Steps to Run Your servlet Program:

  1. Create the following directories and change their permissions in your home directory: 
    % cd
% chmod 711 . 
% chmod 755 public_html
% cd public_html
% mkdir WEB-INF
% mkdir WEB-INF/classes
% chmod -R 755 WEB-INF
  2. Write your first servlet program in directory ~/public_html/WEB-INF/classes 
    % cd ~/public_html/WEB-INF/classes
% cat Gretting.java
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.io.*;

public class Greeting extends HttpServlet {

  public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
                    HttpServletResponse response)
    throws ServletException, IOException {

    response.setContentType("text/html");
    PrintWriter returnHTML = response.getWriter();

    returnHTML.println("<html><head><title>");
    returnHTML.println("A simple GET servlet");
    returnHTML.println("</title></head><body>");
    returnHTML.println("<h2>This is your servlet answering</h2>");
    returnHTML.println("</body></html>");
    returnHTML.close();
  }
}
  3. Setup your JAVA_HOME and CLASSPATH. In C shell, run "source ~cs655/bin/tomcat.csh". In Borne shell, run ". ~cs655/bin/tomcat.sh".
  4. Compile your servlet program in directory ~/public_html/WEB-INF/classes and change the permission of the generated class file. 
    % javac Greeting.java
% chmod a+r Greeting.class
  5. Create the servlet deployment descriptor - web.xml in ~/public_html/WEB-INF/. You need to specify the servlets you are using in this file. Otherwise, the Tomcat server has no knowledge of your servlet. For example, you have two classes: Greeting and Store. 
    % chmod 644 web.xml
% cat web.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!DOCTYPE web-app
    PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
    "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd">

<web-app>
  <servlet>
     <servlet-name>Greeting</servlet-name>
     <servlet-class>Greeting</servlet-class>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
     <servlet-name>Greeting</servlet-name>
     <url-pattern>/Greeting</url-pattern>
   </servlet-mapping>
  <servlet>
     <servlet-name>Store</servlet-name>
     <servlet-class>Store</servlet-class>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
     <servlet-name>Store</servlet-name>
     <url-pattern>/Store</url-pattern>
   </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>
    Suggestion: You can specify your servlet before using them. Then you don't have to wait until the server to restart.
  6. Open a Web browser, and type the following URL in location line. For example, use lynx as follows: 
    lynx http://kirk.cs.wichita.edu:6555/xyz/Greeting
    where xyz is your account name. Type the return key and you will see the "This is your servlet answering" string displayed on the screen.
  7. Create a data file for your servlet:
Note: Your servlet might not be run until the Tomcat server has been restarted. The Tomcat server will be periodically restarted.