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Professional Apache Tomcat
The book covers every aspect of installing and configuring Tomcat in a great deal of depth, detailing its every aspect. From standalone use (where Tomcat is used as a general web server as well as for serving Java content), to integration with the leading web servers Apache (both Unix and Windows versions) and Microsoft's Internet Information Services, nothing appears to have been left out (however, integration with Netscape's Enterprise Server is mentioned in passing early on, but doesn't appear again).
Being only a month old, it's pretty much bang up to date, covering Tomcat 3.x, 4.0.x and 4.1.x with Apache 1.3.x and 2.0.x and IIS 4 and 5.
The book starts with an introduction to the Apache project, and Tomcat's place in the wider scheme of things. The historical progression in serving dynamic web content from CGI to Servlets and JSP is charted, and there's an overview of JSP tags and general web application architecture. This is interesting enough and useful as background, but as this book is intended for administrators, it's covered quickly in the first two chapters, and the main business of installing Tomcat gets underway in chapter 3.
Installation is discussed with both Windows and Linux users in mind, from both binary and source distributions. As the Tomcat source is usually built with Ant, build and installation of this tool is also discussed (Ant and Log4j, both also part of Jakarta, get chapters of their own later in the book). From there, basic configuration of the standalone server followed by detailed examinations of the components that make up Tomcat's architecture fills the next 200 or so pages.
Serious users of Tomcat will wish to employ Tomcat with an existing web server, and four chapters concentrate on this job. There is more emphasis on Apache than IIS, though given Apache's dominance of the web server field, this is understandable. There is inevitably a certain amount of detail aimed at Apache and IIS configuration, and a basic knowledge of both is assumed throughout. However, any necessary information is included in detail; for example the (Apache) connector modules mod_webapp and mod_jk/jk2 are given a thorough treatment, describing their use from source installation to configuration, together with the pros and cons of the various connectors available. Beyond that, we learn how to design larger-scale setups, with an explanation of load balancing techniques and scaling of the system, and performance testing with JMeter, yet another Jakarta project component.
As ever, security is a major concern and gets a lot of emphasis. Before client authentication and the use of SSL are discussed, there's an overview of basic system security with Unix and Windows. This should be teaching granny to suck eggs for a book aimed at administrators, but it's only a few pages and completes the subject. More interesting are the sections on security realms and user/client authentication. We are presented with examples of authenticating against a MySQL database with JDBC (database connectivity with JDBC is a big enough subject in its own right, and so gets a separate chapter too), and digest authentication. We then move on to encryption with SSL: using Tomcat itself with the JSSE and PureTLS Java SSL implementations, then later with Apache and SSL (setting up mod_ssl with Apache gets a very useful appendix of its own, taken from Professional Apache 2.0, another Wrox book). Again, there's lots of detail, right down to how to get hold of signed certificates for your server. Here the book's general emphasis on Apache over IIS is most apparent, as SSL with IIS is not discussed at all. However, I have no experience with IIS, so I can't say for sure how serious this omission might be.
There's a very brief appendix on setting up Apache's Axis SOAP toolkit, but without any mention of SOAP appearing elsewhere in the book. As other concepts are introduced so well, it's a curious addition.
With nine co-authors (though only four got onto the cover photograph - I wonder if they drew straws?), one might expect wildly different styles throughout the book, but each chapter is consistently and clearly laid out with diagrams and relevant configuration file fragments where necessary. There's little levity and it's all written in a very business-like manner, but then this is hardly a subject you'd choose for holiday reading.
Professional Apache Tomcat is surely the definitive book on the subject. I recently used it to integrate Tomcat 4 with an existing Apache 2 installation, and everything went very smoothly. More than just a set of tutorials, it offers a thorough description of the whole architecture, and makes an excellent companion to either of Wrox's Professional Apache books.
There's no CD with the book, but Wrox's website provides some support code, and there are lively forums for readers at p2p.wrox.com.
You can purchase Professional Apache Tomcat from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The is an attempt at fp.
w00t.
w00t
Will this be the proper IIS neutering tool???
Yup, beat it in 2 days. Fun game, not much replay value though. Always good to have a tips book if you're not as skilled as me, though. Look out for level 7.
LA CORUNA, Spain -- One of the world's worst environmental disasters was feared to be under way as the crippled oil tanker Prestige split in two and began sinking off Spain's north-west coast.
CNN's Al Goodman reported that all that was showing was the battered bow section of the Prestige about 200 kilometres (130 miles) off the coastline in Atlantic waters 3,600 metres (11,880 feet) deep.
The rear section of the Prestige earlier went down taking much of the 24,000 tonnes of oil in its tanks with it, a spokesman for the Dutch salvage company Smit Salvage said.
Environmental group WWF had previously warned that if all the fuel oil leaked, it would be one of the largest oil leaks in the world -- about twice as big as the Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska in 1989.
The Bahamian-flagged tanker, carrying 70,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, ran into trouble off the northwest coast of Spain during a violent storm last Wednesday when one of its tanks was punctured due to unknown causes and around 5,000 tonnes of oil flowed out.
