Apache Tomcat 8

• Tomcat service application
• Tomcat monitor application
• Command line arguments
• Command line parameters
• Installing services
• Updating services
• Removing services
• Debugging services
• Multiple Instances

Tomcat8 is a service application for running Tomcat 8 as a Windows service.

Tomcat8w is a GUI application for monitoring and configuring Tomcat services.

The available command line options are:

Each command line directive is in the form of //XX//ServiceName

The available command line options are:

Each command line parameter is prefixed with --. If the command line parameter is prefixed with ++ then it's value will be appended to the existing option. If the environment variable with the same name as command line parameter but prefixed with PR_ exists it will take precedence. For example:

set PR_CLASSPATH=xx.jar

is equivalent to providing

--Classpath=xx.jar

as command line parameter.

The safest way to manually install the service is to use the provided service.bat script. Administrator privileges are required to run this script. If necessary, you can use the /user switch to specify a user to use for the installation of the service.

NOTE: If User Account Control (UAC) is enabled you will be asked for additional privileges when 'Tomcat8.exe' is launched by the script.
If you want to pass additional options to service installer as PR_* environment variables, you have to either configure them globally in OS, or launch the program that sets them with elevated privileges (e.g. right-click on cmd.exe and select "Run as administrator"; on Windows 8 (or later) or Windows Server 2012 (or later), you can open an elevated command prompt for the current directory from the Explorer by clicking on the "File" menu bar). See issue 56143 for details.

Install the service named 'Tomcat8'
C:\> service.bat install

There is a 2nd optional parameter that lets you specify the name of the service, as displayed in Windows services.

Install the service named 'MyService'
C:\> service.bat install MyService

When installing the service with a non-default name, tomcat8.exe and tomcat8w.exe may be renamed to match the chosen service name. To do this, use the --rename option.

Install the service named 'MyService' with renaming
C:\> service.bat install MyService --rename

If using tomcat8.exe, you need to use the //IS// parameter.

Install the service named 'Tomcat8'
C:\> tomcat8 //IS//Tomcat8 --DisplayName="Apache Tomcat 8" ^
     --Install="C:\Program Files\Tomcat\bin\tomcat8.exe" --Jvm=auto ^
     --StartMode=jvm --StopMode=jvm ^
     --StartClass=org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap --StartParams=start ^
     --StopClass=org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap --StopParams=stop

To update the service parameters, you need to use the //US// parameter.

Update the service named 'Tomcat8'
C:\> tomcat8 //US//Tomcat8 --Description="Apache Tomcat Server - https://tomcat.apache.org/ " ^
     --Startup=auto --Classpath=%JAVA_HOME%\lib\tools.jar;%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\bootstrap.jar

If you gave the service an optional name, you need to specify it like this:

Update the service named 'MyService'
C:\> tomcat8 //US//MyService --Description="Apache Tomcat Server - https://tomcat.apache.org/ " ^
     --Startup=auto --Classpath=%JAVA_HOME%\lib\tools.jar;%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\bootstrap.jar

To remove the service, you need to use the //DS// parameter.
If the service is running it will be stopped and then deleted.

Remove the service named 'Tomcat8'
C:\> tomcat8 //DS//Tomcat8

If you gave the service an optional name, you need to specify it like this:

Remove the service named 'MyService'
C:\> tomcat8 //DS//MyService

To run the service in console mode, you need to use the //TS// parameter. The service shutdown can be initiated by pressing CTRL+C or CTRL+BREAK. If you rename the tomcat8.exe to testservice.exe then you can just execute the testservice.exe and this command mode will be executed by default.

Run the service named 'Tomcat8' in console mode
C:\> tomcat8 //TS//Tomcat8 [additional arguments]
Or simply execute:
C:\> tomcat8

Tomcat supports installation of multiple instances. You can have a single installation of Tomcat with multiple instances running on different IP/port combinations, or multiple Tomcat versions, each running one or more instances on different IP/ports.

Each instance folder will need the following structure:

• conf
• logs
• temp
• webapps
• work

At a minimum, conf should contain a copy of the following files from CATALINA_HOME\conf\. Any files not copied and edited, will be picked up by default from CATALINA_HOME\conf, i.e. CATALINA_BASE\conf files override defaults from CATALINA_HOME\conf.

• server.xml
• web.xml

You must edit CATALINA_BASE\conf\server.xml to specify a unique IP/port for the instance to listen on. Find the line that contains <Connector port="8080" ... and add an address attribute and/or update the port number so as to specify a unique IP/port combination.

To install an instance, first set the CATALINA_HOME environment variable to the name of the Tomcat installation directory. Then create a second environment variable CATALINA_BASE and point this to the instance folder. Then run "service.bat install" command specifying a service name.

set CATALINA_HOME=c:\tomcat_8
set CATALINA_BASE=c:\tomcat_8\instances\instance1
service.bat install instance1

To modify the service settings, you can run tomcat8w //ES//instance1.

For additional instances, create additional instance folder, update the CATALINA_BASE environment variable, and run the "service.bat install" again.

set CATALINA_BASE=c:\tomcat_8\instances\instance2
service.bat install instance2