Professional Apache Tomcat 6

Chapter 5. Basic Tomcat Configuration

The focus of this chapter is on the basic configuration of Tomcat 6. The Tomcat 6 server is configured by setting parameter values for the components of Tomcat 6 before starting the server. All architectural components (such as Service, Servers, Engine, Connectors, Realm, and Valve) can be configured. This chapter describes how to configure these components, the range of allowed parameter values, and how they affect Tomcat's operation.

Tomcat 6 configuration information is always stored within one or more XML files. Numerous XML elements are in these files, and each element has attributes that correspond to a configurable aspect of a Tomcat 6 architectural component (see Chapter 4 for more information about Tomcat 6 architecture). This chapter examines each of these configurable attributes, and describes how they affect the behavior of the corresponding Tomcat 6 components.

This chapter provides a detailed, line-by-line explanation of the most important Tomcat 6 configuration files, including the server.xml file (the primary configuration file for Tomcat server instance) and context.xml file (the server configuration file for each Web application).

Special attention is paid to the default Tomcat 6 configuration in this chapter's coverage. This default configuration exists in the form of a set of default configuration files that are included with the Tomcat 6 distribution. If you start Tomcat 6 without first editing any of the XML configuration ...