Understanding IIS HTTPPlatformHandler using Tomcat 8

Article
11/27/2015

In this article we will understand how to setup HTTPPlatformHandler using Tomcat 8.

Note: In my below example I have used some hard coded value for simplicity for viewer to follow and can be changed based on the need.

Step 1: Download Tomcat 8

Go to the URL https://tomcat.apache.org/download-80.cgi and download the zipped package to any of your choice directory, let’s say “C:\JavaSample\bin”.

Once you download the zip file, you can extract into the same location “C:\JavaSample\bin\apache-tomcat-8.0.28\apache-tomcat-8.0.28" which I would refer this as my Tomcat Installation directory called as “TOMCAT_HOME” or CATALINA_HOME.

Catalina is codename for Tomcat 5 and above.

Step 2: Download and Install Java Development Kit

Go to URL https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html and download Java development kit 8 for windows based on the bitness of the machine.

Step 3: Creating Environmental Variables for Windows

Create an Environmental Variable called CATALINA_HOME with value as your Tomcat installation directory. In my example I have created a server variable CATALINA_HOME= C:\JavaSample\bin\apache-tomcat-8.0.28\apache-tomcat-8.0.28.
To confirm open command prompt and check if it has been set correctly.

Take a note of location where your Java Development(JDK) is installed and create a environmental variable called “JAVA_HOME” and set the value to the JDK installed directory. In my example I have set JAVA_HOME=”C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.8.0_65".
To confirm open command prompt and check if it has been set correctly.

Step 3: Configure Apache Tomcat Server

There are few configuration changes required to setup Tomcat server and in our case we will be changing below files under %CATALINA_HOME%\Conf:

Server.xml
Web.xml
Context.xml

Open server.xml under %CATALINA_HOME%\conf and change the settings as high lightened in yellow:

<Connector port="${port.http}" protocol="HTTP/1.1"

connectionTimeout="20000"

redirectPort="8443" />

Open web.xml under %CATALINA_HOME%\conf and change the settings as high lightened in yellow:

<servlet-name>default</servlet-name>

<servlet-class>org.apache.catalina.servlets.DefaultServlet</servlet-class>

<init-param>

<param-name>debug</param-name>

<param-value>0</param-value>

</init-param>

<init-param>

<param-name>listings</param-name>

<param-value>true</param-value>

</init-param>

<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>

</servlet>

Open context.xml under %CATALINA_HOME%\conf and change the settings as high lightened in yellow:

Step 4: Deploy a Java Servlet

In my case, I have used one of the open source Java Servlet and download the code from https://pebble.sourceforge.net/ and copy the pebble.war from the source code to %CATALINA_HOME%\webapps

Step 5: Configure IIS

Install the HttpPlatformHandler – WebPI/x86/x64.
Create a website and complete the site as below settings:

Create a web.config under your website folder which is c:\JavaSample\web.config and add the httpPlatformHandler configuration as below.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<system.webServer>

</handlers>

</environmentVariables>

</httpPlatform>

</system.webServer>

</configuration>

Now open a browser and browse https://localhost which should show the default Tomcat server's welcome page and then browse https://localhost/pebble which should show the website which is deployed under webapps which is served from Tomcat server.

References:

https://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/ehchua/programming/howto/Tomcat_HowTo.html

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-the-release-of-the-httpplatformhandler-module-for-iis-8/

Comments

Anonymous
November 27, 2015
Very useful info

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Understanding IIS HTTPPlatformHandler using Tomcat 8

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