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

If you install the coldfusion server in seperate virtual hosts, each will have an own coldfusion administrator with own settings.

1. Download

First download the coldfusion-801-lin.bin (or coldfusion-801-lin64.bin for 64-Bit) installer from the Adobe Website.

wget http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/ColdFusion/801WWE/coldfusion-801-lin64.bin
chmod +x coldfusion-801-lin64.bin

2. Prepare system

2.1 Install libraries

Coldfusion need some extra libraries for the installation:

aptitude install libstdc++6 libstdc++5
ln -s /usr/lib/libstdc++-libc6.2-2.so.3 /usr/lib/libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2

2.2 Modify the virtual host in tomcat

vim /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml

<!-- www.testsrv.local -->
<host name="www.testsrv.local" appBase="/var/www/vhost1/htdocs" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
    <context path="" docBase="cfusion" 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>

2.3 Modify the virtual host in apache

vim /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/vhost1

<virtualhost www.testsrv.local:80>
    JkMount /*.cfm default
    JkMount /*.cfc default
    JkMount /*.cfchart default
    DirectoryIndex index.cfm index.html index.htm
    ServerName www.testsrv.local
    ServerAdmin servermaster@testsrv.local
    DocumentRoot /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/cfusion
    ErrorLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/access.log common
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/cfusion>
        Options -Indexes
    </directory>
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/cfusion/WEB-INF>
        Options -Indexes
        AllowOverride None
        deny from all
    </directory>
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/cfusion/META-INF>
       Options -Indexes
       AllowOverride None
       deny from all
    </directory>
</virtualhost>

Note: You should restrict the access to the CFIDE folder, too. With an .htaccess file for example.

3. Create WAR file

./coldfusion-801-lin64.bin

Select J2EE configuration (WAR file)
This will create a cfusion.war package in /opt/coldfusion8/.

4. Deploy the WAR file to a virtual host

cp /opt/coldfusion8/cfusion.war /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/

Note: Tomcat will unpack this WAR file and create the cfusion diretory. After that, you can delete the WAR file.

5. Apply configuration

/etc/init.d/tomcat restart
/etc/init.d/apache2 reload

6. Complete Coldfusion installation

Now you can access the CF Administrator with your browser:

http://www.testsrv.local/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm

If you install the BlueDragon server in seperate virtual hosts, each will have an own coldfusion administrator with own settings.

1. Download

Download “J2EE WAR Distribution” from http://www.openbluedragon.org/download.cfm.

2. Prepare system

2.1 Modify the virtual host in tomcat

vim /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml

<!-- www.testsrv.local -->
<host name="www.testsrv.local" appBase="/var/www/vhost1/htdocs" unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
    <context path="" docBase="openbluedragon" 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>

2.2 Modify the virtual host in apache

vim /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/vhost1

<virtualhost www.testsrv.local:80>
    JkMount /*.cfm default
    JkMount /*.cfc default
    JkMount /*.cfchart default
    DirectoryIndex index.cfm index.html index.htm
    ServerName www.testsrv.local
    ServerAdmin servermaster@testsrv.local
    DocumentRoot /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/openbluedragon
    ErrorLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/error.log
    CustomLog /var/www/vhost1/logs/access.log common
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/openbluedragon>
        Options -Indexes
    </directory>
    <directory /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/openbluedragon/WEB-INF>
        Options -Indexes
        AllowOverride None
        deny from all
    </directory>
</virtualhost>

3. Deploy the WAR file to a virtual host

Copy the downloaded openbluedragon.war file into /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/

Note: Tomcat will unpack this WAR file and create the cfusion diretory. After that, you can delete the WAR file.

4. Apply configuration

/etc/init.d/tomcat restart
/etc/init.d/apache2 reload

5. Test configuration

Now you can test your installation by opening the BlueDragon CFML test page:

http://www.testsrv.local/index.cfm

6. Administration

On http://bdadmin.riaforge.org you can get a web admin for the OpenBlueDragon server.

UPDATE: Please read the new article: Tomcat 7 on Debian

1. Install Java 6 runtime:

Choose one of the following Java JDK installations:

1.1 OpenJDK

aptitude install java6-runtime

1.2 Sun JDK (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-jdk

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

2. Download Tomcat

Download Tomcat 6 from Tomcat 6 Download page.

