Chapter 1. Introduction to Red Hat JBoss Web Server installation

Red Hat JBoss Web Server is a fully integrated and certified set of components for hosting Java web applications. Red Hat JBoss Web Server provides a fully supported implementation of the Apache Tomcat Servlet container and the Tomcat native library.

Note

If you need clustering or session replication support for Java applications, use Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP).

1.1. JBoss Web Server components

JBoss Web Server includes components such as the Apache Tomcat Servlet container, Tomcat native library, Tomcat vault, mod_cluster library, Apache Portable Runtime (APR), and OpenSSL.

Apache Tomcat
Apache Tomcat is a servlet container in accordance with the Java Servlet Specification. JBoss Web Server contains Apache Tomcat 9.
Tomcat native library
The Tomcat native library improves Tomcat scalability, performance, and integration with native server technologies.
Tomcat vault
Tomcat vault is an extension for JBoss Web Server that is used for securely storing passwords and other sensitive information used by a JBoss Web Server.
Mod_cluster
The mod_cluster library enables communication between Apache Tomcat and the mod_proxy_cluster module of the Apache HTTP Server. The mod_cluster library enables you to use the Apache HTTP Server as a load balancer for JBoss Web Server. For more information about configuring mod_cluster, or for information about installing and configuring alternative load balancers such as mod_jk and mod_proxy, see the HTTP Connectors and Load Balancing Guide.
Apache Portable Runtime
The Apache Portable Runtime (APR) provides superior scalability, performance, and improved integration with native server technologies. APR is a highly portable library that is at the heart of Apache HTTP Server 2.x. It enables access to: advanced IO functionality such as sendfile, epoll and OpenSSL; functionality at the operating system level such as random number generation and system status; and native process handling such as shared memory, NT pipes and UNIX sockets.
OpenSSL
OpenSSL is a software library that implements the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. OpenSSL includes a basic cryptographic library.

For a full list of components that Red Hat JBoss Web Server supports, see the JBoss Web Server Component Details page.

1.2. Differences between the Apache Tomcat distributions that Red Hat provides

Both Red Hat JBoss Web Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) provide separate distributions of Apache Tomcat. However, JBoss Web Server offers distinct benefits compared to the RHEL distribution of Apache Tomcat by including an integrated and certified set of additional components and features. JBoss Web Server also provides more frequent software and security updates.

Note

RHEL provides a distribution of Apache Tomcat on RHEL 7, RHEL 8.8, and RHEL 9.2 or later only.

For RHEL 8.0 through 8.7 and RHEL 9.0 through 9.1, the RHEL platform subscriptions do not provide a distribution of Apache Tomcat. On these operating system versions, JBoss Web Server is the only Apache Tomcat distribution that Red Hat provides, which is available as part of the Middleware Runtimes subscription.

Apache Tomcat versions

Consider the following version information for the Apache Tomcat distributions that are available with JBoss Web Server and RHEL:

  • The RHEL 7 tomcat package is based on the community version of Apache Tomcat 7.
  • The RHEL 8.8 and RHEL 9.x tomcat package is based on the community version of Apache Tomcat 9.
  • JBoss Web Server 3.1 provides a distribution of Apache Tomcat 7 and Apache Tomcat 8 together with an integrated and certified set of additional components and features. However, Red Hat no longer fully supports or maintains JBoss Web Server 3.1, which is currently in extended life cycle support (ELS) phase 2 with a planned end-of-life date of December 2028.
  • JBoss Web Server 5.x provides a distribution of Apache Tomcat 9 that Red Hat fully tests and supports together with an integrated and certified set of additional components and features.
Note

Red Hat does not provide support for community releases of Apache Tomcat.

For more information, see Apache Tomcat versions supported by Red Hat.

Differences between JBoss Web Server and RHEL distributions of Apache Tomcat

Consider the following differences between JBoss Web Server and the RHEL distributions of Apache Tomcat:

  • You can install JBoss Web Server on RHEL versions 7, 8, and 9 from an archive file or RPM package. You can only install RHEL distributions of Apache Tomcat from an RPM package on RHEL 7, RHEL 8.8, and RHEL 9.2 or later.
  • You can also install JBoss Web Server on supported Windows Server platforms from an archive file.
  • RHEL distributions of Apache Tomcat offer administrators support for deploying and running Apache Tomcat instances on a RHEL system. JBoss Web Server offers developers support for creating and deploying back-end web applications and large-scale websites that can service client requests from Apache HTTP Server proxies in a secure and stable environment.

