Build a better web applications by learning how a servlet container actually work. Improve your Java EE web programming skills to gain understanding of expert-level servlet specification and its reference implementation, Apache Tomcat. Building Tomcat from source code distribution, and explores the components, classes, and technologies that shape this standard container.Use development tools such as Eclipse, Ant, and Subversion to dissect a touch point between distribution.Discover Tomcat servlet specification and implementation.Acquire special skills classes servlet container in a variety of technologies that contribute to the development of server side Java. The next few chapters introduce you to the conceptual foundations of the web server, Java EE and servlet specifications, and the Tomcat container. Detailed examples of letting you walk through the installation of Tomcat, Tomcat stepped into a key component, as well as to your own custom servlet. During this book you will find a variety of structural components such as servers and services; containers such as Engine, Host, Context, and the Wrapper, and helpers such as Loader, Manager, and Valve. You'll also see how to implement Tomcat JNDI API to provide directory services to access agnostic storage resources, as well as the naming service that implements the Java EE Environment Naming Context. Along the way you will learn how various elements of the servlet 2.5 specification, and RFC HTTP implemented by the servlet container. You then will be able to count yourself as part of an elite minority Java EE web developers who really understand what is happening under the cover of the servlet container. What you will learn from this book Gaining insight about the inner workings of one of the open source projects are the most successful of all time.Discover touch points between the specification of the Java EE platform and the servlet container implementation.Learn how to extract the most out of your Tomcat installation by understanding how the various components is a development tool implemented.Use standards such as Subversion, and Ant, and Eclipse to build Tomcat from the Tomcat distribution code.Execute source from within the Eclipse IDE to watch the various components work together in processing the request. Acquire special skills classes in various technologies and protocols that contribute to development.Learn sophisticated server-side Java software engineering such as building a custom class loader, implement custom protocols, and implement a JNDI-based naming and directory services.Explore some performance optimization and design patterns used in building software that is highly scalable and performant. Who is this book written for This book is intended for web developers who want to take their programming skills to the next level, and for server administrators who want to gain a better understanding of the software container that they manage. This book will provide you with expert understanding of each component that contributes to the overall ability to process requests Tomcat. In addition, the concepts you learn will be general enough to be taken to another servlet container. This book is also a good starting point for developers who want to understand how the high availability and high performance software, such as Tomcat, is designed. If you wish to contribute to Tomcat project, then this is the ideal book for you.