this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

Tomcat configuration 

Install with RHEL5 packages 

Install apache, tomcat and deps, 

yum install \

httpd \

tomcat5 \

tomcat5-webapps \

tomcat5-admin-webapps

Configure the environment, 

grep _HOME /etc/sysconfig/tomcat5

grep _HOME /etc/ant.conf

cd ~/

vi .bashrc

add those lines, 

JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java"

CATALINA_HOME="/usr/share/tomcat5"

TOMCAT_HOME="$CATALINA_HOME"

JASPER_HOME="/usr/share/tomcat5"

ANT_HOME=/usr/share/ant

export JAVA_HOME CATALINA_HOME TOMCAT_HOME JASPER_HOME ANT_HOME

apply, 

source .bashrc

Start and enable the daemon, 

service tomcat5 start

chkconfig tomcat5 on

Refs. 

http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/JavaOnCentOS 

http://www.tummy.com/Community/Articles/tomcat-centos/tomcat5.html 

Install from scratch 

Install latest JDK (http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/widget/jdk6.jsp) as root, 

chmod +x jdk-6u18-linux-i586-rpm.bin

./jdk-6u18-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Note. for older JDKs try http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/previous.jsp 

Install latest Tomcat (http://tomcat.apache.org/download-60.cgi ==> fetch Core as tar.gz), 

tar xvzf apache-tomcat-6.0.24.tar.gz

mv apache-tomcat-6.0.24 /usr/local/tomcat6024

cd /usr/local

ln -s tomcat6024 tomcat6

ln -s tomcat6 tomcat

Configure the environment, 

cd ~/

vi .bashrc

add those lines, 

JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/default

CATALINA_BASE=/usr/local/tomcat6

CATALINA_HOME=/usr/local/tomcat6

export JAVA_HOME CATALINA_BASE CATALINA_HOME

apply, 

source .bashrc

Start Tomcat manually, 

/usr/local/tomcat6/bin/startup.sh

and to shut it down, 

/usr/local/tomcat6/bin/shutdown.sh

Note. you can also run it interactively (^C to shut it down), 

/usr/local/tomcat6/bin/catalina.sh run

Note. no need to define CLASSPATH in your environment, tomcat scripts take precedence 

Refs. 

http://inputoutputnet.blogspot.com/2007/12/jdk-java-installation-on-centos-plus.html 

Checks 

Check everything works, 

java -version

javac -version

ant -version

#ant -diagnostics

Tomcat configuration 

Wipe out the XML comments, 

cd /usr/local/tomcat/conf

mv context.xml context.xml.dist

mv server.xml server.xml.dist

mv tomcat-users.xml tomcat-users.xml.dist

mv web.xml web.xml.dist

gawk -v RS='<!--|-->' 'NR%2' context.xml.dist | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d;' > context.xml

gawk -v RS='<!--|-->' 'NR%2' server.xml.dist | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d;' > server.xml

gawk -v RS='<!--|-->' 'NR%2' tomcat-users.xml.dist | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d;' > tomcat-users.xml

gawk -v RS='<!--|-->' 'NR%2' web.xml.dist | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d;' > web.xml

Note. if using RHEL packages, '$CATALINA_HOME/conf' links to 'cd /etc/tomcat5' 

Create/edit roles and users, 

cd /usr/local/tomcat/conf

vi tomcat-users.xml

add those lines, 

  <role rolename="manager"/>

  <role rolename="admin"/>

  <user username="admin" password="PASSWORD" roles="manager,admin"/>

note. change PASSWORD accordingly 

apply, 

/usr/local/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

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

#service tomcat5 restart

Point your browser to server's URL and check it's responding, 

http: //10.1.1.2/

then point it to the administration interface and login, 

http: //10.1.1.2/admin/

admin/PASSWORD

then point it to the manager interface and login, 

http: //10.1.1.2/manager/html

admin/PASSWORD

Refs. 

http://unix.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/comp.unix.shell/2008-06/msg00376.html 

http://webmail.appert44.org/~plegal/index.php/Tomcat 

Troubbleshooting 

Watch the logs, 

#cd /usr/share/tomcat5/logs

cd /usr/local/tomcat/logs

tail -F *

#tail -F catalina.out

Apache / Tomcat configuration 

Configure, 

cd /etc/httpd/conf.d

mv welcome.conf welcome.conf.dist

vi proxy_ajp.conf

like, 

LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so

ProxyPass /             ajp://localhost:8009/lala/

ProxyPass /alt/    ajp://localhost:8009/alt/

Check/fix static name resolution and fqdn, 

hostname --fqdn

vi /etc/hosts

Start and enable the daemon, 

service httpd start

chkconfig httpd on

Refs. 

http://linuxtips.castres-wireless.org/article.php3?id_article=85 

http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?p=113304 

References 

http://byteworksinc.blogspot.com/