existing directory is used for JAVA_HOME (if JAVA_HOME is not
# defined in $DEFAULT)
JDK_DIRS="/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-sun /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-ibm"

# Look for the right JVM to use
for jdir in $JDK_DIRS; do
    if [ -r "$jdir/bin/java" -a -z "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then
	JAVA_HOME="$jdir"
    fi
done
export JAVA_HOME

# Directory where the Tomcat binary distribution resides
CATALINA_HOME=/opt/$NAME

# Directory for per-instance configuration files and webapps
CATALINA_BASE=/opt/$NAME

# Use the Java security manager? (yes/no)
TOMCAT_SECURITY=no

# Default Java options
# Set java.awt.headless=true if JAVA_OPTS is not set so the
# Xalan XSL transformer can work without X11 display on JDK 1.4+
# It also looks like the default heap size of 64M is not enough for most cases
# so the maximum heap size is set to 128M
if [ -z "$JAVA_OPTS" ]; then
	JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx128M"
fi

# End of variables that can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# overwrite settings from default file
if [ -f "$DEFAULT" ]; then
	. "$DEFAULT"
fi

if [ ! -f "$CATALINA_HOME/bin/bootstrap.jar" ]; then
	log_failure_msg "$NAME is not installed"
	exit 1
fi

POLICY_CACHE="$CATALINA_BASE/work/catalina.policy"

if [ -z "$CATALINA_TMPDIR" ]; then
	CATALINA_TMPDIR="$JVM_TMP"
fi

# Set the JSP compiler if set in the tomcat.default file
if [ -n "$JSP_COMPILER" ]; then
	JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dbuild.compiler=\"$JSP_COMPILER\""
fi

SECURITY=""
if [ "$TOMCAT_SECURITY" = "yes" ]; then
	SECURITY="-security"
fi

# Define other required variables
CATALINA_PID="/var/run/$NAME.pid"
CATALINA_SH="$CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh"

# Look for Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) JARs
if [ -z "${JSSE_HOME}" -a -r "${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/jsse.jar" ]; then
    JSSE_HOME="${JAVA_HOME}/jre/"
fi

catalina_sh() {
	# Escape any double quotes in the value of JAVA_OPTS
	JAVA_OPTS="$(echo $JAVA_OPTS | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g')"

	AUTHBIND_COMMAND=""
	if [ "$AUTHBIND" = "yes" -a "$1" = "start" ]; then
		JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
		AUTHBIND_COMMAND="/usr/bin/authbind --deep /bin/bash -c "
	fi

	# Define the command to run Tomcat's catalina.sh as a daemon
	# set -a tells sh to export assigned variables to spawned shells.
	TOMCAT_SH="set -a; JAVA_HOME=\"$JAVA_HOME\"; source \"$DEFAULT\"; \
		CATALINA_HOME=\"$CATALINA_HOME\"; \
		CATALINA_BASE=\"$CATALINA_BASE\"; \
		JAVA_OPTS=\"$JAVA_OPTS\"; \
		CATALINA_PID=\"$CATALINA_PID\"; \
		CATALINA_TMPDIR=\"$CATALINA_TMPDIR\"; \
		LANG=\"$LANG\"; JSSE_HOME=\"$JSSE_HOME\"; \
		cd \"$CATALINA_BASE\"; \
		\"$CATALINA_SH\" $@"

	if [ "$AUTHBIND" = "yes" -a "$1" = "start" ]; then
		TOMCAT_SH="'$TOMCAT_SH'"
	fi

	# Run the catalina.sh script as a daemon
	set +e
	touch "$CATALINA_PID" "$CATALINA_BASE"/logs/catalina.out
	chown $TOMCAT_USER "$CATALINA_PID" "$CATALINA_BASE"/logs/catalina.out
	start-stop-daemon --start -b -u "$TOMCAT_USER" -g "$TOMCAT_GROUP" \
		-c "$TOMCAT_USER" -d "$CATALINA_TMPDIR" \
		-x /bin/bash -- -c "$AUTHBIND_COMMAND $TOMCAT_SH"
	status="$?"
	set +a -e
	return $status
}

case "$1" in
  start)
	if [ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
		log_failure_msg "no JDK found - please set JAVA_HOME"
		exit 1
	fi

	if [ ! -d "$CATALINA_BASE/conf" ]; then
		log_failure_msg "invalid CATALINA_BASE: $CATALINA_BASE"
		exit 1
	fi

	log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
	if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null; then

		# Regenerate POLICY_CACHE file
		umask 022
		echo "// AUTO-GENERATED FILE from /opt/tomcat/" \
			> "$POLICY_CACHE"
		echo ""  >> "$POLICY_CACHE"
		cat $CATALINA_BASE/conf/*.policy \
			>> "$POLICY_CACHE"

