problem using manager application for each tomcat instance

Overview: Running multiple tomcat instances to serve up separate java apps. Running each instance on different port and using proxypass through apache. Question is how can I setup & access the manager application with each instance so that I can monitor requests, timings, etc. to the main app I care about. I got the manager app within the dist dir to work, but it has no ability to see the applications within the separate tomcat instances. I've seen mention of creating a manager.xml file, but am unclear where to put or how it works. If my instance (and app) is listening on port 9085 (for example) how can I setup each manager app and reach it via browser? I hope this makes sense. Seeking advice or suggestions...

Thanks!

I got the manager app within the dist dir to work, but it has no ability to see the applications within the separate tomcat instances.

Since the Manager app is servlet based, it can only see applications within the same tomcat instance. If you are using virtual hosts, it can only see applications in the same host.

I am curious - what advantage do you expect from running multiple Tomcat instances?

Bill

what advantage do you expect from running multiple Tomcat instances

Well, you might want to configure a development environment, on a single server, for a specific version of Tomcat and let your team of developers run multiple instances of the same version of Tomcat. Each member would have their own instance, CATALINA BASE, to work with. They could start, stop, do whatever, with their own instance.

You can run more than one instance of other applications, why not Tomcat?

Hi, thanks for the reply. We run multiple instances for ease of maintenance and support w/o doing v-host. I've heard a many shops doing this approach. However in playing around with Manager app, I'm not having any luck getting it to work within each instance.

Has anyone else used Manager app w/o using v-hosts? I'm just curious to see what system/app analysis it can provide for our apps.

I'm not having any luck getting it to work within each instance

You should be able to copy/paste the manage webapp into each instance's webapp directory. Can you expand on "not having any luck getting it to work"?

Yes, sorry. More to the point I can't seem to access the /manager/html/ via the browser when I have it within an instance... But perhaps the different question is do I need to define vhosts for each instance? Obviously each instance of manager can't all listen on default port 8080/manager/html... If someone can explain how they set this up, then perhaps I can see the error of my ways. Thanks

At the root of your Tomcat install, there is this: RUNNING.txt

You can set CATALINA_BASE either in the startup.bat or in the setenv.bat, your choice.

The log and work directories are created for you, when you start Tomcat.

You can call your Catalina_Base and Base# directories whatever you prefer.

Start and Stop Tomcat using the .bat files.

On my test system, I have Tomcat installed as a windows service on port 80, and then use these other two instances for development.