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Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift

Red Hat JBoss Web Server 3.1

Installing and using Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

Guide to using Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1. What is Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift?

The Apache Tomcat 7 and Apache Tomcat 8 components of Red Hat JBoss Web Server (JWS) 3.1 are available as containerized images designed for OpenShift. Developers can use these images to build, scale, and test Java web applications for deployment across hybrid cloud environments.

Chapter 2. Before You Begin

2.1. The difference between Red Hat JBoss Web Server and JWS for OpenShift

The differences between the JWS for OpenShift images and the regular release of JWS are:

  • The location of JWS_HOME/tomcat<version>/ inside a JWS for OpenShift image is: /opt/webserver/.
  • The JWS for OpenShift images do not contain Apache HTTP Server. All load balancing is handled by the OpenShift router, not Apache HTTP Server mod_cluster or mod_jk connectors.

Documentation for JWS functionality not specific to JWS for OpenShift images is found in the Red Hat JBoss Web Server documentation.

2.2. Version compatibility and support

See the xPaaS table on the OpenShift Container Platform Tested Integrations page for details about OpenShift image version compatibility.

Important

The 3.1 version of JWS for OpenShift images and application templates should be used for deploying new applications.

The 3.0 version of JWS for OpenShift images and application templates are deprecated and no longer receives updates.

Chapter 3. Get Started

3.1. Initial setup

The instructions in this guide follow on from the OpenShift Primer, assuming a supported OpenShift configuration or a non-production OpenShift instance like that described in the OpenShift Primer.

The JWS for OpenShift images are automatically created during the installation of OpenShift, along with the other default image streams and templates.

Note

The JWS for OpenShift application templates are distributed for Tomcat 7, and Tomcat 8.

3.2. Using the JWS for OpenShift Source-to-Image (S2I) process

To run and configure the JWS for OpenShift images, use the OpenShift S2I process with the application template parameters and environment variables.

The S2I process for the JWS for OpenShift images works as follows:

  • If there is a Maven settings.xml file in the configuration/ source directory, it is moved to $HOME/.m2/ of the new image.

    See the Apache Maven Project website for more information on Maven and the Maven settings.xml file.

  • If there is a pom.xml file in the source repository, a Maven build is triggered using the contents of the $MAVEN_ARGS environment variable.

    By default, the package goal is used with the openshift profile, including the arguments for skipping tests (-DskipTests) and enabling the Red Hat GA repository (-Dcom.redhat.xpaas.repo.redhatga).

  • The results of a successful Maven build are copied to /opt/webserver/webapps/. This includes all WAR files from the source directory specified by the $ARTIFACT_DIR environment variable. The default value of $ARTIFACT_DIR is the target/ directory.

    Use the MAVEN_ARGS_APPEND environment variable to modify the Maven arguments.

  • All WAR files from the deployments/ source directory are copied to /opt/webserver/webapps/.
  • All files in the configuration/ source directory are copied to /opt/webserver/conf/ (excluding the Maven settings.xml file).
  • All files in the lib/ source directory are copied to /opt/webserver/lib/.

    Note

    If you want to use custom Tomcat configuration files, the file names should be the same as for a normal Tomcat installation. For example, context.xml and server.xml.

See the Artifact Repository Mirrors section for guidance on configuring the S2I process to use a custom Maven artifacts repository mirror.

3.2.1. Create a JWS for OpenShift application using existing maven binaries

Existing applications are deployed on OpenShift using the oc start-build command.

Prerequisite: An existing .war, .ear, or .jar of the application to deploy on JWS for OpenShift.

  1. Prepare the directory structure on the local file system.

    Create a source directory containing any content required by your application not included in the binary (if required, see Using the JWS for OpenShift Source-to-Image (S2I) process), then create a subdirectory deployments/:

    $ mkdir -p <build_dir>/deployments
  2. Copy the binaries (.war,.ear,.jar) to deployments/:

    $ cp /path/to/binary/<filenames_with_extensions> <build_dir>/deployments/
    Note

    Application archives in the deployments/ subdirectory of the source directory are copied to the $JWS_HOME/webapps/ directory of the image being built on OpenShift. For the application to deploy, the directory hierarchy containing the web application data must be structured correctly (see Section 3.2, “Using the JWS for OpenShift Source-to-Image (S2I) process”).

