"In this article, I'll cover a specific Web application server environment -- Tomcat. Tomcat is part of the Jakarta project, which is part of the Apache Software Foundation. Tomcat is the reference implementation of the Java Servlet 2.2 specification and JSP 1.1 specification. This implementation was recently turned over to the Apache Software Foundation by Sun Microsystems -- the originators of the Java language. The neat thing about Tomcat (and servlets and JSP) is that the platform-independent nature of Java means your servlets and JSP scripts are portable to any servlet/JSP implementation of the appropriate specification. In fact, the Tomcat implementation, itself written in Java, is platform-independent. I downloaded and installed Tomcat to Red Hat Linux 6.1 and Windows 2000 from the exact same distribution of the software. All of the servlets and JSP scripts I've written to date work equally well on both. In the case of the servlets, which are compiled Java class files, I deploy the compiled class file to each platform, rather than recompiling from the Java source. Powerful stuff indeed."

"Tomcat is the official reference implementation of both the Java servlet 2.2 specification as well as the JSP 1.1 specification. Tomcat is freely available from the Apache Software Foundation's Jakarta project at: http://jakarta.apache.org."

"Basically, Tomcat implements a run-time environment, called a container, in which Java servlets and JSP's can execute and interact with the browser via HTTP. Tomcat can be integrated with Web servers like Apache, and even IIS, allowing the Web server to handle requests for static Web pages and images, and pass requests for servlets and JSPs along to Tomcat for execution. A servlet (or JSP) may be requested as the result of submitting an HTML form to the Web server. The data submitted from the form may be used by the servlet to query or update a database, generate an email, or register a user on the Web site, to name just a few possibilities. A hyperlink on a page may also be used to call a servlet or JSP as well, for similar purposes. Tomcat also implements a simple HTTP server of its own, which comes in handy for development and testing separately from your Web server."

Complete Story

Related Stories:
PR: Sun Microsystems Adds Support to Third Apache Foundation Project: Batik(Dec 04, 2000)
Zez.org: Interfacing with Java from PHP(Nov 11, 2000)
Tomcat 4.0 Milestone 4 Released(Nov 04, 2000)
eWeek: Four scripting languages speed development; JSP scores high for enterprise work(Oct 30, 2000)
PR: Multex.com Introduces Calendaring and Linux Support to its BuzzPower e-Community and Collaboration Platform (Oct 24, 2000)
PR: Syndeo 2.1 offers developers a complete framework for building portable Web applications(Oct 02, 2000)
Web Servers of the Fortune 500: A Dissection and Analysis(Jul 21, 2000)
PRNewswire: Orbware Releases EJB Server and Unveils J2EE Plans(Jul 11, 2000)
Apache JServ 1.1.2 Released(Jun 19, 2000)
BW: Informix Showcasing Java-Based Solutions that Scale from the Smallest Devices to Enterprise Class Systems at JavaOne(Jun 06, 2000)