Deploying Web Applications to Tomcat

In this article we are going to cover the deployment of web applications using Tomcat. We are performing a manual deployment to fully explain the steps involved when deploying a web application.

The best way to describe the deployment process is to create a web application of our own that includes the important components found in most Java web applications; then package it for deployment. The following sections will take you through the steps involved in deploying a web application. The name of our web application will be onjava.

In this article, we

• create the web application directory structure,
• create a web application ServletContext,
• add JSPs,
• add Servlets,
• add Tag Libraries, and
• create and deploy a WAR file.

Creating the Web Application Directory Structure

The first thing you need to do is create the directory structure that will contain the application. We discussed this structure in Part 1, Java Web Applications, and I include the relevant details in Table 1.

The name of our web application, onjava, is the root of our directory structure.

While in development I suggest creating the directory directly in the Tomcat /webapps directory. When it comes time for deployment, you can package your web application into a WAR file and go though the production deployment process.

The last step in creating the web application directory structure is adding a deployment descriptor. At this point you'll be creating a default web.xml file that contains only the DTD, describing the web.xml file, and an empty <webapp/> element. Listing 1 contains the source for a default web.xml file.

Listing 1 web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!DOCTYPE web-app
PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
"https://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-app_2_3.dtd">

<web-app>
</web-app>

Now copy this file to the TOMCAT_HOME/onjava/WEB-INF/ directory, and we'll begin adding web application components to it in the following sections.