Serving Static External Files jboss-3.2.3/tomcat-4.1.x

You can serve external static files from web apps by adding an extern directory content to

the Tomcat configuration. For example, to serve shared images from a C:/tmp/images

directory, edit  and add a Context entry to the  descriptor:

Code:

<server>

   <mbean code="org.jboss.web.tomcat.tc4.EmbeddedTomcatService"
      name="jboss.web:service=WebServer">
...
      <attribute name="Config">
         <Server>
            <Service name="JBoss-Tomcat">
               <Engine name="MainEngine" defaultHost="localhost">
                  <Logger className="org.jboss.web.tomcat.Log4jLogger"
                     verbosityLevel="debug" category="org.jboss.web.localhost.Engine"></Logger>
...
                  <Host name="localhost">
...
                     <!-- Default context parameters -->
                     <DefaultContext cookies="true" crossContext="true" override="true"></DefaultContext>

                     <!-- Add a static context /images using directory /tmp/images -->
                     <Context docBase='C:/tmp/images' path='/images' ></Context>
...
     

Serving Static External Files jboss-3.2.4 until recent versions

JBoss 3.2.4 no longer uses Tomcat 4.1.x  The default web container is Tomcat5.0.x

Note :  The following two steps are a hack till JBoss WebDeployer gets updated with support for static content.

Step 1 : Copy a default web.xml from

/deploy/jbossweb-tomcat50.sar/server.xml and add a Context element under Host.(Step similar to standalone TC)

<Host name="localhost" ...>
           <!-- ADD static benchmark DIRECTORY -->
           <Context path="/benchmark" appBase=""
                   docBase="/home/anil/benchmark"
                   debug="99" reloadable="true">
           </Context>
       ...
      </Host>

This will enable Tomcat to serve up static content (like html, images etc) from a directory /home/anil/benchmark and the url will be "http://localhost:8080/benchmark"

Serving Static External Files in recent 4.x versions of jboss

This works for Jboss 4.2.x and probably other versions as well.

Step 1 (optional): Copy a default web.xml from <JBOSS_HOME>/server/<config-name>/deploy/http-invoker.sar/invoker.war/WEB-INF and place it in your external directory, for example: /home/pgib/images/WEB-INF

Step 2: Edit <JBOSS_HOME>/server/<config-name>/deploy/jboss-web.deployer/server.xml and add a Context element under Host.(Step similar to standalone TC)

<Host name="localhost" ...>
        <!-- ADD static images DIRECTORY -->
        <Context path="/images" 
                docBase="/home/pgib/images"
                reloadable="true">
        </Context>
        <!-- The rest of your Host entity -->
</Host>

Step 3: Enjoy.  This will enable Tomcat to serve up static content (like html, images etc) from a directory /home/pgib/images and the url will be "http://localhost:8080/images"

Serving Static External Files in JBoss 5.x

How to deploy my application in an external directory in JBoss-5

Serving Static External Files in standalone Tomcat Instances (not the Tomcat instance bundled with JBoss)

If you wish to serve static content from a directory external to webapps, you can add "Context" element to the Host element in the server's "server.xml"

       <Host name="localhost" ...>
           <!-- ADD static benchmark DIRECTORY -->
           <Context path="/benchmark" appBase=""
                   docBase="/home/anil/benchmark"
                   debug="99" reloadable="true">
           </Context>
       ...
      </Host>

This will enable Tomcat to serve up static content (like html, images etc) from a directory /home/anil/benchmark and the url will be http://localhost:8080/benchmark