Tomcat on RHEL 8.x

This article provides step-by-step instructions to install and configure the OvalEdge application on RedHat 8. The setup includes creating users, installing Java, configuring multiple Tomcat instances, setting up database and Elasticsearch details, and running the OvalEdge as a service.

Prerequisites

Before starting the installation, ensure the following:

• User Permissions: You must have sudo privileges.

• Virtual Machine Requirements:

  • vCPU: 8 Cores

  • RAM: 32 GB

  • SSD: 100 GB

• Network Requirements: Open the following inbound ports on the VM:

  • Port 22 – SSH (Secure Shell): Allows secure command-line access to the EC2 instance.

  • Port 8080 – HTTP Alternate (Apache Tomcat): Required to expose and access the OvalEdge application UI in the browser.

• Database: A MySQL database (AWS RDS or Azure Database for MySQL v8.x) must be available.

• Elasticsearch: Pre-installed and accessible with valid host and credentials.

• Artifacts: OvalEdge .war file, .jar files, and configuration files (log4j.properties, oasis.properties) must be downloaded in advance.

Installation of OvalEdge Application

The installation includes the following steps:

1. Create OvalEdge Users

2. Install Java

3. Setup Tomcat

   • Tomcat UI Installation

   • Tomcat Job Installation

   • Configure Tomcat as a Service

4. Setup Database

5. Setup Elasticsearch

6. Configure External Jars Path

7. Run OvalEdge

Create OvalEdge Users

sudo adduser ovaledge  
sudo passwd ovaledge  
sudo usermod -aG wheel ovaledge  
sudo su - ovaledge  

Create directories in the user home directory (or a mounted directory):

mkdir ovaledge  
mkdir -p ovaledge/extprop  
mkdir -p ovaledge/temp  
mkdir -p ovaledge/third_party_jars  

Download artifacts:

• Place all .jars and .war files in the ovaledge folder.

• Place log4j.properties and oasis.properties in the ovaledge/extprop folder.

Java Installation

Install Java 17:

sudo yum update  
sudo yum install java-17-openjdk -y  

Verify installation:

java -version  

Tomcat Setup

Tomcat UI Installation

wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-10/v10.1.40/bin/apache-tomcat-10.1.40.tar.gz  
tar xvf apache-tomcat-10.1.40.tar.gz  
mv apache-tomcat-10.1.40 tomcatui  

Move the OvalEdge WAR file:

mv /home/<user>/ovaledge/ovaledge.war /home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatui/webapps  

Create setenv.sh under tomcatui/bin/:

export CATALINA_OPTS="-Duse.http=true -DOVALEDGE_SECURITY_TYPE=db -Dext.properties.dir=file:/home/<user>/ovaledge/extprop/ -Xms7g -Xmx9g -Dpod.type=ovaledge-ui-deployment -Dlog4j.configuration=file:/home/<user>/ovaledge/extprop/log4j.properties"

Tomcat Job Installation

Copy the UI Tomcat as Job Tomcat:

cp -R tomcatui tomcatjob  

Update ports in tomcatjob/conf/server.xml:

• Change 8080 → 8081

  
• Change 8005 → 8006

  

Create setenv.sh under tomcatjob/bin/:

export CATALINA_OPTS="-Duse.http=true -DOVALEDGE_SECURITY_TYPE=db -Dext.properties.dir=file:/home/<user>/ovaledge/extprop/ -Xms7g -Xmx9g -Dpod.type=ovaledge-job-deployment -Dlog4j.configuration=file:/home/<user>/ovaledge/extprop/log4j.properties"

Configure Tomcat as a Service

Create tomcat1.service:

[Unit]  
Description=Apache Tomcat Web Application Container  
After=network.target  

[Service]  
Type=forking  
ExecStart=/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatui/bin/startup.sh  
ExecStop=/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatui/bin/shutdown.sh  
User=<username_vm>  
Group=<username_vm>  

[Install]  
WantedBy=multi-user.target  

Create tomcat2.service:

[Unit]  
Description=Apache Tomcat Web Application Container  
After=network.target  

[Service]  
Type=forking  
ExecStart=/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatjob/bin/startup.sh  
ExecStop=/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatjob/bin/shutdown.sh  
User=<username_vm>  
Group=<username_vm>  

[Install]  
WantedBy=multi-user.target  

Run security and restore commands:

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t bin_t "/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatui(/.*)?"  
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t bin_t "/home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatjob(/.*)?"  
sudo restorecon -Rv /home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatui  
sudo restorecon -Rv /home/<user>/ovaledge/tomcatjob  

4. Database Configuration

Edit /home/<user>ovaledge/extprop/oasis.properties and update:

url=jdbc:mysql://<vm_host or cloud_host>:3306/ovaledgedb?useUnicode=true&character_set_server=utf8mb4&useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true  

Replace the default OvalEdge user password after database execution.

Elasticsearch Configuration

Navigate to /home/<user>/ovaledge/extprop/

Edit oasis.properties and configure:

• es.password

• es.host

• Other Elasticsearch variables as required.

  

External Jars Path

Update oasis.properties with the Jars path:

/home/<username>/ovaledge/third_party_jars/  

Run OvalEdge

Reload and enable Tomcat services:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload  
sudo systemctl enable tomcat1.service  
sudo systemctl enable tomcat2.service  

Start Tomcat services:

sudo systemctl start tomcat1.service  
sudo systemctl start tomcat2.service  

Check status:

sudo systemctl status tomcat1.service  
sudo systemctl status tomcat2.service  

Access OvalEdge

• Logs are located in:

  /home/<user_name>/ovaledge/tomcatui/logs  

• Access the application in a browser:

  http://<PublicIP>:8080/ovaledge/login  

• On the license page:

  • Enter the license provided by the OvalEdge CSM team.

  • Use the one-time admin credentials displayed.

  • Log in and update the default password.

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