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Tomcat Local Installation

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Summary

This Handout summarizes the steps necessary for installing and compiling your own servlets on your local Windows PC. To do so, you need your own PC, and you need a relatively fast modem/ethernet connection. Before you begin, please read through the entire handout.

Downloading the Right Files

Download and Install the Java 2 Standard Development Kit (JSDK) 1.3: Download from Sun
Download and Unpack the Jakarta Tomcat 3.2 Distribution (3.2 is the stable release version): Download Here

Setting up your Environment

Before you compile your own servlets, you may choose to set your PATH variable. Information on setting the PATH variable is available below. Note that the steps are different depending on whether you have Windows 95, 2000 or Windows NT.

Also, you need to create two environment variables:

TOMCAT_HOME: Should be set to point to your root Tomcat Directory, e.g. C:\jakarta-tomcat
JAVA_HOME: Should be set to point to your root JDK Directory: e.g. C:\JDK1.3

You set Environment and Path Variables the same way. Follow the directions below, depending on whether you have Windows 95, 2000 or Windows NT.

Excerpted From the Sun Java Installation Directions:
[Full Instructions from Sun]
Updating the PATH variable
You can run the Java 2 SDK just fine without setting the PATH variable, or you can optionally set it as a convenience.
Should I set the PATH variable?
Set the PATH variable if you want to be able to conveniently run the SDK executables (javac.exe, java.exe, javadoc.exe, etc.) from any directory without having to type the full path of the command. If you don't set the PATH variable, you need to specify the full path to the executable every time you run it, such as:
C:> \jdk1.3\bin\javac MyClass.java
It's useful to set the PATH permanently so it will persist after rebooting.
How do I set the PATH permanently?
To set the PATH permanently, add the full path of the jdk1.3\bin directory to the PATH variable. Typically this full path looks something like C:\jdk1.3\bin. Set the PATH as follows, according to whether you are on Windows NT or Windows 95/98/2000.
Windows NT and Windows 2000 - To set the PATH permanently:
Start the Control Panel, select System, select Environment, and look for "Path" in the User Variables and System Variables. If you're not sure where to add the path, add it to the right end of the "Path" in the User Variables. A typical value for PATH is: C:\jdk1.3\bin
Capitalization doesn't matter. Click "Set", "OK" or "Apply". The PATH can be a series of directories separated by semi-colons (;). Microsoft Windows looks for programs in the PATH directories in order, from left to right. You should only have one bin directory for a Java SDK in the path at a time (those following the first are ignored), so if one is already present, you can update it to jdk1.3.
The new path takes effect in each new Command Prompt window you open after setting the PATH variable.
Windows 98, Windows 95 - To set the PATH permanently
Open the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add or change the PATH statement as follows:
Start the system editor. Choose "Start", "Run" and enter sysedit, then click OK. The system editor starts up with several windows showing. Go to the window that is displaying AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Look for the PATH statement. (If you don't have one, add one.) If you're not sure where to add the path, add it to the right end of the PATH. For example, in the following PATH statement, we have added the bin directory at the right end:
PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\JDK1.3\BIN
Capitalization doesn't matter. The PATH can be a series of directories separated by semi-colons (;). Microsoft Windows searches for programs in the PATH directories in order, from left to right. You should only have one bin directory for a Java SDK in the path at a time (those following the first are ignored), so if one is already present, you can update it to jdk1.3.
To make the path take effect in the current Command Prompt window, execute the following: C:> c:\autoexec.bat
To find out the current value of your PATH, to see if it took effect, at the command prompt, type: C:> path

Setting up your Classpath

You will need to add servlet.jar to your CLASSPATH. Servlet.jar is located in TOMCAT_HOME\lib. For example: C:\jakarta-tomcat-3.2.1\lib\servlet.jar. You need to add these to your CLASSPATH. Specific instructions on setting your CLASSPATH for Windows 98, NT, and 2000 are included below.

Excerpted From the Sun Java Installation Directions:
[Full Instructions from Sun]
The CLASSPATH variable is one way to tell applications written in the Java programming language (including the SDK tools) where to look for user classes. (The -classpath command-line switch is the preferred way.) If your machine does not have the CLASSPATH variable set, you can ignore the rest of this step. To check this, run the set command from the DOS prompt: C:> set
If CLASSPATH does not appear in the list of settings, it is not set. If your CLASSPATH variable is set to some value, you may want to clean up your CLASSPATH settings, so read on.
How do I modify the CLASSPATH?
Use the same procedure you used for the PATH variable in the previous step. Create a variable called CLASSPATH and set to: C:\jakarta-tomcat-3.2.1\lib\servlet.jar;.

Starting/Stopping Tomcat

To start Tomcat: cd to the bin directory of your installation, and type: start.sh.
To stop Tomcat: cd to the bin directory of your installation, and type: shutdown.sh

Tomcat runs on Port 8080. Hence, to verify that your installation is running properly, go to: http://localhost:8080/

Deploying Servlets

Make sure that your servlet classes go in the following directory: TOMCAT_HOME\webapps\examples\WEB-INF\classes.