Spanish officials -- who have been trying to clean up oil that has already spilled from the tanker over the last six days -- scrambled to protect the coast of northwestern Spain where fishing is the primary industry.
The clean-up effort, they speculated, might take as long as four years.
Spain said it would push to bring forward the date to ban from European waters single-hulled tankers like the Prestige and insist on double-hulled vessels.
Meanwhile EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio sent a letter to the 15 EU capitals on Tuesday urging that they move faster to enforce new inspection rules that could prevent such catastrophes. The measures should be written into national law and implemented as quickly as possible, she said.
Goodman said that authorities were "bracing for the worst" with threats to the fishing industry, birdlife and beaches.
He said the regional economy was starting to "shiver and shudder" and economic damage could reach 100 million euros ($100m).
The slick is threatening a stretch of the coast from Cape Finisterre to La Coruna
An oil slick 70 miles long and five miles wide was reported even before the ship split in two, Goodman said.
CNN's Juliet Bremner reported from the scene that barrages, which have been laid to try to contain the spill, were considered to be useless because of the volume of fuel involved.
She described how an anguished local fisherman had crossed himself, pointed to the coastline and repeated: "A disaster, a disaster."
Dr Ian White, managing director of the International Tanker Owners' Pollution Federation, said that heavy fuel oil was "one of the most difficult oils to deal with."
It was thick, heavy, persistent and sticky and would not be dispersed even by heavy seas, he said.
The tanker leaked fuel into the rich fishing grounds off Spain's northwest coast and the government warned that the oil could seep into some of the many inlets that penetrate the Galicia coast like crooked fingers.
The ship is roughly on the border of areas for which Spain and Portugal have responsibility for maritime rescue operations, the ministry added.
Portugal and Spain had both barred salvagers from towing the ship to any of their ports to protect their fishing and tourism industries from further damage.
The shoreline is known as the "coast of death" because of many shipwrecks there.
Regional authorities have temporarily banned fishing in an area famous for its shellfish, octopus and crabs.
"We've had accidents before but nothing like this. If many fish die, will they ever come back?" Federico Martinez Vidal, a fisherman in the town of Camelle, told The Associated Press.
On Monday two Spanish tugboats had tried to pull the tanker as far away from the coast as possible. When it split it was listing about 130 kilometres (70 nautical miles) from the Galician coast.
The Spanish Government's decision to tow the Prestige further out to sea and set up barriers, coupled with a change in wind direction, had first raised hopes a disaster could be averted.
Spain says the vessel was bound for Gibraltar when the spill happened, a charge Britain denies.
Spain and the European Union have criticised Latvia, where the boat was loaded with much of its fuel, and Britain, which has jurisdiction over Gibraltar.
Both have accused Britain and Gibraltar of failing to comply with shipping safety regulations -- a charge they both deny.
The tanker's Greek captain was being held in custody after five hours of questioning by a judge in La Coruna on Sunday. (Full story)
Maritime authorities allege he failed to cooperate with rescue crews after issuing a distress call.
For hours as the Prestige drifted perilously close to shore, he refused to let tugboats secure cables to his stricken ship, officials said.
The tanker is owned by the Greek company Mare Shipping Incorporated.
Spain's north-west coast has suffered several tanker accidents in recent years, the worst in December 1992 when the Greek tanker Aegean Sea lost 21.5 million gallons of crude oil when it ran aground near La Coruna.
Dr. White said the investigation into the ship's breaking up would be sure to look at whether it would have been avoided if the move to compulsory double-hulled tankers from single-hulled had gone ahead sooner.
www.cgisecurity.com/lib
I for one WELCOME our new computer overlords...
mod parent up immediately
Bill Clinton shooting jizz on fat female interns disgusting
Huh?
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Pick one up for $33: http://www.bookpool.com/.x/hjjcwf9yt6/ss/1?qs=Prof essional+Apache+Tomcat&Go.x=14&Go.y=9&Go=G o
Specifically, an overview of the JServ unistall, Tomcat install on RedHat Linux, and a document that describes config file changes that will be needed.
first post
My French Bananas Of Unbounded Magnificence
/enfin/.
When teaching Granny to suck eggs
The dusky maiden softly begs
The husky crone to lift a hand
And helps the wrinkled hag to stand
Where moth and mildew cannot reach
Ties her in place, and starts to teach
With many cries of "Stand up straight!"
"Now put it in your mouth, like so -
And must I tell you: suck, don't blow!"
But Granny blew and eggy mess
Besmirched the helpful maiden's dress
Who then delivered such a slap
That Gran responded "Shut your trap!"
And tried to slap the maiden back
Her aged joints went crick and crack
The ropes held tight; the maiden smiled,
The crone could only curse the child;
The evil girl now took her switch
But luckily, a sudden glitch
Occurred to stop her beating Gran
She beat the egg instead,
from A Golden Treasury of Collaborative Verse