Rating: 
Summary: Wow--A *very* thorough guide to Tomcat
Review: If you use Tomcat, this book is almost a must. This book will teach the reader not only how to install Tomcat, but configure it for optimal performance. In the first few hours with the book, I had learned how Tomcat actually worked, how to connect Tomcat with my Apache server, and how to configure those sometimes cryptic server.xml and web.xml files. The book also has a chapter on JDBC for readers interested in using web-based databases and has a separate chapter for two other open-source programs: Ant and Log4J.Some web-admin pros probably will not need this book, and yes, some of the information the book provides can be found for free sprinkled throughout the web. However, it cannot be denied that the Jakarta Project's own documentation on Tomcat (as well as the open-source Tomcat book on Sourceforge.net) are definitely not as thorough or good as "Professional Apache Tomcat," not to mention that the book provides a convenient one-stop source for all questions. Many other reviewers agree: "Professional Apache Tomcat" is worth its weight in gold if you use Tomcat extensively.
Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive Tomcat, terse and code heavy
Review: In classic Wrox fashion this book is rich with code examples and a little light on exposition. It's a rocket ride through installing Tomcat, building servlets and extensions, and then into web application security.
It's comprehensive in it's coverage of Tomcat, and rarely strays from that mark. There is a small foray into database development, but that is mainly around connection pooling, which is a related topic.
Overall an excellent introduction to Tomcat. My only complaints are that the book could have relied less on code itself for exposition, and that the reference value could have been expanded on a little bit.
Rating:
Summary: Another good book from Wrox
Review: Once again I find myself reviewing a Wrox book in a field with little competition. This may well explain the few flaws I found, Wrox seem capable of getting a book into print while other publishers still only have titles on the drawing board. This book goes over eveything (and I mean everything) you need to know to administer a Tomcat server. Don't let the 'Apache' in the title confuse you - it refers to the fact that Tomcat is an Apache project, not that either the book or Tomcat require using the Apache webserver (though I'd recommend it, it is after all the best webserver available.) This book has more authors than any other I've ever read, and unfortunately it shows a little. While the style is generally quite good - informative and readable - there were a few chapters that required a little more careful reading. Perhaps some tighter editing for style in the future, guys. The authors cover configuring and running Tomcat on a variety of platforms in a variety of ways in exceptional detail, taking you through the configuring and running step by step explaining all the background as they go. At the same time they don't waste time trying to teach you how to write Java applications, sevlets or JavaBeans (doing those topics justice requires a separate volume each); just how to make sure your server can handle them, how to install them, administer them and how to make sure they are secure. I liked the book. It is more up to date and covers more of the configuration than the book by James Goodwill. The occasional typo and the style differences make it only four stars, but that may well be the price we pay for a timely volume in a fast moving industry.
Rating:
Summary: *The* book on Tomcat
Review: Recommended for every user of Tomcat. While ignoring some irritating typos I felt Log4J text could have been better. Security chapter is good. All in all, this book is best book on Tomcat. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Good coverage of the basics, but...
Review: This book covers the basics including code snippets for the vast majority of files showing how a basic configuration might look.
This book covers the directory layouts required for a successful installation and the corresponding files which need to be in those directories. Fairly good coverage is given to each of the elements (with examples) contained in those files. Generally, the book helped me breeze through installation of java and Tomcat. The book provides separate examples for a windows installation and linux installation, which was most appreciated. However, I did struggle mightily when it came time to configuring Tomcat with Apache. As mine was not a "standard" setup. At the point where I needed a broader understanding of how these components meshed, I realized the book offers a well written, nicely organized description of the basics. Providing a holistic understanding of the interactions wasn't included.
Rating:
Summary: Professional Apache Tomcat
Review: This book has just come in at the right time for me to help through my work. I had referred to one earlier Apache Jkarta-Tomcat but was not satisfied and was crazy looking around for a good find. Must say, Wrox fulfills my expectations. The authors seem to have taken pains to pen down the details missed in the Apress with heavy and understandable stuff. Just taken me perfect through my installations. Good find man!
