Howto Install Tomcat on Linux ?

# Download and Install JAVA

Download j2sdk-<version> from Sun Download center http://developers.sun.com/downloads/

# chmod +x j2sdk-1_4_2_09-linux-i586.bin
# ./j2sdk-1_4_2_09-linux-i586.bin

Now set java home path

# vi .bash_profile

JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/j2sdk

Now Check if Java is installed on the server using command java -version

[root@map ~]# java -version
java version “1.6.0_07?
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_07-b06)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 10.0-b23, mixed mode, sharing)

# Download Tomcat

Now Download Tomcat from Apache Website and extract it

http://tomcat.apache.org/download-55.cgi

# cd /usr/local/
#wget http://www.poolsaboveground.com/apache/tomcat/tomcat-6/v6.0.18/bin/apache-tomcat-6.0.18.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf apache-tomcat-6.0.18.tar.gz

Create Symlink for the Tomcat Folder

# ln -s /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18 /usr/local/apache/tomcat

# Install Tomcat

# cd apache-tomcat-6.0.18
# cd bin
# tar xvfz jsvc.tar.gz
# cd jsvc-src
# chmod +x configure
# ./configure
# make
# cp jsvc ..
# cd ..

Now set Cataline home path

# vi .bash_profile

CATALINA_HOME=/usr/loca/tomcat

JAVA=/usr/loca/j2sdk/bin

Save and exit

# Type following commands

# export JAVA_HOME=/usr/local/j2sdk

# export JAVA=/usr/local/j2sdk/bin

# export CATALINA=/usr/local/tomcat

# Start Tomcat

Use Following script to start Tomcat Service on the Server

# /usr/local/apache/tomcat/bin/startup.sh

# Running Tomcat as non root user

Due to security reasons always run tomcat as non-root user i.e. tomcat. To run it as tomcat first you will have to change the ownership of the tomcat folder

# chown -R tomcat.tomcat /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.18

Now Tomcat can be stopped and started under user tomcat using following commands:

# su -l tomcat -c /usr/local/apache/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
# su -l tomcat -c /usr/local/apache/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

# Test Tomcat installation

open a browser and browse website http://xx.xx.xx.xx:8080 where xx.xx.xx.xx will be your Server IP and If you get Tomcat page than Tomcat has been installed properly on the Server.

# Creating Script to start, stop and restart Tomcat

The above installation step will not create tomcat service so that user can restart tomcat using command service tomcat restart. Create a new file in /etc/init.d as tomcat and copy following contenents into it.
# vi /etc/init.d/tomcat

#!/bin/bash

#
# Startup script for Tomcat
#
# chkconfig: 345 84 16
# description: Tomcat jakarta JSP server
# Necessary environment variables
export CATALINA_HOME=”/usr/local/tomcat”
if [ ! -f $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh ]
then
echo “Tomcat not available…”
exit
fi

start() {
echo -n -e ‘\E[0;0m'"\033[1;32mStarting Tomcat: \033[0m \n"
su -l tomcat -c $CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh
echo
touch /var/lock/subsys/tomcatd
sleep 3
}

stop() {
echo -n -e '\E[0;0m'"\033[1;31mShutting down Tomcat: \033[m \n"
su -l tomcat -c $CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh
rm -f /var/lock/subsys/tomcatd
echo
}

status() {
ps ax --width=1000 | grep "[o]rg.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start” | awk ‘{printf $1 ” “}’ | wc | awk ‘{print $2}’ > /tmp/tomcat_process_count.txt
read line < /tmp/tomcat_process_count.txt
if [ $line -gt 0 ]; then
echo -n “tomcatd ( pid ”
ps ax –width=1000 | grep “[o]rg.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start” | awk ‘{printf $1 ” “}’
echo -n “) is running…”
echo
else
echo “Tomcat is stopped”
fi
}

case “$1? in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
restart)
stop
sleep 3
start
;;
status)
status
;;
*)
echo “Usage: tomcatd {start|stop|restart|status}”
exit 1
esac

Now save and exit from the file. Now assign executable permission to this file

# chown 755 /etc/init.d/tomcat

Enable it for all the Run-levels

# chkconfig –add tomcat
# chkconfig tomcat on

Now you can restart tomcat service using following commands.

# service tomcat restart <<< To restart tomcat
# service tomcat stop <<< To stop Tomcat
# service tomcat start <<< To start Tomcat
# service tomcat Status <<< to check the status of Tomcat

Now you have successfully installed Tomcat.