Howdy,
Oh how I wish more people would read this, digest it, and go through it
before posting FAQs.  Great post Senor Turner (as always).

Yoav Shapira
Millennium ChemInformatics


>-----Original Message-----
>From: John Turner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 9:37 AM
>To: Tomcat Users List
>Subject: Re: installing a servlet
>
>
>Sorry, it wasn't my intent to criticize anyone, I apologize if that was
the
>way it came across.
>
>JK and JK2 work.
>
>The difference that you have encountered moving to 4.1.24 is most
likely
>attributable to the Invoker servlet being disabled by default.  It is
>disabled by default for a reason: security.  Is it possible to use the
>Invoker and be relatively secure?  Yes.  The problem is that when the
>Invoker servlet is enabled, a specially crafted URL can be used to view
the
>source of a JSP.  Is this bad?  In general, yes.  Yes because most
>developers are lazy, and use bad design practices such as putting
>confidential information like database URLs, usernames, and passwords
into
>their JSP source, which, when the Invoker is enabled, can be viewed
easily
>by anyone who reads security alerts.  If you want to take
responsibility
>for guaranteeing that your JSP source has nothing in it but "display
this
>over here and display that over there", then you can probably get away
with
>using the Invoker and being "relatively" "safe".
>
>So, given that most new developers don't take the time to learn good
>architecture practices, and probably for other reasons of which I am
>unaware, it was decided that the Invoker should be disabled in versions
of
>Tomcat later than 4.1.12.  Since the Invoker is disabled, to get
servlets
>to work you are required to explicitly map them in web.xml to a
specific
>URL (this is good for a number of reasons), said URL in turn being
mapped
>in the properties files of the relevant connector should you choose to
use
>a connector (also good, because if you have Apache there's no reason to
>make Tomcat handle requests that Apache can handle, otherwise why have
>Apache in the first place?).
>
>So, to answer your question: JK or JK2?  My preference is for JK, but
that
>is because I am a dinosaur, not because JK2 doesn't work.  You should
make
>the call based on your own needs and preferences.
>
>To answer your question: how do I make servlets work?  Answer:
explicitly
>map them in web.xml, map them to a URL (the archives are full of
examples),
>and then make sure that Apache forwards that URL or similar URLs to
Tomcat
>for processing.  This forces you to make good architecture
decisions...your
>servlets should be organized, etc.  Does this suck?  If you've spent a
lot
>of time just writing servlets like crazy with no thought to
organization,
>then it probably does suck but that isn't Tomcat's fault.
>
>If you have a servlet that isn't working, post this information to the
>list:
>
>- the name of the servlet, and where it lives under your Context's
docBase
>- the servlet and servlet-mapping elements for that servlet from your
>web.xml
>- any JkMount or JkUriSet (or their equivalents) that you use with a
>connector to direct requests for the servlet in question to Tomcat, if
you
>use a connector at all
>- the actual URL you are typing into the browser's address bar (or the
>value of your Form's ACTION parameter if you are having problems
posting
>from a form to a servlet)
>- the error message you get or any other debugging information that
proves
>to you that your servlet isn't "working"
>
>Then someone on the list will help you, typically with an hour or two,
but
>there are no guarantees.
>
>John
>
>On 24 Jun 2003 15:01:58 +0200, Tony Grant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 2003-06-24 at 14:42, John Turner wrote:
>>> Donwgrading and using mod_webapp is the WORST thing you could do,
for
>>> all sorts of reasons.  Security, for one.  Performance, for another.
>>> Future extensibility and growth, for another.
>>
>> My question was: downgrade to mod_jk? (I have read that mod_webapp is
>> depreciated)
>>
>>> Mod_jk and mod_jk2 work.  This is a fact.
>>
>> I believe you and they do even on my server! But only for JSP and I
>> can't see what _I_ am doing wrong. So John please, all the fault is
>> mine! I took the time to learn how to install Tomcat a few years
back. I
>> moved up through the versions. I documented how I got it working and
>> published my HOWTO which got 3500 hits the day it appeared in Apache
>> week (so I guess I gave a little bit back to the comunity...).
>>
>> What went wrong was moving up to Apache2 and Tomcat 4.1.24. I am at
the
>> bottom of the learning curve again.
>>
>> Should I drop mod_jk2 and try mod_jk?
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Tony Grant
>
>
>
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