Install and Configure Apache Tomcat Using Ansible

Objective:

Use Ansible to automate the installation and configuration of Apache Tomcat on Ubuntu servers.

Project Structure

ansible-tomcat/
├── hosts
├── tomcat-install.yml
└── templates
    └── tomcat.service.j2

Step 1: Create Inventory File

Create hosts file:

[tomcat]
localhost ansible_connection=local

Step 2: Create Tomcat Service Template

Create templates/tomcat.service.j2

[Unit]
Description=Apache Tomcat
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking

User=tomcat
Group=tomcat

Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-17-openjdk-amd64
Environment=CATALINA_PID=/opt/tomcat/temp/tomcat.pid
Environment=CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat
Environment=CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat

ExecStart=/opt/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
ExecStop=/opt/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Step 3: Create Ansible Playbook

Create tomcat-install.yml

---
- name: Install and Configure Tomcat
  hosts: tomcat
  become: yes

  vars:
    tomcat_version: "10.1.42"

  tasks:

    - name: Update apt cache
      apt:
        update_cache: yes

    - name: Install Java
      apt:
        name: openjdk-17-jdk
        state: present

    - name: Create Tomcat Group
      group:
        name: tomcat
        state: present

    - name: Create Tomcat User
      user:
        name: tomcat
        group: tomcat
        home: /opt/tomcat
        shell: /bin/false
        system: yes

    - name: Create Tomcat Directory
      file:
        path: /opt/tomcat
        state: directory

    - name: Download Tomcat
      get_url:
        url: "https://downloads.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-10/v{{ tomcat_version }}/bin/apache-tomcat-{{ tomcat_version }}.tar.gz"
        dest: "/tmp/apache-tomcat-{{ tomcat_version }}.tar.gz"

    - name: Extract Tomcat
      unarchive:
        src: "/tmp/apache-tomcat-{{ tomcat_version }}.tar.gz"
        dest: /opt/tomcat
        remote_src: yes
        extra_opts:
          - --strip-components=1

    - name: Set Ownership
      file:
        path: /opt/tomcat
        owner: tomcat
        group: tomcat
        recurse: yes

    - name: Make Scripts Executable
      shell: chmod +x /opt/tomcat/bin/*.sh

    - name: Deploy Tomcat Service File
      template:
        src: tomcat.service.j2
        dest: /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service

    - name: Reload Systemd
      systemd:
        daemon_reload: yes

    - name: Start and Enable Tomcat
      systemd:
        name: tomcat
        state: started
        enabled: yes

    - name: Open Port 8082
      ufw:
        rule: allow
        port: "8082"
        proto: tcp
      ignore_errors: yes

Step 4: Verify Ansible Connectivity

ansible tomcat -i hosts -m ping

Step 5: Run Playbook

ansible-playbook -i hosts tomcat-install.yml

Step 6: Verify Tomcat Service

sudo systemctl status tomcat

Step 7: Verify Port

sudo ss -tulpn | grep 8082

Step 8: Access Tomcat

http://localhost:8082

Author
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Mahesh Wabale

Admin at DevOpsLover.com

Mahesh Wabale is the admin & author of this blog, Technology enthusiast with interest in DevOps, CICD, Spring Boot, Microservices Architecture He has more than 7 years of experience in IT industry, programming language and development stuff. He loves to share his experience with his blog.