AlmaLinux

Install Apache Tomcat 10 on Rocky Linux 10 / AlmaLinux 10 / Fedora 42

Josphat Mutai Updated Mar 22, 2026 · 9 min read

Apache Tomcat is an open-source Java Servlet container that implements Jakarta Servlet, Jakarta Expression Language, and Jakarta WebSocket specifications. It provides a pure Java HTTP web server environment for running Java-based web applications. Tomcat 10.1 is the current stable release based on Jakarta EE 10, and it is the recommended version for new deployments.

Original content from computingforgeeks.com - post 4578

This guide covers two methods of installing Apache Tomcat 10 on Rocky Linux 10, AlmaLinux 10, and Fedora 42 – from the default OS repositories and from the official Apache tarball. We also configure the Tomcat Manager web interface, firewalld rules, SELinux policies, deploy a sample WAR file, and set up Nginx as a reverse proxy with SSL termination.

Prerequisites

  • A server running Rocky Linux 10, AlmaLinux 10, RHEL 10, or Fedora 42
  • Root or sudo access
  • At least 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended for production)
  • Java 21 (OpenJDK) – installed in Step 1
  • Ports 8080 (Tomcat HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS if using Nginx reverse proxy) open in firewall

Step 1: Install Java 21 (OpenJDK) on Rocky Linux 10 / AlmaLinux 10

Tomcat 10.1 requires Java 11 or later. We install Java 21 LTS (OpenJDK) since it is the current long-term support release available in the default repositories.

sudo dnf install -y java-21-openjdk java-21-openjdk-devel

Verify the Java installation by checking the version:

java -version

The output confirms Java 21 is installed and ready:

openjdk version "21.0.10" 2025-10-14 LTS
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (Red_Hat-21.0.10.0.7-1.el10) (build 21.0.10+7-LTS)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (Red_Hat-21.0.10.0.7-1.el10) (build 21.0.10+7-LTS, mixed mode, sharing)

Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable so Tomcat and other Java applications can locate the JDK:

echo 'export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk' | sudo tee /etc/profile.d/java.sh
source /etc/profile.d/java.sh

Confirm the variable is set:

echo $JAVA_HOME

This should print the JDK path:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk

Method 1: Install Tomcat 10 from DNF Repositories

The simplest way to install Tomcat is from the default OS repositories. Rocky Linux 10, AlmaLinux 10, and Fedora 42 ship Tomcat 10.1 packages.

Step 2a: Install Tomcat Package

sudo dnf install -y tomcat tomcat-webapps tomcat-admin-webapps

The tomcat-webapps package installs the default ROOT and sample applications, while tomcat-admin-webapps provides the Manager and Host Manager web interfaces.

Check the installed Tomcat version:

rpm -qi tomcat | grep -i version

You should see Tomcat 10.1.x confirmed:

Version     : 10.1.36

Step 2b: Enable and Start Tomcat Service

sudo systemctl enable --now tomcat

Verify the service is running:

sudo systemctl status tomcat

The output should show Tomcat as active (running):

● tomcat.service - Apache Tomcat Web Application Container
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/tomcat.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-03-22 10:15:32 UTC; 5s ago
   Main PID: 12345 (java)
      Tasks: 30 (limit: 23456)
     Memory: 128.0M
        CPU: 3.200s
     CGroup: /system.slice/tomcat.service

The repo method installs Tomcat to /usr/share/tomcat with configuration files in /etc/tomcat and logs in /var/log/tomcat. Skip ahead to Step 5 to configure the Manager interface.

Method 2: Install Tomcat 10 from Apache Tarball

For the latest Tomcat release (10.1.52 at the time of writing) or when you need full control over the installation, download and install from the official Apache Tomcat download page.

