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Detailed Installation Instructions

These instructions assume you have a standard Tomcat installation running on port 8080. If you do not have an existing Tomcat installation, or want to start with a fresh installation for OpenEJB, the Tomcat Installation will show you how to setup and verify a Tomcat installation.

Add openejb.war to Tomcat

The TomEE plugin for Tomcat is distributed as a standalone war file containing all of the necessary files and an installer Servlet. The war can be obtained from the download page. Once downloaded, simply copy the file into the Tomcat webapps directory.

{deck:id=Copy openejb.war} {card:label=Windows}{noformat:nopanel=true}

C:>copy openejb.war apache-tomcat-6.0.14\webapps\openejb.war
1 file(s) copied.

C:>dir apache-tomcat-6.0.14\webapps  Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0000-0000

Directory of C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\webapps

09/20/2007 03:03 PM	.
09/20/2007 03:03 PM ..
09/20/2007 03:02 PM docs
09/20/2007 03:01 PM examples
09/20/2007 03:01 PM host-manager
09/20/2007 03:03 PM manager
09/19/2007 09:31 AM 13,394,733 openejb.war
09/20/2007 03:01 PM ROOT 1 File(s) 13,394,733 bytes 7 Dir(s) 5,100,126,208 bytes free
$ cp openejb.war apache-tomcat-6.0.14/webapps/openejb.war

$ ls apache-tomcat-6.0.14/webapps/
ROOT/
docs/
examples/
host-manager/
manager/
openejb.war

Run Installer Servlet

The OpenEJB Plugin for Tomcat contains an installer servlet which adds the OpenEJB listener and JavaAgent to the Tomcat installation. To run the installer, you must first start Tomcat.

C:>set JRE_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06

C:>cd apache-tomcat-6.0.14\bin

C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\bin>startup.bat Using CATALINA_BASE:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_HOME:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\temp Using JRE_HOME:        C:\your\java\installation
$ cd apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin

apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin$ chmod u+x *.sh

apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin$ ./startup.sh
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /your/java/installation
Your output will be different from the example above due to differences in installation locations.

It is a good idea to wait a 5-60 seconds (depending on the speed of your computer) for Tomcat to fully start. Once Tomcat is fully started, simply visit http://localhost:8080/openejb/installer and click the 'install' button to run the installer. The installer should report that the installation was successful. If it didn’t work click [OPENEJB:here|#problems] .

The installer servlet adds the OpenEJB JavaAgent declaration to the catalina.sh and catalina.bat files. If you are using an IDE or some other mechanism to start Tomcat, you will need to manually add the JavaAgent declaration to the Java VM options of the launcher you are using.

Restart Tomcat

OpenEJB uses OpenJPA for persistence and OpenJPA currently requires a JavaAgent to function. Unfortunately, there is no way to install a JavaAgent at runtime, so you will have to restart Tomcat to enable the JavaAgent. Simply execute the shutdown command, wait 5-60 seconds (depending on the speed of your computer) for Tomcat to fully stop, and run the startup command to restart Tomcat.

C:>cd apache-tomcat-6.0.14\bin

C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\bin>shutdown.bat Using CATALINA_BASE:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_HOME:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\temp Using JRE_HOME:        C:\your\java\installation

C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\bin>startup.bat Using CATALINA_BASE:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_HOME:   C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14 Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: C:\apache-tomcat-6.0.14\temp Using JRE_HOME:        C:\your\java\installation
$ cd apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin

apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin$ ./shutdown.sh
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /your/java/installation

apache-tomcat-6.0.14/bin$ ./startup.sh
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /your/tomcat/installation/apache-tomcat-6.0.14/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /your/java/installation
Your output will be different from the example above due to differences in installation locations.

Once Tomcat is fully started, simply visit http://localhost:8080/openejb/installer to verify the installation is complete.

Examples, Tutorials and Tests

ejb-examples.war

Download the ejb-examples.war , copy it into the Tomcat webapps directory, and visit http://localhost:8080/ejb-examples .

OpenEJB iTests

OpenEJB uses a large test suite to verify the final server assembly, and you can use this to verify your OpenEJB installation. Simply download the openejb-itests.war and openejb-standalone-client.jar and copy it the war into the Tomcat webapps directory. It will take a bit to load the application because it contains a huge number of EJBs. Finally, run the test client executable jar.

