This guide explains how to install Apache Tomcat on an Ubuntu 16.04 server.
Deploy a new Ubuntu 16.04 server instance.
Create a non-root sudo user.
Log into the machine via SSH as the user you created.
Make sure that you have the latest stable version of Ubuntu 16.04.
sudo apt-get update
Install Java.
sudo apt-get install default-jdk
Find the directory for JAVA_HOME.
update-alternatives --config java
Copy the directory, and then type the following.
nano /etc/environment
This will open up the file that contains environment variables.
Add JAVA_HOME.
JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre/bin/java"
The path in quotes is the path that you are using.
Save and close the file.
Reload the environment variables so that they take effect.
source /etc/environment
Check to make sure that it worked:
echo $JAVA_HOME
You will see the path you've entered.
We will call this user 'tomcat', but you can use any name for this user.
groupadd tomcat
useradd -s /bin/false -g tomcat -d /opt/tomcat tomcat
Make sure that you know the version of Tomcat that you want to install.
For this tutorial, we will use version 8.5.24, and the download link is as follows.
http://www-eu.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-8/v8.5.24/bin/apache-tomcat-8.5.24.tar.gz
Remember to choose the download with a .gz extension.
Make a directory for the Tomcat files.
mkdir /opt/tomcat
Download Tomcat.
cd
wget your-tomcat-link
Unzip the files into the tomcat folder.
tar xvf apache-tomcat-8*tar.gz -C /opt/tomcat --strip-components=1
You can press the "Tab" key after typing apache, since you only have one download in your folder.
Make sure that the folders have the correct permissions.
cd /opt/
sudo chown -R tomcat tomcat/
Display the JAVA_HOME path again, so that you can copy it.
nano /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service
Copy and paste the settings below into the tomcat.service file you have just created. Edit the JAVA_HOME path to the one that you copied. After this, save and close the file.
[Unit]
Description=Apache Tomcat Web Application Container
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=forking
Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-amd64/jre
Environment=CATALINA_PID=/opt/tomcat/temp/tomcat.pid
Environment=CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat
Environment=CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat
Environment='CATALINA_OPTS=-Xms512M -Xmx1024M -server -XX:+UseParallelGC'
Environment='JAVA_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom'
ExecStart=/opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
ExecStop=/opt/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
User=tomcat
Group=tomcat
UMask=0007
RestartSec=10
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Reload the SystemD daemon so that the service settings that were added are included.
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Start the Tomcat service.
sudo systemctl start tomcat
Check the status of your Tomcat server.
sudo systemctl status tomcat
Browse to http://your_ip_address:8080
You will see the Tomcat server landing page.