Step 3a: Create Tomcat User and Group

Create a dedicated system user and group for running Tomcat. This limits the impact of any security vulnerability in the application.

sudo groupadd -r tomcat
sudo useradd -r -g tomcat -d /opt/tomcat -s /sbin/nologin tomcat

Step 3b: Download and Extract Tomcat

Download the latest Tomcat 10.1.x tarball and extract it to /opt/tomcat:

TOMCAT_VER="10.1.52"
cd /tmp
curl -LO https://dlcdn.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-10/v${TOMCAT_VER}/bin/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VER}.tar.gz

Extract the archive and move it into place:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/tomcat
sudo tar xzf /tmp/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VER}.tar.gz -C /opt/tomcat --strip-components=1
sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/tomcat

Set execute permission on the shell scripts in the bin directory:

sudo chmod +x /opt/tomcat/bin/*.sh

Step 3c: Create systemd Service File for Tomcat

Create a systemd unit file so Tomcat starts automatically on boot and can be managed with systemctl:

sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/tomcat.service

Add the following service configuration:

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

[Service]
Type=forking

User=tomcat
Group=tomcat

Environment="JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk"
Environment="CATALINA_PID=/opt/tomcat/temp/tomcat.pid"
Environment="CATALINA_HOME=/opt/tomcat"
Environment="CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat"
Environment="CATALINA_OPTS=-Xms512M -Xmx1024M -server -XX:+UseParallelGC"

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

RestartSec=10
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd, enable, and start the Tomcat service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now tomcat

Verify it is running:

sudo systemctl status tomcat

The service should show active (running) with the Tomcat Java process as the main PID.

Step 4: Configure Firewall for Tomcat

Open port 8080/TCP in firewalld to allow access to the Tomcat web interface:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Verify the port is open:

sudo firewall-cmd --list-ports

You should see 8080/tcp in the output. Open your browser and navigate to http://your-server-ip:8080 – the Tomcat default landing page should appear.

Step 5: Configure Tomcat server.xml

The main Tomcat configuration file is server.xml. For the repo installation, it is at /etc/tomcat/server.xml. For the tarball installation, it is at /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml.

Open the configuration file:

sudo vi /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml

The default HTTP connector listens on port 8080. Key settings to review:

<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
           connectionTimeout="20000"
           redirectPort="8443"
           maxThreads="200"
           minSpareThreads="10"
           maxParameterCount="1000" />

Common changes for production deployments:

  • port – change the HTTP listen port (default 8080)
  • maxThreads – maximum concurrent request processing threads (default 200)
  • connectionTimeout – milliseconds to wait for the request after connection (default 20000)
  • address – add address="127.0.0.1" to restrict Tomcat to localhost when using a reverse proxy

If you plan to run Tomcat behind Nginx (covered in Step 9), bind Tomcat to localhost only by adding address="127.0.0.1" to the Connector element. This prevents direct access on port 8080 from the internet.

Step 6: Configure Tomcat Manager GUI (tomcat-users.xml)

The Tomcat Manager application allows deploying, undeploying, and managing web applications through a web interface. You need to create users with the appropriate roles.

Edit the tomcat-users.xml file. For the repo install, the path is /etc/tomcat/tomcat-users.xml. For the tarball install:

sudo vi /opt/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml

Add the following role and user definitions before the closing </tomcat-users> tag:

<role rolename="manager-gui"/>
<role rolename="admin-gui"/>
<user username="admin" password="StrongPassword123!" roles="manager-gui,admin-gui"/>

Replace StrongPassword123! with a strong, unique password.

Allow Remote Access to Manager

By default, the Manager and Host Manager apps only allow access from localhost. To access from a remote IP, edit the context configuration.

For the tarball installation:

sudo vi /opt/tomcat/webapps/manager/META-INF/context.xml

Find the Valve element with the RemoteAddrValve and update the allow attribute to include your IP address (replace 192.168.1.100 with your actual IP):

<Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve"
       allow="127\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+|::1|0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1|192\.168\.1\.100" />

Do the same for the Host Manager app:

sudo vi /opt/tomcat/webapps/host-manager/META-INF/context.xml

Update the same allow pattern in this file as well. Restart Tomcat to apply the changes:

sudo systemctl restart tomcat

You can now access the Manager at http://your-server-ip:8080/manager/html and log in with the credentials you configured.

Step 7: Configure SELinux for Tomcat

On Rocky Linux 10 and AlmaLinux 10, SELinux is enabled by default in enforcing mode. If you used the repo installation, the SELinux policies are already configured. For the tarball installation, you need to set the correct contexts.

