Package Ubuntu Tomcat Install

Tomcat is available directly from the Ubuntu package manager. This approach is recommended as updates and security fixes are managed as part of your operating system.

Package version by release

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and later package Apache Tomcat 11 (tomcat11), matching the version required by GeoServer.

Earlier releases, such as Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, only package Apache Tomcat 10.1.x (tomcat10). On those releases use the manual Tomcat install to run Tomcat 11 instead, or check apt-cache policy tomcat11 in case your release has since added a package.

Reference:

• Ubuntu documentation
• Ubuntu tomcat11 package

To install the tomcat11 package:

1. Install tomcat11 using apt-get:

   sudo apt install tomcat11
   

2. Define CATALINA_OPTS by creating /etc/tomcat11/bin/setenv.sh:

   #!/bin/sh
   
   # Prepend JVM Options
   CATALINA_OPTS="-XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB=36000 -XX:-UsePerfData ${CATALINA_OPTS}"
   
   # Append system properties
   CATALINA_OPTS="${CATALINA_OPTS} -Dorg.geotools.referencing.forceXY=true"
   

   Note

   -X java options must be listed before any -D system properties.

3. Optional: By default Tomcat will use ¼ of system memory, to set a lower limit adjust CATALINA_OPTS using setenv.sh.

   #!/bin/sh
   
   # Prepend JVM Options
   CATALINA_OPTS="-XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB=36000 -XX:-UsePerfData ${CATALINA_OPTS}"
   
   # Append system properties
   CATALINA_OPTS="${CATALINA_OPTS} -Dorg.geotools.referencing.forceXY=true"
   
   # Prepend JVM Memory Options
   CATALINA_OPTS="-Xms2G -Xmx4G ${CATALINA_OPTS}"
   

4. Optional: Tomcat's default port number is 8080. It can be modified in /etc/tomcat11/server.xml.

   <Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
            connectionTimeout="20000"
            redirectPort="8443" />
   

5. Tomcat is a setup as a linux service with start, status, restart and stop actions:

   sudo service tomcat11 restart
   sudo service tomcat11 status
   

   Changes to tomcat configuration such as setenv.sh and server.xml require service restart to take effect.

6. You can access Tomcat using your web browser

   http://<hostname>:8080