		# Remove / recreate JVM_TMP directory
		rm -rf "$JVM_TMP"
		mkdir -p "$JVM_TMP" || {
			log_failure_msg "could not create JVM temporary directory"
			exit 1
		}
		chown $TOMCAT_USER "$JVM_TMP"

		catalina_sh start $SECURITY
		sleep 5
        	if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
			--user $TOMCAT_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
			>/dev/null; then
			if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
				rm -f "$CATALINA_PID"
			fi
			log_end_msg 1
		else
			log_end_msg 0
		fi
	else
	        log_progress_msg "(already running)"
		log_end_msg 0
	fi
	;;
  stop)
	log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"

	set +e
	if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
		start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
			--user "$TOMCAT_USER" \
			--retry=TERM/20/KILL/5 >/dev/null
		if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
			log_progress_msg "$DESC is not running but pid file exists, cleaning up"
		elif [ $? -eq 3 ]; then
			PID="`cat $CATALINA_PID`"
			log_failure_msg "Failed to stop $NAME (pid $PID)"
			exit 1
		fi
		rm -f "$CATALINA_PID"
		rm -rf "$JVM_TMP"
	else
		log_progress_msg "(not running)"
	fi
	log_end_msg 0
	set -e
	;;
   status)
	set +e
	start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null 2>&1
	if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then

		if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
		    log_success_msg "$DESC is not running, but pid file exists."
			exit 1
		else
		    log_success_msg "$DESC is not running."
			exit 3
		fi
	else
		log_success_msg "$DESC is running with pid `cat $CATALINA_PID`"
	fi
	set -e
        ;;
  restart|force-reload)
	if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
		$0 stop
		sleep 1
	fi
	$0 start
	;;
  try-restart)
        if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null; then
		$0 start
	fi
        ;;
  *)
	log_success_msg "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|try-restart|force-reload|status}"
	exit 1
	;;
esac

exit 0

Download the init-script: Tomcat 7 Init-Script (2.6 kB)

chmod +x /etc/init.d/tomcat
update-rc.d tomcat defaults

6. Activate the Tomcat manager

vim /opt/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<tomcat-users>
    <role rolename="manager"/>
    <role rolename="manager-gui"/>
    <role rolename="admin"/>
    <role rolename="admin-gui"/>
    <user username="YOUR_USERNAME" password="YOUR_PASSWORD" roles="admin,admin-gui,manager,manager-gui"/>
</tomcat-users>

6. Start Tomcat

/etc/init.d/tomcat start

Now you can access the Tomcat manager with http://SERVER:8080/manager.

7. Install Apache2 connector

You can use the Tomcat as a standalone webserver, but the apache webserver has more features and you can use the apache modules. (mod_rewrite for example)

aptitude install apache2 libapache2-mod-jk

7.1 Apache worker

vim /etc/apache2/workers.properties

workers.tomcat_home=/opt/tomcat
workers.java_home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk
ps=/
worker.list=default
worker.default.port=8009
worker.default.host=localhost
worker.default.type=ajp13
worker.default.lbfactor=1

Note: Replace “/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk” with “/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun” if you using the non-free Sun Java runtime.

7.2 JK configuration file

vim /etc/apache2/conf.d/jk.conf

<ifmodule mod_jk.c>
    JkWorkersFile /etc/apache2/workers.properties
    JkLogFile /var/log/apache2/mod_jk.log
    JkLogLevel error
</ifmodule>

/etc/init.d/apache2 stop
/etc/init.d/tomcat restart
/etc/init.d/apache2 start

8. Create a new VirtualHost

Creating a new VirtualHost: (In Apache AND Tomcat)

8.1 Create directories

mkdir /var/www/vhost1
mkdir /var/www/vhost1/htdocs
mkdir /var/www/vhost1/logs

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/vhost1

8.2 Apache

<virtualhost www.testsrv.local>
    JkMount /*.jsp default
    ServerName www.testsrv.local
    ServerAdmin servermaster@testsrv.local
    DocumentRoot /var/www/vhost1/htdocs
    ErrorLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/access.log common
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs>
        Options -Indexes
    </directory>
</virtualhost>

Note: You can forward all files “JkMount /*” or all files in a folder “JkMount /folder/*” to the Tomcat, too.

a2ensite vhost1
/etc/init.d/apache2 reload

8.3 Tomcat

vim /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml

<!-- www.testsrv.local -->
<Host name="www.testsrv.local" appBase="/var/www/vhost1" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
    <Context path="" docBase="htdocs" debug="0" reloadable="true"/>
    <Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve" directory="/var/www/vhost1/logs"  prefix="tomcat_access_" suffix=".log" pattern="common" resolveHosts="false"/>
</Host>

Note: Make sure you use a uppercase “H”, “C” and “V” for “Host”, “Content” and “Value”. This is importand since Tomcat 7.

/etc/init.d/tomcat restart

Note: You can add additional domains with:

<Alias>additionaldomain.com</Alias>

9. Create a Testpage

vim /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/test.jsp

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Hello World</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Hello World</h1>
        Today is: <%= new java.util.Date().toString() %>
    </body>
</html>

Now you can test your configuration with http://www.testsrv.local/test.jsp