  3. Log in to the OpenShift instance:

    $ oc login <url>
  4. Create a new project if required:

    $ oc new-project <project-name>
  5. Identify the JWS for OpenShift image stream to use for your application with oc get is -n openshift:

    $ oc get is -n openshift | grep ^jboss-webserver | cut -f1 -d ' '
    
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat8-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift
    Note

    The option -n openshift specifies the project to use. oc get is -n openshift retrieves (get) the image stream resources (is) from the openshift project.

  6. Create the new build configuration, specifying image stream and application name:

    $ oc new-build --binary=true \
     --image-stream=jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift \
     --name=<my-jws-on-openshift-app>
  7. Instruct OpenShift to use the source directory created previously for binary input of the OpenShift image build:

    $ oc start-build <my-jws-on-openshift-app> --from-dir=./<build_dir> --follow
  8. Create a new OpenShift application based on the image:

    $ oc new-app <my-jws-on-openshift-app>
  9. Expose the service to make the application accessible to users:

    # to check the name of the service to expose
    $ oc get svc -o name
    
    service/<my-jws-on-openshift-app>
    
    # to expose the service
    $ oc expose svc/my-jws-on-openshift-app
    
    route "my-jws-on-openshift-app" exposed
  10. Retrieve the address of the exposed route:

    oc get routes --no-headers -o custom-columns='host:spec.host' my-jws-on-openshift-app
  11. To access the application in your browser: http://<address_of_exposed_route> / <my-war-ear-jar-filename-without-extension>

3.2.2. Example: Creating a JWS for OpenShift application using existing maven binaries

The example below uses the tomcat-websocket-chat quickstart using the procedure from Section 3.2.1, “Create a JWS for OpenShift application using existing maven binaries”.

3.2.2.1. Prerequisites:

  1. Get the WAR application archive or build the application locally.

    • Clone the source code:

      $ git clone https://github.com/jboss-openshift/openshift-quickstarts.git
    • Configure the Red Hat JBoss Middleware Maven repository,
    • Build the application:

      $ cd openshift-quickstarts/tomcat-websocket-chat/
      $ mvn clean package
      
      [INFO] Scanning for projects...
      [INFO]
      [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      [INFO] Building Tomcat websocket example 1.2.0.Final
      [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      ...
      [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      [INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
      [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      [INFO] Total time: 01:28 min
      [INFO] Finished at: 2018-01-16T15:59:16+10:00
      [INFO] Final Memory: 19M/271M
      [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Prepare the directory structure on the local file system.

    Create the source directory for the binary build on your local file system and the deployments/ subdirectory. Copy the WAR archive to deployments/:

    [tomcat-websocket-chat]$ ls
    
    pom.xml  README.md  src/  target/
    $ mkdir -p ocp/deployments
    $ cp target/websocket-chat.war ocp/deployments/

3.2.2.2. To setup the example application on OpenShift

  1. Log in to the OpenShift instance:

    $ oc login <url>
  2. Create a new project if required:

    $ oc new-project jws-bin-demo
  3. Identify the JWS for OpenShift image stream to use for your application with oc get is -n openshift:

    $ oc get is -n openshift | grep ^jboss-webserver | cut -f1 -d ' '
    
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat8-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift
  4. Create new build configuration, specifying image stream and application name:

    $ oc new-build --binary=true \
     --image-stream=jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift \
     --name=jws-wsch-app
    
    --> Found image 8c3b85b (4 weeks old) in image stream "openshift/jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift" under tag "latest" for "jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift"
    
        JBoss Web Server 3.1
        --------------------
        Platform for building and running web applications on JBoss Web Server 3.1 - Tomcat v8
    
        Tags: builder, java, tomcat8
    
        * A source build using binary input will be created
          * The resulting image will be pushed to image stream "jws-wsch-app:latest"
          * A binary build was created, use 'start-build --from-dir' to trigger a new build
    
    --> Creating resources with label build=jws-wsch-app ...
        imagestream "jws-wsch-app" created
        buildconfig "jws-wsch-app" created
    --> Success
  5. Start the binary build. Instruct OpenShift to use source directory for the binary input for the OpenShift image build:

    $ oc start-build jws-wsch-app --from-dir=./ocp --follow
    
    Uploading directory "ocp" as binary input for the build ...
    build "jws-wsch-app-1" started
    Receiving source from STDIN as archive ...
    
