[Q] Some questions about configuration, JServ vs. Tomcat

[Sandor Spruit <as...@acm.org>]

Folks,

I'm a bit confused. I've got Apache and Tomcat running allright, but I
do not feel very confident about my understanding their configuration.
So, before I start messing around with my own apps, servlets etc., I'd
like some basic feedback: is my summary of the config stuff correct ?


I used to have Apache 1.3.12, JServ 1.1.2 running. The connection from
the http server to/from the engine is implemented by the mod_jserv.dll
library. There are at least three relevant configuration files:

- httpd.conf;
- jserv.conf;
- jserv.properties;

The httpd file is just Apaches' configuration. The jserv file contains
the configuration directives for the Apache side of the connection to
the servlet engine. In this case, the servlet engine is NOT started as
a stand-alone Java application, but by Apache. Therefore, 'jserv.conf'
contains the stuff you'd normally need to start a Java app (classpath,
path to Java VM). The properties file contains things like the servlet
zones (plus a reference to the zone's properties file), logging stuff.

Tomcat has a different set-up. It can, at this time, not be started by
Apache and is therefore a stand-alone app. I'll still need the dll for
jserv, but most of the stuff found in jserv.conf has moved to start-up
scripts for the time being. Also, the jserv.properties stuff can now
be found in a XML file called server.xml. The zone (context) property
information has moved to web.xml files, one for each app. Right ?

Any additional things I've missed ?
Help much appreciated,

Sandor
-- 
ir A.G.L. Spruit, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Institute of information and computing sciences
"There is a bit of magic in everything, and then some
loss to even things out" (from: Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss")

Re: [Q] Some questions about configuration, JServ vs. Tomcat

[Wilhelm Colln <wi...@interaccess.com.pe>]

These are good tips.
Please help me to buil the "mod_jserv.so" for tomcat 3.1
I am using Unixware 7.11 and have both the souce and the binary version
of Tomcat 3.1. Thanks

Wilhelm


Sandor Spruit wrote:

> Rachel,
>
> Thanks for your rapid response !
>
> On Monday, August 21, 2000, 1:21:14 PM, you wrote:
>
> Rachel> Sandor Spruit wrote:
> >>
> >> Folks,
> >>
> >> I'm a bit confused. I've got Apache and Tomcat running allright, but I
> >> do not feel very confident about my understanding their configuration.
> >> So, before I start messing around with my own apps, servlets etc., I'd
> >> like some basic feedback: is my summary of the config stuff correct ?
>
> Rachel> As a general point, I think it's better to consider Tomcat to
> Rachel> be a *completely* different product to the old Apache JServ.
> Rachel> It's configuration system is very different indeed.
>
> Right. That's what I figured. All I was trying to do is to see where
> the various JServ configuration options can be found in Tomcat. Not
> the exact same options, but those with similar meaning.
>
> Rachel> (Also remember that the mod_jserv you want is different too:
> Rachel> The one from Apache JServ won't serve Tomcat.)
>
> You mean: I need a different DLL from the one that comes with JServ
> 1.1.2 ? The one found in the Tomcat win32 binary 3.1 release ?
>
> Rachel> You only need mod_jserv to run Tomcat with Apache. You don't
> Rachel> need it if you're going to run Tomcat standalone.
>
> Yep.
>
> Rachel> If you run it with Apache, you need to include
> Rachel> $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/tomcat.conf into your httpd.conf. Usually
> Rachel> you can leave tomcat.conf unchanged.
>
> That's what I did.
>
> Rachel> Then the main configuration file is
> Rachel> $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/server.xml. You should usually only need to
> Rachel> set up your web application context roots here (the
> Rachel> <Context...> tags). Then all other configuration is
> Rachel> done in the web application directory - either you can put it
> Rachel> in $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/webapps (in which case you don't even
>
> Shouldn't this be: $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps ?
>
> Rachel> need to change server.xml) or you can specify a root anywhere
> Rachel> else in server.xml. Inside your web application root, you can
> Rachel> (optionally) have a WEB-INF directory which contains further
> Rachel> configuration such as a web.xml file to set up mappings,
> Rachel> aliases etc. for that web application, any tag library
> Rachel> definitions and any classes and other libraries needed. Follow
> Rachel> the documentation for this.
>
> Yeah, sure :)
>
> Rachel> The Holy Grail of all this is that you should be able to wrap
> Rachel> up your entire web application into a .war file which you can
> Rachel> take and deploy straight into *any* J2EE-compliant web
> Rachel> application server without worrying about any external
> Rachel> dependencies.
>
> That I'd already concluded from the docs ...
> Thanks again, your message was a great help !
>
> Regards,
> Sandor
>
> --
> ir A.G.L. Spruit, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
> Institute of information and computing sciences
> "There is a bit of magic in everything, and then some
> loss to even things out" (from: Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss")

Re[2]: [Q] Some questions about configuration, JServ vs. Tomcat

[Sandor Spruit <as...@acm.org>]

Rachel,

Thanks for your rapid response !

