Apache Tomcat 5.5

Apache Tomcat is a web server for Java Serverlets and JavaServer pages.
This java web server provides all the tools and files necessary to start up a web server on almost any platform with the minimum of resources due to its java portability. As a web server, it provides many features like the SSL, CGI, SSI, load balance, proxy support, virtual hosting, among many other services. The program allows you to control your web site by configuring the server in the way that a web server is started up: whether the service is automatic or manual, what users to log on, the java virtual machine’s path and similarly the java class path, to allow you to control the memory.

It also has a server monitor which enables the Tomcat icon to appear in the system tray; and upon pressing the right mouse button it will show a menu with the options to configure, where you can start and stop the service, dump a thread and exit. This monitor icon will show a green color in case the web server is up and running, and red color in case the service is stopped and the server is down. Tomcat manager provides information related to your web server and different parameters on how it is working and managing its information.

Some of the major features of this version are that Tomcat can now be installed on Linux platforms; it won’t require Java Development Kit (JDK) but only Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to be installed; SSI and CGI are disabled by default for security issues, and more.

The program's GUI is simple, I can even say there is a lack of one because many of the features and management tasks for this web server require running scripts and commands without any GUI help. The installation process is very easy to perform and only will require J2SE and later. The documentation is very complete, and the program's website also offers many documents including FAQ and Wiki sections.

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Ricardo Zayola

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