Tomcat is an open source web server and servlet container developed by the Apache Software Foundation. It implements the Java Servlet and the JavaServer Pages (JSP) specifications from Sun Microsystems, and provides a “pure Java” HTTP web server environment for Java code to run in. The Tomcat server is a very popular choice for the deployment of Java-based web applications, as it is both lightweight and provides a large set of features.
When a client requests a resource (such as a JSP page or a servlet) from a web application running on Tomcat, the request is first handled by the web server. It looks up the requested resource and then forwards the request to the Tomcat engine. The Tomcat engine processes the request and passes it to the appropriate servlet, according to the deployed application’s configuration. The servlet will then process the request, generate a response, and pass it back to the Tomcat engine, which will send it back to the requesting client.
Additionally, Tomcat is capable of running applications written in other languages, such as PHP and Perl, through its built-in CGI engine. It can also be used as an HTTP proxy server, allowing for the sharing of an IP address with multiple applications running on the same server.
Overall, Tomcat is an excellent choice for web application deployment, offering great scalability and features at a lower resource cost than other web servers.
