I downloaded and setup my Apache Tomcat 6 in our production server. I then started it to see if it’s running, and found out that its okay.
It runs and then I place my project war file there. I am about to restart the tomcat service when I notice that that my web archive file was already unzipped and my project web file is already set at the web apps folder.
I think, my setup has an auto-deploy feature but I kept on thinking if this is a good thing?
I have these questions in mind:
- Does Tomcat really auto deploys web archive file and what is the frequency that it does?
- Is this a nice feature?
- So what if I leave my war file there, does that mean that Tomcat will reload or unzip the archive file every now and then?
- Is what Tomcat does to my war file the same as when I properly restart my tomcat and let the tomcat service deploy my war file?
Have a look at the manual. It says:
If the Host autoDeploy attribute is “true”, the Host will attempt to deploy and update web applications dynamically, as needed, for example if a new .WAR is dropped into the appBase
Whether this is a nice feature depends on your requirements. None of the projects I worked on needed this, but hey – your story might be different.
Autodeploy is the same feature as if you would restart Tomcat and it would find a .war sitting around, the only difference is that there has to be a polling thread which looks for changes in the appBase folder.