October 2017 Summaries

The Apache Portable Runtime (APR) enhances Tomcat's performance by providing features such as improved scalability, integration with native server technologies, and support for OpenSSL in HTTPS. While Tomcat offers a precompiled APR for Windows, Linux users, particularly on Centos 7, often need to install APR from distribution package repositories, which may not be up-to-date for newer Tomcat versions like 9.01. The article highlights an incompatibility issue with the available APR and Tomcat Native versions from the Centos package manager, necessitating users to manually compile the required libraries. Instructions are provided to download, compile, and install the appropriate APR and Tomcat Native versions using development tools and the Java Development Kit on Centos. The process involves downloading source files, configuring, making, and installing them, followed by configuring Tomcat to recognize the compiled libraries. Successful installation is confirmed via specific log messages in Tomcat, and the article briefly mentions Octopus Deploy as a tool for automating Java application deployment.

Octopus Deploy 4.0 introduces a redesigned variable editor built on a new UI framework using React and Material Design, offering a cohesive and user-friendly experience. Key enhancements include the grouping of variables with multiple values for different scopes, which streamlines the process of renaming and managing variables. The editor features an overflow menu for additional actions, a popup dialog for complex variable editing, and a description icon for annotating variables. Improved filtering options make it easier to manage variables, and keyboard navigation enhances user efficiency. Performance optimizations ensure the editor remains responsive, even with large variable sets, and feedback from users will guide future improvements.

The blog post by Matthew Casperson delves into the intricacies of configuring context paths for web applications in Tomcat, a popular Java application server. It explains how context paths determine the URLs from which applications are accessed, and outlines the methods available in Tomcat for setting these paths, such as through the <Host> element in the server.xml file, the webapps directory, and the use of WAR and exploded WAR deployments. The post highlights the complications and specific configurations associated with context paths, including the use of nested paths and the role of context.xml files in defining these paths. It cautions against certain practices, like defining context paths directly in the server.xml file, and emphasizes the importance of naming conventions in both deployment directories and XML configuration files. Additionally, the text touches upon the use of Tomcat's Manager Application for uploading and managing deployments, while underlining best practices for user permissions. Overall, the article offers a comprehensive examination of deploying Java web applications on Tomcat, focusing on the correct setup and automation of context paths.

WildFly and Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP) are popular Java EE application servers, with WildFly being a free and community-supported option that undergoes frequent updates. JBoss EAP, offered through a Red Hat subscription, is based on WildFly technology but features longer support windows and official backing. The blog post details the process of setting up WildFly, which can operate in standalone or domain modes, and requires Java 8 or higher. It also covers installing WildFly as a service on Windows and Linux systems, configuring memory settings and admin users, and accessing the admin console for application deployment and server management. With the Eclipse Foundation now managing the open-source Java EE platform under the name Eclipse Enterprise for Java (EE4J), WildFly offers both Servlet-Only and full Java EE server distributions, catering to varying application needs.

Octopus Deploy 4.0 introduces a redesigned user interface with the goal of creating a more intuitive, scalable, and user-friendly deployment tool. The update includes a modernized UI using Google's Material-UI library while retaining the iconic Octopus styling, which aims to reduce cognitive load by implementing design principles such as hierarchy, color differentiation, and consistent layout patterns. Key features include a more intuitive page layout with sticky headers and action buttons, as well as expandable panels that allow users to see summaries without distraction. The update also addresses the display of large data sets with improved filtering options and enhanced performance for pages like the environments page. The redesign was guided by user feedback and aims to ensure that Octopus remains a leading deployment tool as it continues to grow and evolve.

Henrik Andersson discusses the demand for a feature in Octopus Deploy that allows users to schedule recurring deployments, a common functionality in many CI/CD tools but currently achievable only through the Octopus API, which can be cumbersome. The proposed solutions include project triggers and lifecycle triggers, each with its advantages and limitations; project triggers allow specificity per project but require individual configuration, while lifecycle triggers offer shared schedules across projects but are limited to default channels. Users can configure trigger schedules to run daily, weekly, monthly, or at custom intervals using CRON expressions, and can specify actions such as promoting or deploying the latest release, or creating and deploying a new release. The post invites feedback from users to refine these ideas further, encouraging them to share opinions and suggestions, or to follow the open GitHub ticket for ongoing discussion.

Octopus Deploy 4.0 introduced a significant overhaul of its user interface, transitioning from Angular 1.x to a stack incorporating TypeScript, React, and CSS Modules to modernize the user and developer experience. The decision to rebuild rather than simply migrate to Angular 2.0 was driven by the desire to address long-standing inconsistencies and enhance user interactions beyond what a new stylesheet could achieve. The new structure reduces the initial loading time by asynchronously loading non-essential components, improving the first impression for users. From a development perspective, the use of TypeScript enables strong typing and automatic refactoring, while React offers a simpler, JavaScript-centric approach compared to Angular. CSS Modules provide isolated styling, maintaining the benefits of LESS while ensuring component-level isolation. This comprehensive effort reflects Octopus Deploy's commitment to evolving its UI as a critical aspect of its ecosystem.

Tomcat, a widely used Java web server, is favored for its simplicity in getting started, often requiring just downloading and extracting its deployment archive. To optimally set up a Tomcat server, it is important to have the correct version of Java installed, with Tomcat 7 needing at least Java 6, Tomcat 8 needing Java 7, and Tomcat 9 needing Java 8. Tomcat can work with either the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or the Java Development Kit (JDK), with a preference for JRE unless development tools are needed. OpenJDK and Oracle JDK are both viable options for running Tomcat, with the choice often depending on the operating system and ease of installation. Tomcat can be downloaded in various formats depending on the operating system, with specific considerations for Linux and Windows. Configuring the JAVA_HOME environment variable is crucial for both systems to ensure Tomcat scripts can locate the Java executable. Tomcat can be manually launched or installed as a service, with Windows offering easier service installation through a wizard and Linux requiring custom service definition scripts. Additionally, user configuration is necessary for accessing Tomcat’s administration tools, which is done by defining users and roles in the conf/tomcat-users.xml file.