    Copying all deployments war artifacts from /home/jboss/source/deployments directory into /opt/webserver/webapps for later deployment...
    '/home/jboss/source/deployments/websocket-chat.war' -> '/opt/webserver/webapps/websocket-chat.war'
    
    
    Pushing image 172.30.202.111:5000/jws-bin-demo/jws-wsch-app:latest ...
    Pushed 0/7 layers, 7% complete
    Pushed 1/7 layers, 14% complete
    Pushed 2/7 layers, 29% complete
    Pushed 3/7 layers, 49% complete
    Pushed 4/7 layers, 62% complete
    Pushed 5/7 layers, 92% complete
    Pushed 6/7 layers, 100% complete
    Pushed 7/7 layers, 100% complete
    Push successful
  6. Create a new OpenShift application based on the image:

    $ oc new-app jws-wsch-app
    
    --> Found image e5f3a6b (About a minute old) in image stream "jws-bin-demo/jws-wsch-app" under tag "latest" for "jws-wsch-app"
    
        JBoss Web Server 3.1
        --------------------
        Platform for building and running web applications on JBoss Web Server 3.1 - Tomcat v8
    
        Tags: builder, java, tomcat8
    
        * This image will be deployed in deployment config "jws-wsch-app"
        * Ports 8080/tcp, 8443/tcp, 8778/tcp will be load balanced by service "jws-wsch-app"
          * Other containers can access this service through the hostname "jws-wsch-app"
    
    --> Creating resources ...
        deploymentconfig "jws-wsch-app" created
        service "jws-wsch-app" created
    --> Success
        Application is not exposed. You can expose services to the outside world by executing one or more of the commands below:
         'oc expose svc/jws-wsch-app'
        Run 'oc status' to view your app.
  7. Expose the service to make the application accessible to users:

    # to check the name of the service to expose
    $ oc get svc -o name
    
    service/jws-wsch-app
    
    # to expose the service
    $ oc expose svc/jws-wsch-app
    
    route "jws-wsch-app" exposed
  8. Retrieve the address of the exposed route:

    oc get routes --no-headers -o custom-columns='host:spec.host' jws-wsch-app
  9. Access the application in your browser: http://<address_of_exposed_route>/websocket-chat

3.2.3. Create a JWS for OpenShift application from source code

For detailed instructions on creating new OpenShift applications from source code, see OpenShift.com - Creating an Application From Source Code.

Note

Before proceeding, ensure that the applications' data is structured correctly (see Section 3.2, “Using the JWS for OpenShift Source-to-Image (S2I) process”).

  1. Log in to the OpenShift instance:

    $ oc login <url>
  2. Create a new project if required:

    $ oc new-project <project-name>
  3. Identify the JWS for OpenShift image stream to use for your application with oc get is -n openshift:

    $ oc get is -n openshift | grep ^jboss-webserver | cut -f1 -d ' '
    
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver30-tomcat8-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat7-openshift
    jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift
  4. Create the new OpenShift application from source code using Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift images, use the --image-stream option:

    $ oc new-app \
     <source_code_location> \
     --image-stream=jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift \
     --name=<openshift_application_name>

    For Example:

    $ oc new-app \
     https://github.com/jboss-openshift/openshift-quickstarts.git#master \
     --image-stream=jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift \
     --context-dir='tomcat-websocket-chat' \
     --name=jws-wsch-app

    The source code is added to the image and the source code is compiled. The build configuration and services are also created.

  5. To expose the application:

    # to check the name of the service to expose
    $ oc get svc -o name
    
    service/<openshift_application_name>
    
    # to expose the service
    $ oc expose svc/<openshift_application_name>
    
    route "<openshift_application_name>" exposed
  6. To retrieve the address of the exposed route:

    oc get routes --no-headers -o custom-columns='host:spec.host' <openshift_application_name>
  7. To access the application in your browser: http://<address_of_exposed_route>/<java_application_name>

Chapter 4. Reference

4.1. Source-to-Image (S2I)

The Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift image includes S2I scripts and Maven.

4.1.1. Using maven artifact repository mirrors with JWS for OpenShift

A Maven repository holds build artifacts and dependencies, such as the project jars, library jars, plugins or any other project specific artifacts. It also defines locations to download artifacts from while performing the S2I build. Along with using the Maven Central Repository, some organizations also deploy a local custom repository (mirror).

