integrating web applications with databases

[Cathy Valdez]

OS=Windows98, Tomcat v. 4.1.27.exe, J2SE/JDK v. 1.3.1
contents of AUTOEXEC.BAT:
set PATH=c:\jdk1.3.1\bin;%PATH%
set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;.;c:\ServletDevel;c:\Tomcat\common\lib\servlet.jar
set JAVA_HOME=c:\jdk1.3.1

I'm new to servlets. I want to know how this integrating web applications with databases done. What is that web container that should be installed in my PC? And what is that database management system that should be installed in my PC?
Below are tasks that should be completed in integrating a web application with a database:
- Develop a servlet context listener to initialize a connection pool and place it in a global naming context.
- Configure the deployment descriptor to declare the servlet context listener and set the servlet context initialization parameters
- Deploy the Web application
- Activate the Web application
How are tasks above done? Can anybody there help?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Cathy

[Andres Gonzalez]

Cathy -
If you're new to servlets and have been asked to implement connection pool/listeners/etc straigh away, then I highly recommend you to buy/borrow a book, sit, relax, and start reading .
CoreServlets is an excellent book to read (free pdf available). It'll guide you throughout all this process.
this book is also excellent.
P.S. Tomcat is a web container. If you don't have any particular requirement for a database, you can use MySQL.
[ October 27, 2003: Message edited by: Andres Gonzalez ]