Chapter 5. Configuring JBoss Web Server

The most common technologies for creating Java web applications are JSPs and servlets, the standard Java EE web component technologies. These technologies can be deployed to many different web containers, but the most popular is Apache Tomcat, the reference implementation for the servlet and JSP specifications. Tomcat also doubles as a general-purpose web server that’s able to do most things that popular native web servers (for example, Microsoft IIS and Apache HTTP Server) do, such as serving static content, supporting virtual hosting, supporting a Common Gateway Interface (CGI), and so on. Tomcat is written in Java, so it’s portable but historically slower at serving static web pages than native web servers. Apache is also the leader in the native web server market with the Apache HTTP Server, a fast and highly scalable web server.

JBoss AS serves web applications using a new Red Hat product called JBoss Web Server, which combines the speed of the Apache HTTP Server with the versatility of Apache Tomcat. JBoss Web Server is built on top of Apache Tomcat 6.0 but is capable of using a native Apache library called Apache Portable Runtime (APR) to attain the speed of the Apache HTTP Server.

5.1. Understanding web applications

5.2. Configuring JBoss Web Server

5.3. Configuring URL paths

5.4. Configuring connectors

5.5. Configuring web class loading

5.6. Using valves

5.7. Configuring JavaServer Faces

5.8. Summary

5.9. References