Benefits of using a local mirror are:

  • Availability of a synchronized mirror, which is geographically closer and faster.
  • Greater control over the repository content.
  • Possibility to share artifacts across different teams (developers, CI), without the need to rely on public servers and repositories.
  • Improved build times.

A Maven repository manager can serve as local cache to a mirror. Assuming that the repository manager is already deployed and reachable externally at http://10.0.0.1:8080/repository/internal/, the S2I build can use this repository. To use an internal Maven repository, add the MAVEN_MIRROR_URL environment variable to the build configuration of the application.

For a new build configuration, use the --build-env option with oc new-app or oc new-build:

$ oc new-app \
 https://github.com/jboss-openshift/openshift-quickstarts.git#master \
 --image-stream=jboss-webserver31-tomcat8-openshift \
 --context-dir='tomcat-websocket-chat' \
 --build-env MAVEN_MIRROR_URL=http://10.0.0.1:8080/repository/internal/ \
 --name=jws-wsch-app

For an existing build configuration:

  1. Identify the build configuration which requires the MAVEN_MIRROR_URL variable:

    $ oc get bc -o name
    
    buildconfig/jws
  2. Add the MAVEN_MIRROR_URL environment variable to buildconfig/jws:

    $ oc env bc/jws MAVEN_MIRROR_URL="http://10.0.0.1:8080/repository/internal/"
    
    buildconfig "jws" updated
  3. Verify the build configuration has updated:

    $ oc env bc/jws --list
    
    # buildconfigs jws
    MAVEN_MIRROR_URL=http://10.0.0.1:8080/repository/internal/
  4. Schedule a new build of the application using oc start-build
Note

During application build, Maven dependencies are download from the repository manager, instead of the default public repositories. Once the build has finished, the mirror contains all the dependencies retrieved and used during the build.

4.1.2. Scripts included on the Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift image

run
runs Catalina (Tomcat)
assemble
uses Maven to build the source, create package (.war) and move it to the $JWS_HOME/webapps directory.

4.1.3. JWS for OpenShift compatible environment variables

The build configuration can be modified by including environment variables to the Source-to-Image build command (see Section 4.1.1, “Using maven artifact repository mirrors with JWS for OpenShift”). The valid environment variables for the Red Hat JBoss Web Server for OpenShift images are:

Variable Name

Description

Example Value

:leveloffset: +3

ARTIFACT_DIR

.war, .ear, and .jar files from this directory will be copied into the deployments directory.

target

HTTP_PROXY_HOST

Hostname or IP address of a HTTP proxy for Maven to use.

192.168.1.1

HTTP_PROXY_PORT

TCP Port of a HTTP proxy for Maven to use.

8080

HTTP_PROXY_USERNAME

If supplied with HTTP_PROXY_PASSWORD, use credentials for HTTP proxy.

myusername

HTTP_PROXY_PASSWORD

If supplied with HTTP_PROXY_USERNAME, use credentials for HTTP proxy.

mypassword

HTTP_PROXY_NONPROXYHOSTS

If supplied, a configured HTTP proxy will ignore these hosts (a comma-separated lists of hosts, IP addresses or domains).

*.example.net,some.example.org

MAVEN_ARGS

Overrides the arguments supplied to Maven during build.

-e -Popenshift -DskipTests -Dcom.redhat.xpaas.repo.redhatga package

MAVEN_ARGS_APPEND

Appends user arguments supplied to Maven during build.

-Dfoo=bar

MAVEN_MIRROR_URL

URL of a Maven mirror/repository manager to configure.

http://10.0.0.1:8080/repository/internal/

MAVEN_CLEAR_REPO

Optionally clear the local Maven repository after the build.

true

:leveloffset: 3

4.2. Valves on JWS for OpenShift

4.2.1. JWS for OpenShift compatible environmental variables (valve component)

You can define the following environment variables to insert the valve component into the request processing pipeline for the associated Catalina container.

Variable NameDescriptionExample ValueDefault Value

ENABLE_ACCESS_LOG

Enable the Access Log Valve to log access messages to the standard output channel.

true

false

4.3. Checking Logs

To view the OpenShift logs or the logs provided by a running container’s console:

$ oc logs -f <pod_name> <container_name>

Access logs are stored in /opt/webserver/logs/.

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