Check the current SELinux status:

getenforce

If SELinux is Enforcing, apply the proper file contexts for the tarball installation:

sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_exec_t "/opt/tomcat/bin(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_var_lib_t "/opt/tomcat/lib(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_var_lib_t "/opt/tomcat/webapps(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_log_t "/opt/tomcat/logs(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_tmp_t "/opt/tomcat/temp(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_var_run_t "/opt/tomcat/work(/.*)?"
sudo semanage fcontext -a -t tomcat_etc_t "/opt/tomcat/conf(/.*)?"
sudo restorecon -Rv /opt/tomcat

If Tomcat needs to connect to a database or external service, allow network connections:

sudo setsebool -P tomcat_can_network_connect_db 1

If you installed the policycoreutils-python-utils package is not available, install it first:

sudo dnf install -y policycoreutils-python-utils

Step 8: Deploy a Sample WAR Application

To verify Tomcat is working correctly, deploy the official sample WAR file. Download it directly into the Tomcat webapps directory:

sudo curl -L -o /opt/tomcat/webapps/sample.war https://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-10.1-doc/appdev/sample/sample.war
sudo chown tomcat:tomcat /opt/tomcat/webapps/sample.war

Tomcat automatically deploys WAR files placed in the webapps directory. Wait a few seconds, then verify the deployment:

ls /opt/tomcat/webapps/sample/

You should see the extracted application files:

hello.jsp  images  index.html  META-INF  WEB-INF

Access the sample application at http://your-server-ip:8080/sample/ in your browser. You should see the “Hello, World” sample page.

For the repo installation, the webapps directory is /var/lib/tomcat/webapps/ and you should set ownership to the tomcat user accordingly.

Step 9: Set Up Nginx Reverse Proxy with SSL for Tomcat

Running Tomcat behind Nginx as a reverse proxy provides SSL termination, better static file handling, and hides Tomcat from direct internet access. This is the recommended production setup.

Install Nginx and Certbot

sudo dnf install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Configure Nginx as Reverse Proxy

Create an Nginx server block for your Tomcat application:

sudo vi /etc/nginx/conf.d/tomcat.conf

Add the following reverse proxy configuration (replace tomcat.example.com with your actual domain):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name tomcat.example.com;

    # Redirect HTTP to HTTPS
    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name tomcat.example.com;

    # SSL certificates - managed by Certbot
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/tomcat.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/tomcat.example.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    # Proxy settings
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8080;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # WebSocket support
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }

    # Increase max upload size for WAR deployments
    client_max_body_size 100M;
}

Obtain SSL Certificate

Before obtaining the SSL certificate, temporarily comment out the HTTPS server block (or the ssl_certificate lines) and update the HTTP block to not redirect. Then get the certificate:

sudo certbot --nginx -d tomcat.example.com

Certbot automatically configures SSL in the Nginx config and sets up auto-renewal. Verify the renewal timer is active:

sudo systemctl status certbot-renew.timer

Bind Tomcat to Localhost

With Nginx handling external traffic, restrict Tomcat to listen only on localhost. Edit server.xml and add the address attribute to the HTTP Connector:

sudo vi /opt/tomcat/conf/server.xml

Update the Connector element:

<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
           address="127.0.0.1"
           connectionTimeout="20000"
           redirectPort="8443"
           maxParameterCount="1000" />

Configure SELinux for Nginx Proxy

SELinux blocks Nginx from making outbound network connections by default. Allow the proxy connection:

sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1

Open Firewall Ports for HTTPS

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Enable and Start Nginx

sudo systemctl enable --now nginx
sudo systemctl restart tomcat

Verify both services are running:

sudo systemctl status nginx tomcat

Both should show active (running). Your Tomcat application is now accessible through Nginx with SSL at https://tomcat.example.com.

Once the reverse proxy is confirmed working, remove the direct port 8080 access from the firewall since all traffic goes through Nginx:

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --remove-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Conclusion

Tomcat 10 is running on Rocky Linux 10 / AlmaLinux 10 / Fedora 42 with the Manager interface configured and a sample application deployed. For production environments, always run Tomcat behind a reverse proxy with SSL, restrict the Manager interface to trusted IPs, monitor JVM memory usage, and set up regular backups of your application data and configuration files. Check the official Tomcat 10.1 documentation for advanced tuning options including CI/CD pipeline integration with tools like Jenkins for automated deployments.

Josphat Mutai

Founder of Computingforgeeks. Expertise in Virtualization, Cloud, Linux/UNIX Administration, Automation,Storage Systems, Containers, Server Clustering e.t.c.

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