Raible's Wiki: TomcatAntTasks

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[I|MattRaible]'ve been told I should use Tomcat's Ant Tasks (install, list, refresh, remove) in [AppFuse] to ease deployment of the app. So I tried that today (June 24, 2003). Here's how I set it up and what I found. I hope to use this page to get a consensus on how these tasks should be used.

[I|MattRaible] finally figured out how to use Tomcat's Ant Tasks (install, remove, reload, start, stop, list) in [AppFuse] to ease deployment of the app. Below is a list of of the steps I used to integrate them into my build.xml file.

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1. First, I defined a tomcat.classpath for the catalina-ant.jar file. Putting in in $ANT_HOME/lib did not work - and this way seemed cleaner. So in __properties.xml__, I added:

1. Rather than defining each task with a <taskdef>, I created a tomcatTasks.properties file with the following contents:

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<fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/server/lib"

includes="catalina-ant.jar" />

</path>

deploy=org.apache.catalina.ant.DeployTask

install=org.apache.catalina.ant.InstallTask

list=org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask

reload=org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask

remove=org.apache.catalina.ant.RemoveTask

resources=org.apache.catalina.ant.ResourcesTask

roles=org.apache.catalina.ant.RolesTask

start=org.apache.catalina.ant.StartTask

stop=org.apache.catalina.ant.StopTask

undeploy=org.apache.catalina.ant.UndeployTask

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2. Then in __build.xml__, I define the tasks in the "define-tasks" target:

2. Then I created a tomcat.properties file with the following contents. Make sure the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml file has an entry with username/password __admin/admin__ and that they have the __manager__ role.

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<taskdef name="install"

classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.InstallTask"

classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />

<taskdef name="list"

classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask"

classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />

<taskdef name="reload"

classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask"

classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />

<taskdef name="remove"

classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.RemoveTask"

classpathref="tomcat.classpath" />

# Properties for Tomcat Server

tomcat.server=localhost

tomcat.manager.url=http://${tomcat.server}:8080/manager

tomcat.username=admin

tomcat.password=admin

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3. Then I created targets for each one of these tasks:

3. I included a reference to tomcat.properties in my build.xml file:

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<target name="install" depends="package-web"

description="Install application to servlet container">

<install url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"

war="file://${webapp.dist}/${webapp.war}"/>

}}}

4. Then I added all a single taskdef and all the targets/tasks I wanted to use to my build.xml file:

{{{

</classpath>

</taskdef>

<target name="install" description="Install application in Tomcat"

depends="package-web">

<deploy url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"

path="/${webapp.name}"

war="file:${webapp.dist}/${webapp.war}"/>

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<target name="list" depends="define-tasks"

description="List installed applications on servlet container">

<list url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}" />

<undeploy url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"

path="/${webapp.name}"/>

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<target name="refresh" depends="package-web"

description="Reload application on servlet container">

<reload url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"/>

<reload url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"

path="/${webapp.name}"/>

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<target name="remove" depends="define-tasks"

description="Remove application on servlet container">

<remove url="${tomcat.manager.url}" username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}" path="/${webapp.name}"/>

<start url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"

path="/${webapp.name}"/>

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}}}

__NOTE:__ I used "refresh" as a target name since I already have a "reload" task that stops tomcat, undeploys, cleans and redeploys.

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4. My understanding is that I should be able to point the ''install'' and ''refresh'' tasks at the .war file for my app, and it'll install/reload as requested. The ''list'' and ''remove'' tasks work fine at this point.

<stop url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"

path="/${webapp.name}"/>

</target>

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----

!!My Issues:

__Install: Doesn't work.__ I get the good ol' {{java.sql.SQLException: Cannot load JDBC driver class 'null'}}. Everything looks fine from the Ant side though:

{{{

[install] OK - Installed application at context path /appfuse

<list url="${tomcat.manager.url}"

username="${tomcat.username}"

password="${tomcat.password}"/>

</target>

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If I restart Tomcat, everything starts and loads just fine.

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__Remove: Doesn't seem to work__, but it actually does. Here's what Ant reports:

{{{

[remove] FAIL - Encountered exception java.io.IOException: java.lang.NullPointerException

}}}\\

If I run the same task again, I get:

{{{

[remove] FAIL - No context exists for path /appfuse

}}}

Proving that it actually did work the first time.

__NOTE: There are a few things I discovered in this process:__

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__Reload: Doesn't work__:

{{{

[reload] FAIL - Reload not supported on WAR deployed at path /cct

}}}

Even though my context has ''reloadable="true"''

* If you put a ''context.xml'' file in your WAR's META-INF directory, the __deploy__ task will recognize it and use it. This is the same as defining your context in server.xml or putting an ''appname.xml'' file in $CATALINA_HOME/webapps. In Tomcat 4, this only works with the deploy task. In Tomcat 5, this will work with any war - even if you just drop it into $CATALINA_HOME/webapps.

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----

!!My Thoughts

* The problem might be that I'm not pointing to a build/appfuse directory that contains an already intact webapp directory structure - instead I'm pointing to a ''real'' .war file. My context has __path="/appfuse"__ rather than ''path="/appfuse.war"'', so I wonder if that matters.

* Reload seems pointless to me, I still have to deploy (copy files to $CATALINA_HOME/webapp) to Tomcat, and when I do this with Ant's <copy> task, Tomcat reloads the app automagically.

* Using these tasks seems like a waste of time - especially since I'm just replacing something that already works for me. Please, someone prove me wrong. And not with points and counterpoints - but by checking out [AppFuse] from CVS and submitting patches. ;-)

;:''That's a very slick feature IMO. Now if there was only a way to deploy the JDBC Driver with the WAR and have it auto-deployed to $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib.''

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~ [MattRaible]

* All these tasks will overwrite your server.xml file in Tomcat 4.1.x. They do create a backup, but if you're having configuration issues after using these, revert back to your original server.xml. I've included a [minimal server.xml|server-minimal-4.1.29.xml] for Tomcat 4.1.29. Also, the war is deployed under the ''$CATALINA_HOME/work/Standalone/localhost/manager'' directory.

* In Tomcat 4.1.x, the ''reload'' target doesn't work with WARs. You have to use "ant stop start" to simulate a reload.

__The good news is that all of the issues that occur in Tomcat 4.1.x are gone in Tomcat 5.__

* In Tomcat 5, the server.xml is __not__ overwritten. The context.xml is extracted where you would expect it ($CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/localhost), and the WAR is deployed (and expanded) to the webapps directory.

* The ''reload'' target works in Tomcat 5 - providing you don't have any non-serializeable attributes in your session.

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