Step 2: Installing Tomcat

Apache Tomcat is the web application server that runs Jamf Pro.

Note:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not provide technical support for Tomcat 10 or compiling Tomcat 10 manually. However, Tomcat 10 is installed automatically by the Jamf Pro installer and has been tested by Jamf.

Jamf tests each version of Jamf Pro with the corresponding version of Tomcat listed in the Apache Tomcat Versions Installed by the Jamf Pro Installer article. You are highly encouraged to install the version of Tomcat associated with the version of Jamf Pro you are installing.

You will need URLs to download and verify the Tomcat binary distribution that you intend to install. If you have access to a web browser on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system or if you are remotely connected to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux shell session from your computer, you may want to copy these URLs just before executing the download commands. If not, you may want to copy the URLs into a text document for reference as you type them.

Requirements

Copy the necessary URLs:

In a web browser, open the Tomcat 10 download page: https://tomcat.apache.org/download-10.cgi
If you need the latest version of Tomcat:
1. On the Tomcat 10 download page, navigate to Tomcat 10.1.x > Binary Distributions > Core.
2. Right-click the "tar.gz" link, and choose Copy Link to copy the URL.
3. Paste the copied URL into a document for reference, or paste it directly into the download command (see below).
4. On the Tomcat 10 download page, right-click the "sha512" link, and choose Copy Link to copy the URL.
5. Paste the copied URL into a document for reference, or paste it directly into the download command (see below).
If you need a previous version of Tomcat:
1. On the Tomcat 10 download page, navigate to the Quick Navigation section and click Archives.
2. Click the folder for the version of Tomcat that you want.
3. Click the bin/ folder.
4. Right-click the "apache-tomcat-10.1.x.tar.gz" link, and choose Copy Link to copy the URL.
5. Paste the copied URL into a document for reference, or paste it directly into the download command (see below).
6. On the Tomcat 10 webpage, right-click the "apache-tomcat-10.1.x.tar.gz.sha512" link, and choose Copy Link to copy the URL.
7. Paste the copied URL into a document for reference, or paste it directly into the download command (see below).

Additional notes:

Tomcat 10.1.25 is used in the commands in this section. When you execute the commands, substitute "10.1.25" with the specific version of Tomcat 10 that you want to install. The most recent version of Tomcat 10 can be downloaded from the following page: https://tomcat.apache.org/download-10.cgi
You may need to install the "wget" utility to execute the commands found in this guide. Install "wget" by executing:
```
sudo yum install wget
```

Create a "tomcat" group by executing:
```
sudo groupadd tomcat
```

Create a "tomcat" user by executing:

sudo useradd -r -g tomcat -d /opt/apache-tomcat-10.1.25 -s /bin/nologin tomcat

Create a temporary directory for the downloads and change to the directory by executing:
```
mkdir /tmp/tomcat && cd /tmp/tomcat
```
Download the Tomcat binary distribution using the tar.gz URL (see above) with a command similar to:
```
wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-10/v10.1.25/bin/apache-tomcat-10.1.25.tar.gz
```

Download the Tomcat sha512 reference file using the URL (see above) with a command similar to:

wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-10/v10.1.25/bin/apache-tomcat-10.1.25.tar.gz.sha512

Using the filename of the sha512 reference file, verify the binary distribution has not been modified with a command similar to:
```
sha512sum -c apache-tomcat-10.1.25.tar.gz.sha512
```
The result should be something like:
```
apache-tomcat-10.1.25.tar.gz: OK
```
If the result of the check indicates that the downloaded binary is "OK", extract the contents of the file with a command similar to:
```
tar -zxvf apache-tomcat-10.1.25.tar.gz
```
Move the extracted contents to the desired location with a command similar to:
```
sudo mv apache-tomcat-10.1.25 /opt/
```
Ensure the "tomcat" user and group have ownership of the directory and contents with a command similar to:
```
sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/apache-tomcat-10.1.25
```
Create a symlink to the directory with a command similar to:
```
sudo ln -s /opt/apache-tomcat-10.1.25 /opt/tomcat
```
Note:
Installing Tomcat in a directory named with the version number and then symlinking to this directory allows for an easy Tomcat upgrade path later—simply install a newer version of Tomcat in a new directory with its version number in the name and change the symlink to point to the new version.