Installing Apache Tomcat in Amazon Linux

Apache Tomcat is an open-source implementation of the Java Servlet, JavaServer Pages, and WebSocket technologies. It allows users to run Java-based web applications in a lightweight and flexible environment. In this blog, we'll walk through the steps to install Apache Tomcat on an Amazon Linux EC2 instance.

In this blog, we will walk through the steps of installing Apache Tomcat in Amazon Linux.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• An active AWS account.

• An Amazon Linux EC2 instance running.

• SSH access to the EC2 instance.

Installing Apache Tomcat

Step 1: Update the System

After launching and connecting to your EC2 instance, it is essential to update the system packages to ensure the system is up to date.

sudo yum update -y

Step 2: Install java

Apache Tomcat requires Java to run, so the next step is to install the OpenJDK package:

sudo yum install java-17 -y

Step 3: Create a Tomcat User

It's good practice to run Tomcat as a non-root user. We'll create a new user and group for Tomcat:

sudo groupadd tomcat
sudo useradd -g tomcat -d /opt/tomcat -s /bin/false tomcat

Step 4: Download and Install Tomcat

Install apache-tomcat in the opt/ directory

cd /tmp
wget https://dlcdn.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-9/v9.0.95/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.95.tar.gz
sudo tar -xvf apache-tomcat-9.0.95.tar.gz -C /opt/tomcat --strip-components=1

Step 5: Configure Permissions

Set the correct ownership and permissions for the Tomcat files:

sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/tomcat
sudo chmod -R 755 /opt/tomcat

Go to the bin directory and make the startup and shutdown scripts executable

cd /opt/tomcat/bin
sudo chmod +x startup.sh shutdown.sh

Step 6: Create a Systemd Service File

To make Tomcat easier to manage, create a systemd service file:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service

Add the following configuration to the file:

[Unit]
Description=Apache Tomcat Web Application Container
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking

User=tomcat
Group=tomcat

Environment="JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/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

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Step 7: Reload the Systemd Daemon

Reload the systemd daemon to register the new service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Step 8: Start and Enable Tomcat

Now you can start the Tomcat service and enable it to start on boot:

sudo systemctl start tomcat
sudo systemctl enable tomcat

Step 9: Check the status of the service

sudo systemctl status tomcat

Step 10: Opening Tomcat

Before opening tomcat in your web browser, ensure that port 8080 is open in the security group of your instance.

In the web browser open, http://<ec2-instance-IP>:8080

Apache Tomcat is up and running. By following these steps, you have successfully installed and configured Apache Tomcat on Amazon Linux. This lightweight application server will now allow you to run Java-based web applications. You can further secure and customize your setup, such as enabling SSL or connecting Tomcat to an external database.