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Deployer HOW-TO

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Context XML descriptors
Deploying on Tomcat startup
Deploying on running Tomcat server
Deploying using the Client Deployer Package

Introduction

The deployer, which as its name imply, allows deploying and undeploying web applications to the Tomcat server, either statically (the application is setup before the server is started), or dynamically (in conjunction with the Tomcat Manager web application or manipulating already deployed applications).

Context descriptors

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.

Deploying on Tomcat startup

The webapps which are present in the host appBase will be deployed if the host "deployOnStartup" property is true. The deployment process is the following:

  • The Context XML declarations will be deployed first
  • Expanded web applications not referenced by Context XML declarations will then be deployed; if they have an associated .WAR file and it is newer than the expanded web application, the expanded directory will be removed and the webapp will be redeployed from the .WAR
  • .WAR files will be deployed
For each deployed web application, a matching Context XML descriptor will be created unless one exists already.

Deploying on a running Tomcat server

If the host "autoDeploy" property is true, the host will attempt to deploy and update web applications dynamically, as needed.

Deploying using the Client Deployer Package

The client deployer is a package which can be used to validate, compile, and deploy a web application to a production or development server. It should be noted that this feature uses the Tomcat manager for automatic deployment.


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