Re: newbie confused how to deploy Flex app to Linux server

[Tomislav Pokrajcic <to...@svemir.net>]

Hi,
both Tomcat and Glassfish can serve as HTTP servers and the webapps/ROOT 
folder is specific for Tomcat.
Everything you put in that folder is accessible through 
http://myServerIPAddress:8080

I never used Glassfish, but it seems that you should configure an app 
that will handle the root context (i.e. serve files from 
http://myServerIPAddress:8080).
Checkout this:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10042679/location-for-putting-files-on-glassfish-server 


Don't confuse your Flex app URL with AMF Remoting URL for BlazeDS 
connection, they are completely separate things.
When fronting application server with Apache HTTP server you have 2 
significant URLs:

http://mydomain.com/myWebApp
This one serves Apache HTTP server files stored under 
public_html/myWebApp (index.html, *.swf, ...)

http://mydomain.com/amfremoting
This one should be configured to route traffic to application server / 
BlazeDS (usually redirected over AJP)

Having Apache HTTP server in front of application server 
(Tomcat/Glassfish) has many advantages.
Checkout this: 
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5122345/why-use-apache-web-server-in-front-of-glassfish-or-tomcat

Cheers,

Tomislav



On 30.9.2013. 15:53, modjklist@comcast.net wrote:
> Thank you Tomislav,
>
>
> Regarding serving files from the application server GlassFish (in my case), I had to previously (for my Java/BlazeDS stuff) setup an Apache configuration file to route all incoming traffic for
>
>
> https://mydomain.com/myWebApp
>
>
> to GlassFish to handle. So, I wonder if the index.html file you mentioned could simply be dropped into the myWebApp folder (?). There's no myWebApp/ROOT folder in my GlassFish directory, and while I could create it, I wonder if this is a Tomcat-specific requirement (could you clarify)?
>
>
> Assuming we can configure the servers to route the traffic correctly, is there any advantage in placing the bin-release files behind Apache webserver, in the GlassFish webapp folder? Seems like this routing becomes more complicated since we now have two pass the traffic through an extra layer (Apache <--> GlassFish) rather than just Apache (must consume more CPU cycles, etc.). But, does this improve security, for example, since it's behind another firewall? Or, provide any other benefit worth considering? Otherwise, dropping in the public_html folder seems much simpler.
>
>
> How those of you using BlazeDS -- do you place the contents of your bin-release folder in public_html, or in the webapp folder in the Java application webserver?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tomislav Pokrajcic" <to...@svemir.net>
> To: users@flex.apache.org
> Sent: Sunday, September 29, 2013 11:13:22 PM
> Subject: Re: newbie confused how to deploy Flex app to Linux server
>
> The best place for Flex files would be somewhere in Apache public_html
> folder.
> In order to access your app with http://mydomain.com/myapp, create a
> subfolder public_html/myapp and copy everything from bin-release folder
> produced by Flash builder.
> Also, rename autogenerated application html file (Main.html) to index.html.
>
> You could also serve your app from Tomcat, but in that case your access
> url would be something like:
> http://mydomain.com:8080/myapp
> In case you want to do that (and guess not because you already have
> Apache http) place your files to webapps/ROOT Tomcat folder.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tomislav
>
> On 30.9.2013. 5:51, modjklist@comcast.net wrote:
>> Hi experts,
>>
>> Newbie question about deploying my first Flex application...
>>
>> My current environment is:
>>
>> Hosted Linux dedicated server running GlassFish fronted by Apache webserver:
>> - Apache Webserver
>> Directory structure is:
>> public_html (folder)
>> index.html
>> myWebsiteFiles (folder containing all my website files)
>>
>>
>> - GlassFish Java application server (BlazeDS, Java POJOs/Applets)
>> Directory structure is:
>> myWebApp (folder)
>> WEB-INF (folder)
>> web.xml
>> lib (folder)
>> flex (folder for BlazeDS settings)
>> classes (folder containing all Java stuff)
>> META-INF (folder)
>>
>> Local development desktop computer:
>> - MacPro OSx running Flash Builder 4.6
>> Flash Builder settings:
>> Properties > Run/Debug Settings > Main > Edit > URL or Path to Launch:
>> /local/path/to/folder/bin-debug/Main.html
>>
>> Currently everything runs great, but as you can see, the files run from my local computer's bin-debug directory. However, it does prove that all the Java and BlazeDS stuff works fine.
>>
>> I know the next step is to execute from Flash Builder: Project > Export Release Build... and this generates the required files in a bin-release folder that I need to copy to the server. But, where do I place these files on the server?
>>
>> Tutorial #1 says, copy files in bin-release folder to the website's public_html folder:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0YTZm1v7qQ
>>
>> Tutorial #2 says, copy files in bin-release folder to the Tomcat (or, GlassFish in my case) application server webapp directory (I'm guessing, this is somewhere in the WEB-INF folder?):
>>
>> http://www.tutorialspoint.com/flex/flex_quick_guide.htm
>>
>> Are both methods possible? If so, is one preferred over the other? Or, what are the tradeoffs to consider in making this decision? (My application is about 5 MB in size)
>>
>> If the recommendation is to place in GlassFish webserver, which folder on the server should I copy all of the bin-release folder's files to from my Mac? Is it: myWebApp/bin-release?
>>
>> And, I assume I'd then need to instruct Apache webserver to send all of the webapp traffic to GlassFish somehow (is that right? I believe I had to do that for the Java traffic to get routed correctly originally)?
>>
>> I tried to find this on Google, but most instructions at this point simply say "deploy to webserver". I'm not using Ant or anything else; just moving the files manually.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any comments.
>>
>
>