Interesting, so do container-based systems such as Tomcat rely heavely on httpd? I've read that many people use Tomcat just for webapp deployment and use apache to handle static pages, among other things, but is it reasonable to use Tomcat to handle static pages, or is it solely for webapp server? Thanks Neven, I was able to get the cgi script working, I'm in the process of dissecting and writing the steps to have tomcat host the cgi-script for my professor, we talked and he saw that apache was what was meant to be used but he encouraged my efforts in using Tomcat instead. Even if it isn't the logical way to the exercise. There's a possibility that they might use the this as an example of Tomcat's cgi support. I'm actually interested in using Tomcat for a personal project. It is using an Arduino Uno microcontroller (an AVR microcoontroller, specifically Atmel's ATMEGA 328), I would like to use the arduino as a server that could handle requests by way of a web interface control panel. I think this is would be an appropiate scenario to use JSP and Tomcat. Initially I would create a simple webapp that has prompt (where a user can input a command that the arduino will then act on) and display analog reading's (so as to monitor). I'm just no sure how to go about hosting tomcat, I'm pretty sure it is not possible to run on the arduino, but maybe using port forwarding or web socket to have Tomcat on a laptop or maybe a rasberry pi. Would this be a feasible method?
On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 8:36 PM, Christopher Schultz < ch...@christopherschultz.net> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA256 > > Neven, > > On 11/20/13, 11:48 AM, Neven Cvetkovic wrote: > > Ultimately, CGI is a very old technology that had its own share of > > performance (and security) problems. Usually, CGI scripts were > > replaced with superior Java Servlet technology (or some other > > better technology) and hence the need for Tomcat application server > > (servlet container). Hopefully, the rest of the mailing list > > members share my sentiments about the CGI :) > > - -0 > > The only thing that really makes CGI "outdated" is that CGI itself > didn't have an API... or if you could call it an API, it was very > basic. It basically said "you get the query string in a big blob and > you can read standard input if you want to get the entity body". Then > everyone set to work writing their own custom parsing routines. I > remember copy/pasting stuff in Perl way back in 1994 and now having > any idea what the code actually did. > > These days, you can pretty much write a Perl script and say "use CGI;" > and it's just magic, safe, etc. CGI has come a long way. > > The last remaining problem is really that of performance: the CGI > model launches a new process for each request (even though you can > cheat a bit using things like mod_perl, etc.) and so there is a > performance hit right there. If you want to keep information between > requests, you have no choice but to write it to some form of > non-volatile storage (as far as the "application" is concerned). > RDBMS, flat file, etc. > > More recent systems (I hesitate to say "modern" because it implies > that they are better simply because they are newer, and that the older > methodologies are simply worse by definition) are supported by much > more complicated software, APIs, etc. > > Note that container-based systems like Tomcat have their own > performance problems: they have to manage all the stuff that they are > ... well, required to support. If you peel-away all of the stuff that > Apache httpd provides *aside* from the Common Gateway Interface, you > are left with a server that primarily pumps bytes back and forth > between the client and the script. Tomcat has all kinds of moving > parts that make it possible to do nice things, but those moving parts > have a cost. > > (It's worth noting that I believe such costs are worth it. That's why > I live in the container-based world instead of writing Perl- or > PHP-based applications.) > > Want to deploy a single "Hello, World!" CGI script? No problem. Just > drop "#!/bin/sh\n\necho "Hello, World!" into a .cgi file in your > document root and tell Apache httpd it's okay to run it. > > Want to deploy a single "Hello, World!" script on Tomcat? Well, first > you have to know where the auto-deployment directory is (hint: it's > not a document root), and then you have to create a directory in > there, and then drop a .jsp file in there. The good news is that > "Hello, World!" is a valid JSP file without any of the fluff you need > to make a shell script run. But the small amount of orientation > required just to get the point of dropping text into a file can be > confusing. > > Once the almighty "container" is involved, there is pressure to make > it do more things. Sessions. Replication. Websockets. These are all > very good and very useful things, but it further complicates the > scenario. It's just a tough world to jump into with little to no planning. > > - -chris > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.15 (Darwin) > Comment: GPGTools - http://gpgtools.org > Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ > > iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJSjrUUAAoJEBzwKT+lPKRYdcsQAIWqzHUbSimrUmXcYw9KH0zs > fkZCQvi3Hqon1afyun6fU+NT8Ta0YkOYKW8gEiWvrogcZtMl1Q/oxOKSWZvPG8g1 > 8nPyDbACRL2715VUKuWgCTfABuQnHYOjFuakqAfZsXcVigxfpwWyw8eS7KfwpaDv > vr/ZwqDv2ThQs63rk2rO5HW9o65nk2+XX4RBaUAw6lRZ7AfKMH5upR5Qwe231aKR > DBF6GsuoWGeyONPXyGGIcrjLeizg1pOf1m0W3cTTIgI6UBNFUez+hZHGpFxbkrNE > FX3onEVfrjlaxfSFmDx4ytDyOo973fhMALrasvIUSPqdKhjvIFHTYarZHRrOxex1 > /L+YWnth7xAWTHPz+SzM7YWzRTDfWeOMq9PCx8wdoV88BJ35tQerxowdvbo+fPJN > S+Y+zw2iZwlyN8bVfwVpG81my8SEtFgrxhyPZMTqDK8RppL1QlC+aemQHiafTwoH > 78+JP1HRR/tgYM9WXsDmOhIFgZp2pjATvuklqc5gw7BWX6J9UF8LjqEAmgwj5/KI > JlcMgCLH91WvjU/7p0jFnTMGHalL8Bz4L4KFp9OwA4gwkvjZQF1q1MbEGU/GVHP+ > z2hJHeC4ugXk9zzO9imlUMZhC/pNGkwc/5leSMaHhwd0uZMatKh3sM4LLmoptiDP > 0/kSWWI/zKK0USODk240 > =21G3 > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@tomcat.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@tomcat.apache.org > > -- Luis Felipe Hernandez