  • RHEL provides only a standard distribution of Apache Tomcat with infrequent software updates that is based on the community version. JBoss Web Server provides a fully tested and supported distribution of Apache Tomcat that includes the following integrated and certified set of additional features and functionality:

    • Fully tested and certified integration with the Apache HTTP Server for the forwarding and load-balancing of web client requests to back-end web applications by using a mod_proxy, mod_jk, or mod_proxy_cluster connector
    • Tomcat native library for improving Apache Tomcat scalability, performance, and integration with native server technologies
    • Tomcat Vault extension for masking passwords and other sensitive strings and securely storing sensitive information in an encrypted Java keystore
    • Mod_cluster library for enabling communication and intelligent load-balancing of web traffic between the mod_proxy_cluster module of the Apache HTTP Server and back-end JBoss Web Server worker nodes
    • Apache Portable Runtime (APR) library for providing superior scalability, performance, and improved integration with native server technologies
    • Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance
    • Support for JBoss Web Server in Red Hat OpenShift environments
    • JBoss Web Server Operator for managing OpenShift container images and for creating, configuring, managing, and seamlessly upgrading instances of web server applications in Red Hat OpenShift environments
    • Automated installation of JBoss Web Server by using a Red Hat Ansible certified content collection
  • JBoss Web Server provides a set of Maven repository artifacts in a jws-5.X.x-maven-repository.zip file that you can download from the Red Hat Customer Portal. You can use these artifacts in the web application archive (WAR) files for your application deployment projects. RHEL distributions of Apache Tomcat do not provide a set of Maven repository artifacts.
  • JBoss Web Server also includes libraries for embedded Tomcat in the jws-5.X.x-maven-repository.zip file, which enables you to build web applications by using embedded Tomcat with a fully supported Apache Tomcat version.

Differences between the JBoss Web Server and RHEL documentation sets

The JBoss Web Server documentation set is broader and more comprehensive than the RHEL documentation for the tomcat package:

  • JBoss Web Server includes a Red Hat JBoss Web Server 5.7.x Documentation archive file that contains API documentation for Apache Tomcat 9 and Tomcat Vault. You can download this archive file from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

  • The JBoss Web Server product documentation page provides information on all of the following types of use cases:

    • Performing a standard installation of JBoss Web Server from an archive file or RPM package on supported operating systems.
    • Configuring JBoss Web Server for use with Apache HTTP Server connectors and load-balancers such as mod_jk and mod_proxy_cluster.
    • Enabling automated installations of JBoss Web Server by using a Red Hat Ansible certified content collection.
    • Using JBoss Web Server in a Red Hat OpenShift environment.
    • Installing and using the JBoss Web Server Operator for OpenShift.
    • Configuring JBoss Web Server to support features such as the Hibernate object-relational mapping (ORM) framework, the HTTP/2 protocol, Tomcat Vault, and FIPS compliance.

1.3. JBoss Web Server operating systems and configurations

Red Hat JBoss Web Server supports different versions of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Additional resources

1.4. JBoss Web Server installation methods

You can install Red Hat JBoss Web Server on supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows systems by using archive installation files that are available for each platform. You can also install JBoss Web Server on supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems by using RPM packages.

The following components are included in the archive installation files. These components are the core parts of a JBoss Web Server installation.

  • jws-5.7.0-application-server.zip

    • Apache Tomcat 9
    • mod_cluster
    • Tomcat vault

  • jws-5.7.0-application-server-<platform>-<architecture>.zip

    • Platform-specific utilities

1.5. JBoss Web Server component documentation bundle

JBoss Web Server includes an additional documentation bundle that includes the original vendor documentation for each component. You can download this documentation bundle, jws-docs-5.7.0.zip, from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

The documentation bundle contains additional documentation for the following components:

  • Apache Tomcat
  • Tomcat native library
  • Tomcat vault