UCLALib Ansible Role: Tomcat

Installs Tomcat on RHEL servers

A top-level Tomcat CATALINA_HOME is installed with separate CATALINA_BASEs for each application

This role creates the following directory structure:

CATALINA_HOME:
/usr/local/tomcat7
├── bin
├── conf
├── lib
├── logs
├── temp
├── webapps
└── work

CATALINA_BASEs inherit bin and lib from CATALINA_HOME:
/usr/local/app1
├── conf
├── lib
├── logs
├── temp
├── webapps
└── work

For each CATALINA_BASE tomcat app:

• directory structure created in /usr/local/ (optionally using LVM for filesystem)
• environment variable file create in /etc/sysconfig
• init script created in /etc/init.d
• apache httpd virtual host config added to /etc/httpd/vhosts.d/vhosts.conf
• logrotate configuration added to /etc/logrotate.d/tomcat

Dependencies

• ansible_uclalib_role_java
• ansible_uclalib_role_apache

Variables

• tomcat_major_version - defines the major version of Tomcat to use (e.g. 7, 8, 9 etc.)

• tomcat_version - defines the full version of tomcat to use (e.g. 7.0.67)

• tomcat_download_url - defines the URL to download Tomcat binaries

• tomcat_applications - variable that instantiates the tomcat application list

  • app_name - name of tomcat web app (usually matches name of .war file)
  • shut_port- port number to use for tomcat shutdown port in server.xml
  • conn_port - port number to use for tomcat connection port in server.xml
  • rproxy_path - path to configure the apache reverse proxy to use to access the tomcat app
  • proxypass_extra_params - (optional) defines a list of extra parameters to append to the ProxyPass line in the tomcat vhost file
    • examples include: nocanon or keepalive=on - separate multiple parameters with a single space all enclosed in quotes (e.g. "nocanon keepalive=on")

• tomcat_server_name - defines the FQDN for the server the tomcat apps will run on. This is used when creating the HTTPD vhost configuration

• tomcat_subdirs - defines the sub-directories to create in each CATALINE_BASE app directory

• default_webapps - defines the default tomcat webapps that will be removed

• use_lvm - determines if the role should provision the tomcat web app within a filesystem managed by Logical Volume Management (LVM)

• vg_name - defines the name of the LVM volume group

• lv_size - defines the size of the LVM logical volume

• lvm_base_path - defines the path where the logical volumes are managed by the operating system

• lvm_filesystem_type - defines the filesystem type to create when provisioning the lvm mount point

Variables with default values that define if this deployment should use SSL NOTE: The use of SSL assumes certificates are issued/installed using certbot - reference uclalib_role_certbot

• tomcat_enable_ssl - defines if this deloyment should use SSL (yes or no - default is yes)
• ssl_certificate_name - defines the name of the SSL certificate issued by certbot
• ssl_cert_base_path - defines the base path to the SSL where all certificates are stored
• ssl_cert_file_path - defines the path to the certificates for ssl_certificate_name

Tomcat Download URL Note

The default value for the tomcat_download_url variable is:

http://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-{{ tomcat_major_version }}/v{{ tomcat_version }}/bin/apache-tomcat-{{ tomcat_version }}.tar.gz

If you are affiliated with UCLA, you have the option of overriding this default url value with:

http://pkgs.library.ucla.edu/apache-tomcat/apache-tomcat-{{ tomcat_version }}.tar.gz

Versions of Tomcat available via the UCLA URL are:

• 7.0.67
• 7.0.92
• 7.0.93
• 7.0.94
• 8.5.34
• 8.5.35
• 8.5.37
• 8.5.38
• 8.5.41
• 8.5.53
• 9.0.85

Sample format for defining tomcat web apps:

tomcat_applications:
  - app_name: app1
    shut_port: 8006
    conn_port: 8081
    rproxy_path: path1
  - app_name: app2
    shut_port: 8007
    conn_port: 8082
    rproxy_path: path2
    proxypass_extra_params: "nocanon"

Example playbook file:

  ---
  - name: uclalib_tomcat_param.yml
    sudo: true
    hosts: test
    vars:
      tomcat_applications:
        - app_name: app1
          shut_port: 8006
          conn_port: 8081
          rproxy_path: path1
        - app_name: app2
          shut_port: 8007
          conn_port: 8082
          rproxy_path: path2
          proxypass_extra_params: "nocanon"
      use_lvm: "yes"

    roles:
      - { role: uclalib_role_java }
      - { role: uclalib_role_apache }
      - { role: uclalib_role_tomcat }

The tomcat_applications variable definitions can be placed in an external vars files and included in a playbook using the vars_files statement: Example:

---
- name: uclalib_tomcat_param.yml
  sudo: true
  hosts: test
  vars_files:
    - plays_vars/tomcat_app_vars.yml

  roles:
    - { role: uclalib_role_java }
    - { role: uclalib_role_apache }
    - { role: uclalib_role_tomcat }