Previous Page: Installing Client-Side Programs  Next Page: Monitoring the Web Server

About Tomcat for NetWare

Tomcat enables the NetWare Enterprise Web Server to execute Java servlets. A servlet can be thought of as a server-side applet without a user interface. Tomcat provides Web application developers with additional functionality. For example, a servlet could be written and deployed to process data obtained from a client via an HTML form and the server-side data processing could manipulate the data and store results in a database. Servlets provide an alternative to CGI.

For Tomcat documentation, refer to the HTML files found on your NetWare 6 server under SYS:\TOMCAT\33\DOC\INDEX.HTML.

You can also visit http://jakarta.apache.org for the latest Tomcat news.


Migrating from WebSphere to Tomcat

If you have been using IBM* WebSphere Application Server for NetWare, you can migrate your existing Web applications to Tomcat using the migration utility included with NetWare 6. The Migration Utility creates Tomcat 3.3 Web applications from WebSphere Web applications.

The WebSphere-to-Tomcat Migration Utility is intended for use when upgrading from a NetWare 5.1 server to a NetWare 6.0 server where WebSphere 3.02 or WebSphere 3.5.1 has been already installed on the NetWare 5.1 server.


Step 1: Before Installing NetWare 6

  1. At the NetWare console prompt, enter

    xmlconfig -export volume:\websphere\migrate.xml - adminNodeName NodeName

    If WebSphere was installed to another volume or directory other than volume:\WEBSPHERE, then specify that location instead.

    IMPORTANT:  You must use the node's correct name.

    This step can be skipped if you are migrating from WebSphere Servlet Engine Only mode for WebSphere version 3.5.1.

  2. Open the MIGRATE.XML file found in the volume:\WEBSPHERE directory to verify that the export was successful.

    Your Web applications should be listed in the MIGRATE.XML file.


Step 2: Upgrading to NetWare 6

Once you have completed the first step, you can proceed with your NetWare 6 server upgrade. (See the NetWare 6 Overview and Installation Guide).

IMPORTANT:  All of the WebSphere directories must be preserved on the disk or made available after the upgrade is performed. Failure to save the directories could result in deleting your Web applications if you remove NetWare partitions during NetWare 6 installation.


Step 3: Running the Migration Tool

Once the upgrade is successfully completed and your server is running, start the migration utility.

  1. Because the migration utility edits the Enterprise Web Server's OBJ.CONF file, we recommend that you make a backup copy of the file before running the utility.

  2. If WebSphere was not installed to the default directory (SYS:\WEBSPHERE), edit the MIGRATE_TO_TOMCAT.NCF file with the correct path.

  3. At the NetWare console prompt, enter

    migrate_to_tomcat

The migration utility creates a WEB-INF directory in the document root directory for each WebSphere Web application. In each of the WEB_INF directories is a WEB.XML file and two additional subdirectories named CLASSES and LIB.

The JAR files for the Web applications are copied into the LIB directory and the files that are referenced by the application's class-paths and the WebSphere system class-path are copied into the classes directory.

Classes and Jar files for your Web applications are then stored in these directories and the original locations are no longer used.

Additionally, the migration tool adds URL path references to the Enterprise Web Server OBJ.CONF file. The DBSWITCH.CONF, file found at volume:\NOVONYX\SUITSPOT\USERDB\DBSWITCH.CONF, is also edited.

For additional details, refer to the Migration Utility release notes found at the root of the NetWare 6 Operating System CD in the TOMCAT\33\BIN directory.


Undoing the Migration

If you change your mind, you can undo the migration by following a few simple steps.

  1. Delete the file volume:\TOMCAT\33\CONF\APPS-WEBSPHERE.XML.

  2. Remove the URL paths from the Enterprise Web Server's OBJ.CONF file.

  3. Delete the WEB-INF directory in the document root of each WebSphere Web application that was migrated.

  4. Remove the entries in DBSWITCH.CONF that point to the added document root directories.



  Previous Page: Installing Client-Side Programs  Next Page: Monitoring the Web Server