container

When deploying a JVM-based Web app usually so-called Java Servlet containers resp. application servers are used for the produciton system/environment. Probably the most popular and common Java server in this field is Apache Tomcat (and other even more feature-rich ones like JBoss or GlassFish). Apart from that, there's also Jetty which can be seen as a somewhat lightweight alternative. Nevertheless, there are some subtle differences to be taken into consideration when configuring it as opposed to Tomcat. The usual way to setup such a production system for a Java Web app is to use the Servlet container to serve the Web app and put so to speak in front of it an Apache Web server which handles the requests, hands them over to the container instance (e.g., Jetty or Tomcat) and receives its responses then (to say it in an a bit simplified way). Usually this is done via Apache's mod_jk module which enables communication between app server and Web server through the AJP13 protocol. What should be described and explained now is how to setup such a Java Web app production system ready for deployment in detail (mainly from a configuration perspective). The main focus shall be put at differences which are to be taken into account here between Jetty and Apache Tomcat.