Tomcat Server

This section describes you about the Tomcat Server.

Tomcat Server

Tomcat Server

In this section we will read about the Tomcat Server. Here we will read the various aspects of "Tomcat Server" such as what is tomcat server, components of tomcat, features of tomcat and many more.

What is Tomcat Server?

Tomcat Server is a pure Java HTTP web server environment to run Java code. Tomcat Server is an open source web server. Tomcat Server was initially known as Jakarta Tomcat but, later it is known by Apache Tomcat or simply Tomcat. Apache Software Foundation has developed the Tomcat. Tomcat is a Servlet container. It applies the Sun Microsystems Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) specifications. Tomcat can be configured through the XML configuration file, however, it has the tools for configuration and management.

Components Of Tomcat Server

Tomcat has the various components. These are as follows :

Below, the listed components of Tomcat are of before the Tomcat 7

  • Catlina : It is a Servlet Container of Tomcat. It applies the Sun Microsystems Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages specifications.
     
  • Coyote : Coyote provides the support to web server or application server of the HTTP 1.1 protocol. It is also called the HTTP connector component of Tomcat. Coyote is responsible for receiving the request from client on specific TCP port on the server and send this request to the Tomcat Engine for processing the request and then return the response to the client which has made the request.
     
  • Jasper : Jasper, a JSP engine of Tomcat that parses the JSP file. The parsed JSP file is converted into the Java code as Servlet. If, any changes made into the JSP file at runtime the Jasper notices that change and recompiles them.

In the Tomcat 7, three new components are added into it. These are as follows :

  • Cluster : This new component support Tomcat to manage the large applications. It uses many techniques for balancing the load. Currently, Cluster is compatible with JDK version 1.5 or later.
     
  • High Availability : The component high availability helps tomcat in scheduling of system upgrade. While the system is upgrading the live environment isn't affected.
     
  • Web Application : This component is added for providing the deployment support over the variety of environments.

Releases of Tomcat

Apache Software Foundation makes the changes into the Tomcat for various reasons such as, if there is a bug found in any version, for making tomcat more secure, etc.

Tomcat version 7.0.0 is the first release of Apache Tomcat that provided the support of following specifications :

  • Servlet 3.0
  • JSP 2.2
  • EL 2.2

The latest stable version of Tomcat at the time of writing this tutorial is 7.0.42. Below is the list of earlier releases of Tomcat's major versions :

  • 7.0.41 : This version of Tomcat is released in June 2013.
  • 7.0.40 : This version of Tomcat is released in May 2013.
  • 7.0.6 : This version of Tomcat was released in January 2011.
  • 7.0.0 beta : This version of Tomcat was released in June 2010.
  • 6.0.37 : This is a latest version of Tomcat 6 and is released in May 2013.
  • 6.0.0 : This version of Tomcat was released in December 2006.
  • 5.5.36 : This version of Tomcat was released in October 2012.
  • 5.5.0 : This version of Tomcat was released in August 2004.
  • 5.0.30 : This version of Tomcat was released in August 2004.
  • 5.0.0 : This version of Tomcat was released in October 2002.
  • 4.1.40 : This version of Tomcat was released in June 2009.
  • 4.1.31 : This version of Tomcat was released in October 2004.
  • 3.3.2 : This version of Tomcat was released in March 2004
  • 3.0.X : This version of Tomcat was released in 1999