Before you start

About this tutorial

This tutorial gives Java Web developers an introduction to programming JavaServer Pages (JSPs), servlets, and Web services using Tomcat, an open source application server from the Apache Foundation. The tutorial guides you through the following tasks:

• Downloading and installing your own Tomcat server.
• Coding and deploying a JSP on Tomcat.
• Coding and deploying a servlet on Tomcat.
• Coding and deploying a Web service using Tomcat and Apache Axis.

The tutorial provides an overview of JSP, servlets, and Web services but is not intended to cover those technologies in depth.

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Prerequisites

You need to be familiar with the Java programming language, object-oriented design principles, and basic TCP/IP networking concepts to get the maximum benefit from this tutorial. An understanding of the networking APIs in the JDK is ideal, although not mandatory.

To run the examples in this tutorial, you need:

• A working installation of JDK 1.5.0 or later.
• A running installation of Tomcat 5.5 or later, available at http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/. This tutorial includes detailed download, installation, and setup instructions for Tomcat.

To run the Web services example, you also need to install:

• Apache Ant 1.5.2 or later, available at http://ant.apache.org/
• Apache Axis 1.2.1 or later, available at http://ws.apache.org/axis/. This tutorial includes detailed installation instructions for Axis.

The recommended system configuration for running the tutorial:

• A system supporting JDK 1.5.0 with at least 512MB of memory. The instructions in the tutorial are based on a system running Microsoft Windows.
• At least 50MB of disk space to install the software and examples.

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Table of contents

• Before you start
• What is Tomcat?
• Tomcat installation and setup
• Your first JSP application on Tomcat
• Breaking into servlets development with Tomcat
• Discovering Web services development with Tomcat
• Summary
• Download
• Resources
• About the author

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Next steps from IBM

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