A Context XML descriptor is a fragment of XML data which contains a valid
Context element which would normally be found in the main server configuration
file (conf/server.xml), and allows easy and automated manipulation
of web applications by the various management tools available in Tomcat.
For a given host, the Context descriptors are located in
$CATALINA_HOME/conf/[enginename]/[hostname]/foo.xml
. Note that
while the name of the file is not tied to the webapp name, Tomcat will create
Context descriptors which match the webapp name whenever it will generate a
Context descriptor.
Context descriptors allow defining all aspects and configuration parameters
of a Context, such as namign resources and session manager configuration.
It should be noted that the docBase specified in the Context element can
refer to either the .WAR or the directory which will be created when the
.WAR is expanded or the .WAR itself.