HTTP Session Management Quick Start

In this section you download, install, and set up the HTTP Session Management modules.

Following the Apache Tomcat convention, this page assumes the CATALINA_HOME environment variable is set to the root directory of the “binary” Tomcat distribution. For example, if Apache Tomcat is installed in /usr/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.62 then

CATALINA_HOME=/usr/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.62

Quick Start Instructions

1. Download and install one of the application servers.

   Supported Application Server	Version	Download Location
   tc Server	3.2	Download links are available in the Tanzu tc Server Release Notes
   Tomcat	8.5	Tomcat 8 Software Downloads
   Tomcat	9.0	Tomcat 9 Software Downloads

   The generic HTTP Session Management Module for AppServers is implemented as a servlet filter and should work on any application server platform that supports the Java Servlet 3.1 specification.

2. The HTTP Session Management Modules installation .zip files are located in the tools/Modules directory of the product installation directory. Locate the .zip file for the HTTP Session Management Module that you wish to install. Unzip the appropriate HTTP Session Management Module into the specified directory for your application server:

   Supported Application Server	Version	Module	Target Location for Module
   tc Server	2.9	Apache_Geode_Modules-SERVER-VERSION-tcServer.zip	<tc Server root dir>/templates
   tc Server	3.2	Apache_Geode_Modules-SERVER-VERSION-tcServer30.zip	<tc Server root dir>/templates
   Tomcat	8.5, 9.0	Apache_Geode_Modules-SERVER-VERSION-Tomcat.zip	$CATALINA_HOME

3. Complete the appropriate set up instructions for your application server described in the following sections:

   • Additional Quick Start Instructions for tc Server Module
   • Additional Quick Start Instructions for Tomcat Module
   • Additional Instructions for AppServers Module

Additional Quick Start Instructions for tc Server Module

These steps provide a basic starting point for using the tc Server module. For more configuration options, see HTTP Session Management Module for Pivotal tc Server. As a prerequisite, module set up requires a JAVA_HOME environment variable set to the java installation.

1. Navigate to the root directory of tc Server.

2. Create a Tanzu GemFire instance using one of the provided templates and start the instance after starting up a locator. For example:

   $ gfsh start locator --name=locator1
   $ ./tcruntime-instance.sh create my_instance_name --template geode-p2p
   $ ./tcruntime-ctl.sh my_instance_name start
   

   This will create and run a Tanzu GemFire instance using the peer-to-peer topology and default configuration values. Another Tanzu GemFire instance on another system can be created and started in the same way.

   If you need to pin your tc Server instance to a specific tc Server runtime version, use the --version option when creating the instance.

Additional Quick Start Instructions for Tomcat Module

These steps provide a basic starting point for using the Tomcat module. For more configuration options, see HTTP Session Management Module for Tomcat.

1. Modify Tomcat’s server.xml and context.xml files. Configuration is slightly different depending on the topology you are setting up and the version of Tomcat you are using.

   For example, in a peer-to-peer configuration using Tomcat 9, you would add the following entry within the <server> element of server.xml:

   <Listener className="org.apache.geode.modules.session.catalina.PeerToPeerCacheLifecycleListener"
       locator="localhost[10334]" />
   

   and the following entry within the <context> tag in the context.xml file:

   <Manager className="org.apache.geode.modules.session.catalina.Tomcat9DeltaSessionManager"/> 
   

   See Setting Up the HTTP Module for Tomcat for additional instructions.

2. Start the Tomcat application server.

   $CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh
   

3. Confirm that Tomcat is running by opening a browser and navigating to localhost:8080. If you see the Tomcat home page, your installation was successful.

   

Additional Instructions for AppServers Module

These steps provide a basic starting point for using the AppServers module with WebLogic, WebSphere or JBoss. For more configuration options, see HTTP Session Management Module for AppServers.

Note:

• The modify_war script relies upon a GEODE environment variable. Set the GEODE environment variable to the Tanzu GemFire product directory; this is the parent directory of bin.
• The modify_war script, described below, relies on files within the distribution tree and should not be run outside of a complete distribution.
• The modify_war script is a bash script and does not run on Windows.

To set up the AppServers module, perform the following steps:

1. Run the modify_war script against an existing .war or .ear file to integrate the necessary components. The example below will create a configuration suitable for a peer-to-peer Tanzu GemFire system, placing the necessary libraries into WEB-INF/lib for wars and lib for ears and modifying any web.xml files:

   $ bin/modify_war -w my-app.war -p gemfire.property.locators=localhost[10334] \
                     -t peer-to-peer
   

2. A new war file will be created called session-my-app.war. This file can now be deployed to the server.