Ubuntu 12.04 - Install Tomcat 7

Install JDK 7 -- see my JDK 7 installation post.

download package by going to http://tomcat.apache.org/download-70.cgi or using command below:
    wget http://www.trieuvan.com/apache/tomcat/tomcat-7/v7.0.30/bin/apache-tomcat-7.0.30.tar.gz

unpack the package:
    tar xvzf apache-tomcat-7.0.30.tar.gz

move and rename directory:
    sudo mv apache-tomcat-7.0.30/ /usr/share/tomcat7

define the environment variables JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME. edit /etc/environment file:
    sudo nano /etc/environment

record the routes where we have installed Java:
    add the following entry:
        JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0"
        JRE_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0/jre"
    append java path to the PATH environment variable:
        PATH="...(other path):$JAVA_HOME:$JRE_HOME"

add routes to catalina.sh:
    sudo nano /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/catalina.sh

insert the JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME after the first line. it looks like below:
    #!/bin/sh
    JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0"
    JRE_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.7.0/jre"
    # Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF)...
    #...
    #...

configure Tomcat users, this is done in the file "tomcat-users.xml"directory tomcat7/conf. Command to edit the file:
    sudo nano /usr/share/tomcat7/conf/tomcat-users.xml

administrator should own role "manager-gui"to operate on the web administration tomcat7. The file would be as follows:
    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

    <tomcat-users>
    <role rolename="manager-gui"/>
    <role rolename="manager-script"/>
    <role rolename="manager"/>
    <role rolename="admin-gui"/>
    <role rolename="admin-script"/>
    <role rolename="admin"/>

    <user username="tomcat" password="secret" roles="manager-gui,admin-gui,manager,admin,manager-script,admin-script"/>
    </tomcat-users>

start server command:
    sudo /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/startup.sh

to check if tomcat7 is running properly:
    http://127.0.0.1:8080/

to access tomcat administration manager:
    http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager/html

to run java samples:
    http://127.0.0.1:8080/examples/

stop server command:
    sudo /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/shutdown.sh
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Automatic Starting

To make tomcat automatically start when we boot up the computer, you can add a script to make it auto-start and shutdown.

    sudo gedit /etc/init.d/tomcat7

Now paste in the following:

# Tomcat auto-start
#
# description: Auto-starts tomcat
# processname: tomcat
# pidfile: /var/run/tomcat.pid

case $1 in
start)
sh /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/startup.sh
;;
stop)
sh /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/shutdown.sh
;;
restart)
sh /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/shutdown.sh
sh /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/startup.sh
;;
esac
exit 0

You’ll need to make the script executable by running the chmod command:
    sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/tomcat7

The last step is actually linking this script to the startup folders with a symbolic link. Execute these two commands and we should be on our way.
    sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/tomcat7 /etc/rc1.d/K99tomcat
    sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/tomcat7 /etc/rc2.d/S99tomcat

Tomcat should now be fully installed and operational.
    sudo /etc/init.d/tomcat7 restart