Category Archives: Tomcat

Fix: Installing JDK on Debian Lenny jdk-6u12-docs.zip error

January 24, 2011 2:30 pm /

If you encounter the following error in Debian Lenny while installing  Sun-Java-6:

This package is an installer package, it does not actually contain the
JDK documentation.  You will need to go download one of the
archives:

jdk-6u12-docs.zip jdk-6u12-docs-ja.zip

The quickest way to fix this is to go to the Sun/Oracle Website and download the latest version of the jdk documentation. Place the file in the /tmp folder.
http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/

Debian only checks for an old version of the documentation file (specifically jdk-6u12). You won’t find the jdk-6u12-docs.zip on the Sun/Oracle website. Its currently on jdk-6u23.

To fix this, simply rename the file from jdk-6u23-docs.zip to jdk-6u12-docs.zip.

Source:
http://linuxindetails.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/abort-installation-of-jdk-documentation-under-lenny/

Posted in: debian, Tomcat

Issues with Debian Lenny and Tomcat 5.5

November 15, 2010 8:00 pm /

Is your Debian install of Tomcat 5.5 not working with your Webapp?

Just a heads up for anyone with problems trying to get webapps working with Debian. I highly recommend installing Tomcat 6.0 from source. It helped clear a number of issues for me. Debian only supports Tomcat 5.5 in their package management system. I could have gone with unstable to get Tomcat 6.0, but I prefer not to deal with their folder organization layout (see below)

Here are a few resources I’ve used to install Tomcat 6.0 in Debian Lenny.

  1. How to Install Tomcat 6 in Debian Lenny. This is an excellent step-by-step tutorial. A+ in my book.

  2. http://www.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/  Connector/J, MySQL JDBC Connector download.

  3. http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/jndi-datasource-examples-howto.html. Tomcat 6.0 configuration with MySQL Connector/J JDBC.

The Connector/J install process was easy. It was a matter of dropping in the mysql-connector-java-5.1.13-bin.jar file inside your tomcat/lib directory and setting up the context path configuration. A few restarts of the tomcat service and my JSP application was working.

Reasons to Install Tomcat 6.0 from Source:

  • Debian supports only Tomcat 5.5 in their stable release. Tomcat 6.0.29 is currently the latest version as of 11/15/2010.  This is a major issue if your application requires Tomcat 6.
  • The default Debian configuration of Tomcat. I prefer having the configuration in one place as opposed to 3 places with the Debian uses (/etc/tomcat5.5, /var/lib/tomcat5.5, and /usr/share/tomcat5.5) I’ve read cases where people are storing their webapps inside /usr/share/tomcat5.5, which is scary since Debian will overwrite the contents in that folder in an update.
  • Slowness with Tomcat 5.5. Starting and ending the tomcat process was significantly slower in Debian’s Tomcat 5.5 package vs. 6.0 built from source.
Posted in: debian, Linux, Tomcat / Tagged: ,

Tomcat 5.5 installation on Debian, fix for webapps

June 18, 2009 4:36 pm /

I’ve been starting work on getting JASIG CAS (Central Authentication Server) to work with all my applications. One of the requirements for JASIG is that it needs to run on Apache Tomcat. Following the instructions on http://www.debianadmin.com/how-to-setup-apache-tomcat-55-on-debian-etch.html I was able to get the basics running on the Tomcat 5.5 server. However, I did encounter issues when trying to add in a *.WAR application to the server. I copied the files in the correct place /var/lib/tomcat5.5/webapps but for some reason the files weren’t getting deployed.

I figured out the simple fix for getting these applications to work in the webapps folder:

  1. Edit the  /etc/init.d/tomcat5.5   file
  2. Find the following lines:
    # Use the Java security manager? (yes/no)
    TOMCAT5_SECURITY=yes
  3. Change the TOMCAT5_SECURITY to
    TOMCAT5_SECURITY=no
  4. Restart tomcat
    /etc/init.d/tomcat5.5 restart

You should now be able to see the deployed applications. If not, use the Tomcat manager to upload the *.war file back into the server. The files should now appear in the application list.

Posted in: Tomcat / Tagged: , , ,