On Monday, August 21, 2000, 1:21:14 PM, you wrote:

Rachel> Sandor Spruit wrote:
>> 
>> Folks,
>> 
>> I'm a bit confused. I've got Apache and Tomcat running allright, but I
>> do not feel very confident about my understanding their configuration.
>> So, before I start messing around with my own apps, servlets etc., I'd
>> like some basic feedback: is my summary of the config stuff correct ?

Rachel> As a general point, I think it's better to consider Tomcat to
Rachel> be a *completely* different product to the old Apache JServ.
Rachel> It's configuration system is very different indeed.

Right. That's what I figured. All I was trying to do is to see where
the various JServ configuration options can be found in Tomcat. Not
the exact same options, but those with similar meaning.

Rachel> (Also remember that the mod_jserv you want is different too:
Rachel> The one from Apache JServ won't serve Tomcat.)

You mean: I need a different DLL from the one that comes with JServ
1.1.2 ? The one found in the Tomcat win32 binary 3.1 release ?

Rachel> You only need mod_jserv to run Tomcat with Apache. You don't
Rachel> need it if you're going to run Tomcat standalone.

Yep.

Rachel> If you run it with Apache, you need to include
Rachel> $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/tomcat.conf into your httpd.conf. Usually
Rachel> you can leave tomcat.conf unchanged.

That's what I did.

Rachel> Then the main configuration file is
Rachel> $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/server.xml. You should usually only need to
Rachel> set up your web application context roots here (the
Rachel> <Context...> tags). Then all other configuration is 
Rachel> done in the web application directory - either you can put it
Rachel> in $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/webapps (in which case you don't even

Shouldn't this be: $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps ?

Rachel> need to change server.xml) or you can specify a root anywhere
Rachel> else in server.xml. Inside your web application root, you can
Rachel> (optionally) have a WEB-INF directory which contains further
Rachel> configuration such as a web.xml file to set up mappings,
Rachel> aliases etc. for that web application, any tag library
Rachel> definitions and any classes and other libraries needed. Follow
Rachel> the documentation for this. 

Yeah, sure :)

Rachel> The Holy Grail of all this is that you should be able to wrap
Rachel> up your entire web application into a .war file which you can
Rachel> take and deploy straight into *any* J2EE-compliant web
Rachel> application server without worrying about any external
Rachel> dependencies. 

That I'd already concluded from the docs ...
Thanks again, your message was a great help !

Regards,
Sandor

-- 
ir A.G.L. Spruit, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Institute of information and computing sciences
"There is a bit of magic in everything, and then some
loss to even things out" (from: Lou Reed, "Magic and Loss")

Re: [Q] Some questions about configuration, JServ vs. Tomcat

[Rachel Greenham <ra...@enetgroup.co.uk>]

Sandor Spruit wrote:
> 
> Folks,
> 
> I'm a bit confused. I've got Apache and Tomcat running allright, but I
> do not feel very confident about my understanding their configuration.
> So, before I start messing around with my own apps, servlets etc., I'd
> like some basic feedback: is my summary of the config stuff correct ?

As a general point, I think it's better to consider Tomcat to be a
*completely* different product to the old Apache JServ. It's configuration
system is very different indeed. (Also remember that the mod_jserv you want
is different too: The one from Apache JServ won't serve Tomcat.)

You only need mod_jserv to run Tomcat with Apache. You don't need it if
you're going to run Tomcat standalone. If you run it with Apache, you need
to include $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/tomcat.conf into your httpd.conf. Usually you
can leave tomcat.conf unchanged. Then the main configuration file is
$TOMCAT_HOME/conf/server.xml. You should usually only need to set up your
web application context roots here (the <Context...> tags). Then all other
configuration is done in the web application directory - either you can put
it in $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/webapps (in which case you don't even need to change
server.xml) or you can specify a root anywhere else in server.xml. Inside
your web application root, you can (optionally) have a WEB-INF directory
which contains further configuration such as a web.xml file to set up
mappings, aliases etc. for that web application, any tag library definitions
and any classes and other libraries needed. Follow the documentation for
this.

The Holy Grail of all this is that you should be able to wrap up your entire
web application into a .war file which you can take and deploy straight into
*any* J2EE-compliant web application server without worrying about any
external dependencies.

-- 
Rachel