Apache Tomcat 8 (8.5.70) - Virtual Hosting and Tomcat

## Virtual Hosting and Tomcat

### Table of Contents

- Assumptions
- server.xml
- Webapps Directory
- Configuring Your Contexts
  1. General
  2. context.xml - approach #1
  3. context.xml - approach #2
  4. Defaults per host
  5. Further Information

### Assumptions

For the sake of this how-to, assume you have a development host with two host names, `ren` and `stimpy`. Let's also assume one instance of Tomcat running, so `$CATALINA_HOME` refers to wherever it's installed, perhaps `/usr/local/tomcat`.

Also, this how-to uses Unix-style path separators and commands; if you're on Windows modify accordingly.

### server.xml

At the simplest, edit the Engine portion of your `server.xml` file to look like this:

    <Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="ren">
        <Host name="ren"    appBase="renapps"/>
        <Host name="stimpy" appBase="stimpyapps"/>
    </Engine>

Note that the directory structures under the appBase for each host should not overlap each other.

Consult the configuration documentation for other attributes of the Engine and Host elements.

### Webapps Directory

Create directories for each of the virtual hosts:

    mkdir $CATALINA_HOME/renapps
    mkdir $CATALINA_HOME/stimpyapps

### Configuring Your Contexts

#### General

Contexts are normally located underneath the appBase directory. For example, to deploy the `foobar` context as a war file in the `ren` host, use `$CATALINA_HOME/renapps/foobar.war`. Note that the default or ROOT context for `ren` would be deployed as `$CATALINA_HOME/renapps/ROOT.war` (WAR) or `$CATALINA_HOME/renapps/ROOT` (directory).

NOTE: The `docBase` for a context should never be the same as the `appBase` for a host.

#### context.xml - approach #1

Within your Context, create a `META-INF` directory and then place your Context definition in it in a file named `context.xml`. i.e. `$CATALINA_HOME/renapps/ROOT/META-INF/context.xml` This makes deployment easier, particularly if you're distributing a WAR file.

#### context.xml - approach #2

Create a structure under `$CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina` corresponding to your virtual hosts, e.g.:

    mkdir $CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/ren
    mkdir $CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/stimpy

Note that the ending directory name "Catalina" represents the `name` attribute of the Engine element as shown above.

Now, for your default webapps, add:

    $CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/ren/ROOT.xml
    $CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/stimpy/ROOT.xml

If you want to use the Tomcat manager webapp for each host, you'll also need to add it here:

    cd $CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina
    cp localhost/manager.xml ren/
    cp localhost/manager.xml stimpy/

#### Defaults per host

You can override the default values found in `conf/context.xml` and `conf/web.xml` by specifying the new values in files named `context.xml.default` and `web.xml.default` from the host specific xml directory.

Following our previous example, you could use `$CATALINA_HOME/conf/Catalina/ren/web.xml.default` to customize the defaults for all webapps that are deployed in the virtual host named `ren`.

#### Further Information

Consult the configuration documentation for other attributes of the Context element.