sprylab.tomcat-ubuntu

Ansible role: Tomcat Ubuntu

Installs the very latest Apache Tomcat (currently 8.0.36) on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and up by downloading the official .deb packages directly from packages.ubuntu.com.

Additionally, this role provides support for easily:

setting JAVA_OPTS and CATALINA_OPTS for Tomcat
installing Tomcat admin web applications and tools to create user instances
installing the Tomcat Native Library
installing MySQL and/or PostreSQL JBDC drivers
installing additional Tomcat user instances
defining GlobalNamingResources
defining jvmRoute
defining tomcat-users.xml
defining HTTP port for listening and controlling

Installation

You can easily install this role using Ansible Galaxy:

$ ansible-galaxy install sprylab.tomcat-ubuntu

Requirements

A Java Runtime is required for Tomcat to run. This role does not put a hard dependency on any JRE, though.

You have to make sure Java 7 or up is installed before executing this role on a target. It's known to work perfectly with smola.java, but it's up to you to decide.

Role Variables

tomcat_ubuntu_version: Tomcat version to install (string, default: 8.0.36-2ubuntu1_all)
tomcat_ubuntu_repository: URL (without trailing slash) pointing to Ubuntu repository to install from (string, default: http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu)
tomcat_ubuntu_port: Port for Tomcat's HTTP connector (integer, default: 8080)
tomcat_ubuntu_control_port: Port for controlling Tomcat via HTTP, e.g. shutdown (integer, default: 8005)
tomcat_ubuntu_java_opts: JAVA_OPTS used for starting Tomcat (string, default: -Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx2048m -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC)
tomcat_ubuntu_catalina_opts: CATALINA_OPTS used for starting Tomcat (string, default: empty)
tomcat_ubuntu_users: List of users defined in Tomcat's tomcat-users.xml (list of { name: <name>, password: <password>, roles: <comma-separated roles> } elements, default: [])
tomcat_ubuntu_global_naming_resources: Complete Resource XML tag(s) used as GlobalNamingResource(s) (string, default: empty)
tomcat_ubuntu_jvm_route: jvmRoute to assign to this Tomcat installation, needed for proper load balancing configuration (use "{{ ansible_hostname }}" for the machine's hostname') (string, default: empty)
tomcat_ubuntu_download_dir: Directory to store the downloaded .deb packages (string, default: /tmp/tomcat8)
tomcat_ubuntu_admin_install: Enables or disables the installation of the Tomcat admin web applications (bool, default: no)
tomcat_ubuntu_user_install: Enables or disables the installation of the Tomcat tools to create user instances (bool, default: no)
tomcat_ubuntu_native_install: Enables or disables the installation of the Tomcat Native Library; recommended for production environments (bool, default: yes)
tomcat_ubuntu_native_version: Tomcat Native Library version to install (string, default: 1.2.8-1_amd64)
tomcat_ubuntu_apache_native_version: Apache Portable Runtime version to install (string, default: 1.5.2-4_amd64)
tomcat_ubuntu_libecj_version: Eclipse Java compiler version to install; needed by libtomcat8-java package (string, default: 3.11.0-1ubuntu2_all)
tomcat_ubuntu_libssl_version: Secure Sockets Layer toolkit version to install; needed by libtcnative package, i.e. when tomcat_ubuntu_native_install is enabled (string, default: 1.0.2g-1ubuntu5_amd64)
tomcat_ubuntu_mysql_jbdc_install: Enables or disables the installation of the MySQL JBDC driver (bool, default: no)
tomcat_ubuntu_postgresql_jbdc_install: Enables or disables the installation of the PostgreSQL JBDC driver (bool, default: no)
tomcat_ubuntu_postgresql_jdbc_version: PostgreSQL JBDC driver version to install (string, default: 9.4.1208)
tomcat_ubuntu_user_instances: Describes additional Tomcat user instances to set up, which share the same files as the main instance (list of object, default: [])
- For each additional Tomcat user instance a object with the following structure must be created:
  - name: Name of the user instance - will be used as directory name (string)
  - port: Port the user instance should listen on (integer)
  - control_port: Port for controlling the user instance (integer)
  - parent_directory: Parent directory, where the user instance should be created (string)
  - java_opts: JAVA_OPTS the user instance passes to the JVM (list of string)
  - catalina_opts: CATALINA_OPTS the user instance should use (list of string)
  - global_naming_resources: Complete Resource XML tag(s) used as GlobalNamingResource(s) for the user instance (string)
  - auto_start: Enables or disables starting the user instance after set up and on boot (bool)
  - admin_install: Enables or disables the installation of the Tomcat admin web applications for the user instance (bool)
- The Tomcat user instance will be created in {{ user_instance.parent_directory }}/{{ user_instance.name }}.
- For every Tomcat user instance a init script is generated in /etc/init.d/{{ user_instance.name }} just like for the main instance.

Please note: tomcat_ubuntu_version, tomcat_ubuntu_native_version and tomcat_ubuntu_apache_native_version must be set in .deb package version format incl. architecture. These versions must exist in the Ubuntu Package archive.

Dependencies

No hard dependency is set, but please note the Requirements section above.

Example Playbook

Just use this role in your playbook as usual:

- hosts: web
  roles:
     - sprylab.tomcat-ubuntu

You may easily override the default variables, e.g.:

- hosts: web
  roles:
     - { role: sprylab.tomcat-ubuntu, tomcat_ubuntu_postgresql_jbdc_install: yes }

The examples directory also gives you an impression how to use this role. It contains a Vagrantfile, which quickly starts up an virtual Ubuntu 14.04 LTS box and provisions it playing the site.yml playbook.

To try it out follow these steps:

Install Vagrant and VirtualBox
Open a terminal and change to the examples directory
Add Ubuntu 14.04 LTS box: vagrant box add ubuntu/trusty64
Initialize the VM: vagrant up
When finished, check that Tomcat is running by looking up http://localhost:8080/ in your web browser (Vagrant is configured to forward the port 8080 from the VM to your host).
Connect to the VM via SSH to check further details: vagrant ssh

License

Copyright 2016 sprylab technologies GmbH

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.