Migrating the Natural Web I/O Interface Client from IIS to Apache Tomcat

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is no longer supported. If you are currently using the Natural Web I/O Interface client on IIS, you have to move to Apache Tomcat.

Anmerkung:
JBoss Application Server and Oracle GlassFish Server are also no longer supported. If you are currently using one of these application servers, you also have to move to Apache Tomcat. In this case, however, you can reuse your previous settings (that is, the URL for logon page and the configuration file sessions.xml).

The most simple solution is to migrate the Natural Web I/O Interface client from IIS to Apache Tomcat. Therefore, this Dokument gives IIS administrators a quick introduction to a Tomcat installation and describes the migration steps. The following topics are covered:


Before You Install the Natural Web I/O Interface Client

If Apache Tomcat is not yet installed, proceed as described in the topics below:

Installing Tomcat

Go to http://tomcat.apache.org/ and download Tomcat as a zip file.

For Microsoft Windows users: download either the 32-bit or the 64-bit Windows zip file.

Unzip the downloaded zip file to a directory of your choice.

Installing Java

Tomcat is based on Java. Therefore, you have to make sure that a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or a Java Development Kit (JDK) is installed. The version of the Java runtime should be at least Java 6 update 24. This is the minimum version that is required for the Natural Web I/O Interface client on Tomcat.

You can download the Java JRE or JDK from the Oracle website at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html.

If Java is installed on your system, make sure that the environment variable JAVA_HOME is set to the Java home directory.

Starting the Tomcat Server

When Tomcat and the appropriate Java version have been installed, you can start Tomcat.

To start Tomcat, execute the startup.bat file from the bin directory of your Tomcat installation. To check whether Tomcat is running, enter the following URL:

http://localhost:8080

This should display Tomcat's default home page.

Installing the Natural Web I/O Interface Client on Apache Tomcat

When Apache Tomcat has been installed, install the Natural Web I/O Interface client as described in Installing the Natural Web I/O Interface Client on Apache Tomcat.

Configuring the Natural Web I/O Interface Client on Apache Tomcat

When the Natural Web I/O Interface client has been installed, proceed as described in the topics below:

Invoking the Logon Page

Enter the following URL to invoke the logon page (this is different from the URL that was used with IIS):

http://localhost:8080/natuniweb/natural.jsp

Changing the Tomcat HTTP Port

IIS usually runs on the default port 80. If you want Tomcat to work with the same port, edit the file server.xml which is located in Tomcat's conf subdirectory and then search for the following text:

<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"

Change the port number so that it looks as follows:

<Connector port="80" protocol="HTTP/1.1"

Using the Settings from Your IIS Configuration File

With Tomcat, you can reuse the settings.xml configuration file of IIS, but you have to rename the file to sessions.xml. Proceed as follows:

  1. Copy the settings.xml file from your IIS installation to the following directory of your Tomcat installation:

    webapps/natuniweb/WEB-INF

  2. Either rename the sessions.xml file which comes with the Natural Web I/O Interface client installation on Tomcat (for example, to sessions-original.xml) or delete it.

  3. Rename the settings.xml file to sessions.xml.

Using the Configuration Tool

When the Natural Web I/O Interface client runs on Tomcat, it is no longer necessary to edit the configuration file manually. Instead, you can use the configuration tool. Using this tool has the advantage that it is not possible for you to create invalid XML code and thus damage the XML file. See Using the Configuration Tool for further information.

The IIS-specific entries in the renamed configuration file will be ignored. These are:

natural_parameter visible
theme
screen top
screen left
screen size
screen pfkeypos

You can still edit the configuration file manually. However, this is no longer recommended.

Protecting the Configuration Tool Against Unauthorized Access

It is possible to protect the configuration tool against unauthorized access. See Configuring Container-Managed Security for detailed information.

For detailed information on the necessary realm configuration for Tomcat, see http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/realm-howto.html.

Displaying the Logon Page by Default

When you enter the URL http://localhost:8080/natuniweb, Tomcat shows the default page of the Natural Web I/O Interface client which allows you to access either the logon page or the configuration tool of the Natural Web I/O Interface client.

Anmerkung:
If you have defined a different port (for example, 80), make sure to use that port number in the URL.

This behavior is different from IIS which displays the logon page by default. If you also want Tomcat to display the logon page by default, edit the file web.xml which is located in Tomcat's webapps\natuniweb\WEB-INF directory and search for the following entry:

<welcome-file-list>
  <welcome-file>
         index.html
  </welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>

Change the name of the welcome file to natural.jsp as shown in the following example:

<welcome-file-list>
  <welcome-file>
         natural.jsp           
  </welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>