For example:

wget http://apache.imsam.info/tomcat/tomcat-6/v6.0.18/bin/apache-tomcat-6.0.18.tar.gz

3. Install Tomcat

tar -xzvf apache-tomcat-6.0.18.tar.gz
mv apache-tomcat-6.0.18 /opt/tomcat

4. Create Init-Script

vim /etc/init.d/tomcat

#!/bin/sh
# Tomcat Init-Script
case $1 in
    start)
        sh /opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
    ;;
    stop)
        sh /opt/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
    ;;
    restart)
        sh /opt/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
        sh /opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
    ;;
esac
exit 0

update-rc.d tomcat defaults

5. 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="admin"/>
    <user username="YOUR_USERNAME" password="YOUR_PASSWORD" roles="admin,manager"/>
</tomcat-users>

6. Start Tomcat

/etc/init.d/tomcat start

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

5. 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

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.

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

6. Create a new VirtualHost

Creating a new VirtualHost: (In Apache AND Tomcat)

6.1 Create directories

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

vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/vhost1

6.2 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

6.3 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>

/etc/init.d/tomcat restart

Note: You can add additional domains with:

<alias>additionaldomain.com</alias>

7. 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

This howto describes how you can install OpenBlueDragon with Tomcat 5.5 on Debian Etch. The Tomcat server will be connected with mod_jk with the Apache2 webserver.

You can use this howto without the OpenBlueDragon parts to install an Tomcat server together with Apache2.

There are a few reasons to install Tomcat with Apache2. You can use Apache to buffer slow connections, take advantage of Apache features such as cgi and PHP, use Apache modules such as mod_rewrite or you can isolate virtual hosts in their own Tomcat instances.

For the Tomcat installation you need the Sun Java JDK. You have to edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the “non-free” pakets:

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

Now you can install the Sun Java JDK:

# aptitude update
# aptitude install sun-java5-jdk

After that you can install the Tomcat server:

# aptitude install tomcat5.5 tomcat5.5-admin tomcat5.5-webapps

You can test the installation with this URL: http://SERVER:8180

The next step is to configurate the users for the Tomcat management:

# /etc/init.d/tomcat5.5 stop
# vim /var/lib/tomcat5.5/conf/tomcat-users.xml

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

# vim /etc/default/tomcat5.5
TOMCAT5_SECURITY=no

# /etc/init.d/tomcat5.5 start

Of course you have to change the password to your own one. You need the TOMCAT5_SECURITY setting only for the Tomcat administraton webinterface. If you don’t need the administration, you can keep the setting or restore it if you have finished the configuration.

Now you can use the Tomcat manager application with this URL: http://SERVER:8180/manager/html and the administrator with this URL: http://SERVER:8180/admin

You will find a deploy section in the manager. There you can upload and deploy the openbluedragon.war file.

After the restart of the Tomcat server with “/etc/init.d/tomcat5.5 restart” you will find openbluedragon in the application list of the Tomcat manager.

Installation of the Apache2 Tomcat connector:

# aptitude install apache2 libapache2-mod-jk
# vim /etc/apache2/workers.properties

workers.tomcat_home=/usr/share/tomcat5.5
workers.java_home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.14
ps=/
worker.list=default
worker.default.port=8009
worker.default.host=localhost
worker.default.type=ajp13
worker.default.lbfactor=1
JK Konfigurationsdatai
# 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/tomcat5.5 restart
# /etc/init.d/apache2 start

Creating a new VirtualHost: (In Apache AND Tomcat)

Prepare directories:

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

Copy WEB-INF:

# cp /var/lib/tomcat5.5/webapps/openbluedragon/WEB-INF /var/www/vhost1/htdocs/

Creating Apache VirtualHost:

# vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/vhost1

<VirtualHost www.testsrv.local>
    JkMount /*.cfm default
    JkMount /*.cfc default
    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
    <Location /WEB-INF/ >
      AllowOverride None
      deny from all
    </Location>
</VirtualHost>

# a2ensite vhost1
# /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

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

Creating Tomcat host:

# vim /etc/tomcat5.5/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>

At least you have to restart the Apache and the Tomcat:

# /etc/init.d/tomcat5.5 restart
# /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

[UPDATE]
There is a new version of this article available Tomcat 6 with Lenny and OpenBlueDragon on Tomcat 6.