Start Tomcat

Windows
C:>java -jar openejb-itests-standalone-client.jar tomcat
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Running EJB compliance tests on HTTP/Tomcat Server *__**__**__**__**__**__**__***__**_
WARNING: No test suite configuration file specified, assuming system properties contain all  needed information.
To specify a test suite configuration file by setting its location using the system property "openejb.testsuite.properties"  test server = org.apache.openejb.test.TomcatRemoteTestServer entry = java.naming.provider.url:http://127.0.0.1:8080/openejb/ejb entry = java.naming.factory.initial:org.apache.openejb.client.RemoteInitialContextFactory .........................................
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Time: 20.644

OK (889 tests)

'''

CLIENT JNDI PROPERTIES java.naming.provider.url = http://127.0.0.1:8080/openejb/ejb java.naming.factory.initial = org.apache.openejb.client.RemoteInitialContextFactory *__**__**__**__**__**__**__***__**_
Unix
$ java -jar openejb-itests-standalone-client.jar tomcat
_________________________________________________
________________________

Running EJB compliance tests on HTTP/Tomcat Server
_________________________________________________
WARNING: No test suite configuration file specified, assuming system properties contain all
needed information.  To specify a test suite configuration file by setting its location using
the system property "openejb.testsuite.properties"
test server = org.apache.openejb.test.TomcatRemoteTestServer
entry = java.naming.provider.url:http://127.0.0.1:8080/openejb/ejb
entry = java.naming.factory.initial:org.apache.openejb.client.RemoteInitialContextFactory
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Time: 12.186

OK (889 tests)


_________________________________________________
CLIENT JNDI PROPERTIES
java.naming.provider.url = http://127.0.0.1:8080/openejb/ejb
java.naming.factory.initial = org.apache.openejb.client.RemoteInitialContextFactory
_________________________________________________
The tests should completely pass the first time they are run. If you execute the test client a second time, 21 tests fail for some unknown reason.{tip}

Problems?

HTTP Status 403

Did you get a "HTTP Status 403" error page containing the description "Access to the specified resource () has been forbidden." when visiting http://localhost:8080/openejb ?

The openejb.war is protected by a Tomcat valve that restricts access to the application to the computer on which Tomcat is running. If your browser is running on the same computer as Tomcat, try accessing OpenEJB using this link instead http://127.0.0.1:8080/openejb .

If you want to access the openejb.war from another computer, you will need to either remove the valve, or modify the IP list in the valve declaration. The easiest way to remove the valve it to simply delete the webapps/openejb/META-INF/context.xml file and and the webapps/openejb.war file while Tomcat is stopped. The openejb.war file must be removed because some versions of Tomcat will use the context.xml file packed in the openejb.war file regardless of what is in the unpacked directory.

Other Issues

If you are having problems with the installation, please send a message to the OpenEJB users mailing list containing any error message(s) and the following information:

  • OpenEJB Version

  • Tomcat Version

  • Java Version (execute java -version)

  • Operating System Type and Version

Limitations

Tomcat 6.x - Currently, only Tomcat 6.x is supported due to API difference between 5.5.x and 6.x. It is expected that 5.5 will be supported in the future, but there are no plans to support 5.0.x due to the lack of annotation support in 5.0.x.

Security - Unfortunately, at this time security with Tomcat/OpenEJB is not integrated, but is being worked on.

EAR Files - The integration only supports war (and collapsed-ear) files. EAR, EJB Jar, and RAR files will be supported in a future release.

JavaAgent - OpenEJB uses OpenJPA to provide JPA and CMP persistence, and OpenJPA currently requires a JavaAgent to function properly. This requirement is something that the OpenJPA project is working on removing. Once removed, the OpenEJB plugin for Tomcat will no longer need to modify the startup shell scripts and you will not need to restart Tomcat after the OpenEJB installation.

Misc

This document is a starting point for using OpenEJB in Tomcat and will evolve based on user contributions. If you wish to contribute to this document, feel very welcome to click the 'Edit' link in the upper right and make changes and add new HOWTO’s and other docs.