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Tomcat Book
Review: Tomcat is a subproject of the Apache Software Foundation's Jakarta project, its purpose being to serve Java Servlets and JavaServer Pages. It's a complex piece of software and though the documentation is very comprehensive, it helps to have a good reference work to hand. There aren't many books on the subject to choose from, so a publisher could make a fast buck putting out an incomplete work lacking in depth. Fortunately Wrox Press has excelled itself with its new publication Professional Apache Tomcat. The book covers every aspect of installing and configuring Tomcat in a great deal of detail, detailing its every aspect. From standalone use (where Tomcat is used as a general web server as well as for serving Java content), to integration with the leading web servers Apache (both Unix and Windows versions) and Microsoft's Internet Information Services, nothing appears to have been left out (however, integration with Netscape's Enterprise Server is mentioned in passing early on, but doesn't appear again). Being only a month old, it's pretty much bang up to date, covering Tomcat 3.x, 4.0.x and 4.1.x with Apache 1.3.x and 2.0.x and IIS 4 and 5. The book starts with an introduction to the Apache project, and Tomcat's place in the wider scheme of things. The historical progression in serving dynamic web content from CGI to Servlets and JSP is charted, and there's an overview of JSP tags and general web application architecture. This is interesting enough and useful as background, but as this book is intended for administrators, it's covered quickly in the first two chapters, and the main business of installing Tomcat gets underway in chapter 3. Installation is discussed with both Windows and Linux users in mind, from both binary and source distributions. As the Tomcat source is usually built with Ant, build and installation of this tool is also discussed (Ant and Log4j, both also part of Jakarta, get chapters of their own later in the book). From there, basic configuration of the standalone server followed by detailed examinations of the components that make up Tomcat's architecture fill the next 200 or so pages. Serious users of Tomcat will wish to employ Tomcat with an existing web server, and four chapters concentrate on this job. Though there is inevitably a certain amount of detail aimed at Apache and IIS configuration, and a basic knowledge of both is assumed throughout. However, any necessary information is included in detail; for example the (Apache) connector modules mod_webapp and mod_jk/jk2 are given a thorough treatment, describing their use from source installation to configuration, together with the pros and cons of the various connectors available. Beyond that, we learn how to design larger-scale setups, with an explanation of load balancing techniques and scaling of the system, and performance testing with JMeter, yet another Jakarta project component. As ever, security is a major concern and gets a lot of emphasis. Before client authentication and the use of SSL are discussed, there's an overview of basic system security with Unix and Windows..... More interesting are the sections on security realms and user/client authentication. We are presented with examples of authenticating against a MySQL database with JDBC (database connectivity with JDBC is a big enough subject in its own right, and so gets a separate chapter too), and digest authentication. We then move on to encryption with SSL: using Tomcat itself with the JSSE and PureTLS Java SSL implementations, then later with Apache and SSL (setting up mod_ssl with Apache gets a very useful appendix of its own, taken from Professional Apache 2.0, another Wrox book). Again, there's lots of detail, right down to how to get hold of signed certificates for your server. Here the book's general emphasis on Apache over IIS is most apparent, as SSL with IIS is not discussed at all. However, I have no experience with IIS, so I can't say for sure how important this omission might be. With nine co-authors (though only four got onto the cover photograph - ...one might expect wildly different styles throughout the book, but each chapter is consistently and clearly laid out with diagrams and relevant configuration file fragments where necessary. At each stage, variations between different versions of each component are made clear. Professional Apache Tomcat is surely the definitive book on the subject. I recently used it to integrate Tomcat 4 with an existing Apache 2 installation, and everything went very smoothly. More than just a set of tutorials it offers a thorough description of the whole architecture, and makes an excellent companion to Wrox's Professional Apache.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but want more
Review: Very good book, especially as an introduction to tomcat. Would like to see more on:
1. Running tomcat emdebbed.
2. Connector configuration (jni, unixsocket) pluss the new configuration style/format used with jk2.
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