Init Script for Apache Tomcat (Linux / RHEL / CentOS / Fedora)

Init script for Apache Tomcat

Written by Adam Sharp
Based (heavily) on script found at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/MMBase-Inst-HOWTO/x321.html.

Description

This is an init script for Apache Tomcat, tested for use on Amazon Linux AMI, and should work on CentOS and other RPM based systems such as Red Hat.
Besides configuration changes, the main change I've made from the source script was to use catalina.sh start and catalina.sh stop instead of startup.sh and shutdown.sh, respectively. I also set the CATALINA_PID variable so that catalina.sh would correctly create the PID file, and service tomcat status would correctly report whether tomcat is running. (Previously would get errors such as "tomcat dead but subsys locked").

Installation

To install the script as-is, assuming you have Tomcat v6.0.33 installed at /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33 and the java executable located at /usr:

1. Copy the tomcat script to /etc/init.d
2. Run sudo chkconfig --add /etc/init.d/tomcat
3. Run sudo service tomcat start

Configuration you may need to perform first:

• Alter the chkconfig: line (line 12) to reflect your desired runlevels and start/stop priority:
  

          runlevels   stop priority  # lower numbers stop sooner
                |       |
  # chkconfig: 2345 80 20
                    |
                 start priority   # higher numbers start sooner
  

  You must do this before you run step 2. If you have already completed step to, just run the command again.
  See man chkconfig for more info.
  
• Edit JAVA_HOME, CATALINA_HOME and any other relevant environment variables for the Tomcat service (lines 35--39). Available environment variables are listed at the top of catalina.sh, with helpful descriptions.
• If you know what you're doing: Edit the SERVICENAME, LOCKFILE and CATALINA_PID variables (lines 26--28) as necessary for other Linux systems.

Usage

Once installed, the following commands are available:

$ sudo service tomcat start  # startup
Starting Tomcat:
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /usr
Using CLASSPATH:       /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33/bin/bootstrap.jar
Using CATALINA_PID:    /var/run/tomcat6.pid

$ service tomcat status
tomcat6 (pid  1234) is running...

$ sudo service tomcat stop   # shutdown
Shutting down Tomcat:
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33/temp
Using JRE_HOME:        /usr
Using CLASSPATH:       /usr/local/apache-tomcat-6.0.33/bin/bootstrap.jar
Using CATALINA_PID:    /var/run/tomcat6.pid

$ service tomcat status
tomcat6 is stopped

$ sudo service tomcat restart   # shortcut for stopping
                                # then starting