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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 11:29:56 -0500
From: "Jonathan Wilson" <jnwilson@dallas.photronics.com>
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To: Tomcat Users List <tomcat-user@jakarta.apache.org>
Subject: Re: reloading JSP files without reloading classes/beans
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Bob, thanks for all the good pointers. This is just the information 
about web-app development I've been needing but didn't know how to 
find(or what to look for). I've played with ANT a bit before, but I 
didn't know there was an applet to do the deployment for me(is that 
process portable to diff web-app servers?).

I've got the same problem with session retention after a reload(if 
contexts' reloadable="true" that is) - and it sounds like it will still 
be a problem after I upgrade my development practices and start using 
WARs. Since you seem like a free thinker :) do you have any ideas on a 
solution for that problem? I was researching load-balancing Monday and 
came across a solution that mentioned sessions were retained on a 
different instance of tomcat(but were accessible to all, somehow - too 
much for me to digest); perhaps that will provide a path? Here's the 
link: http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2004/04/14/clustering.html

Regards,
  JW

Robert Bateman wrote:

>On Mon, 2004-10-11 at 18:27, Jonathan Wilson wrote:
>  
>
>>Bob,
>>
>>    You just answered my follow up to your previous email :)
>>    Hmm, so I run a concurrent version of my production app(being 
>>careful not to impact the databases) either on a different instance of 
>>Tomcat or just a different context within the same instance of Tomcat. 
>>    
>>
>
>Yes.  I use a tool called ANT to process, build and deploy my
>applications via WAR files.  In my ANT build file, I have separate tasks
>that deploy to production and test.  Because I am deploying using a WAR
>file, each application has it's own configuration file (server.xml)
>called context.xml.  In my case, I have two different configuration
>files - each specifically tailored to the environment I will deploy
>into.  All my ANT task does is copy the appropriate config during the
>build.
>
>  
>
>>Then when I'm ready I package up the source code into a WAR(what tool do 
>>I use for that? - must do research), copy it into the production servers 
>>    
>>
>
>You build the WAR file with a program called JAR.  WAR files are zip
>files with different extensions (in fact, you can rename a WAR file to
>.ZIP and open the file for inspection.)
>
>As you build the WAR file, you want to compile any source modules that
>need compiling and place them into WEB-INF/classes.  JAR files go into
>WEB-INF/lib so that the WAR file is self contained.
>
>  
>
>>webapps directory(and hopefully have all the configuration set properly 
>>    
>>
>
>If your version of Tomcat supports it, instead of copying into the
>WEBAPPS folder, you can use the manager applets' UNDEPLOY/DEPLOY
>capability.  This allows the server to take your WAR file and put it
>into the appropriate place on the server.  Under TC 4.1 and newer, I've
>been using a task in ANT that communicated with the manager applet for
>me and does all of the un/deploying - quite spiffy.
>
>  
>
>>to auto-expand) and then what? If the WAR is automatically expanded do 
>>the new files take effect immediately
>>    
>>
>
>I'm not sure about TC version 3 (I use 4.1 and 5.0), but on my server,
>the WAR file is placed into the appropriate place and put "live" as soon
>as it's deployed.  I've found in my environment, that I have to be
>careful not to deploy when there are active sessions because my
>application doesn't handle the refresh gracefully.
>
>  
>
>>or do I need to restart tomcat still. Does the context in the server.xml 
>>need reloadable="true" set for a WAR file expansion to take effect 
>>immediately?
>>    
>>
>
>With WAR files, you don't touch server.xml any more.  All of your web
>application specific configuration parameters are placed into
>context.xml in a folder called META-INF within the WAR.  The server
>parses this file to determine how to deploy your application, what
>resources it needs, logging, etc.  Nicely self contained.
>
>  
>
>>    Thanks for the info..connected some dots for me.
>>
>>    New Question (While I've got ya :): Given that I can use a WAR file 
>>to "deploy," would you advise using Tomcat 5.x as my test server, 
>>creating a WAR and then deploying that to a production 3.3.1 server? 
>>    
>>
>
>I gotta agree with QM on this one...  Test with the version that is in
>production.
>
>Is it possible for you folks to atleast migrate up to TC 4.1.xx in
>production?  Your closer to current that way and migrating to 5.xx might
>be easier once you feel comfortable with TC 5.
>
>  
>
>>This would kinda let me test using 5.x and still support a 3.3.1 box. 
>>The app is very self-contained, except for a load of jar's in the lib.
>>
>>Thanks for you time!!
>>    JW
>>
>>   
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>
>Bob
>
>
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>  
>

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