How to install Apache Tomcat on Ubuntu

If you’re running Java web apps, Apache Tomcat is a go-to server. Lightweight, reliable, and open source—Tomcat powers countless production environments. In this guide, I’ll walk you through installing Apache Tomcat on an Ubuntu system. No fluff. Just the steps.

Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure you have:

• Ubuntu 20.04 or newer
• A user with sudo privileges
• Java installed

Let’s get into it.

Step 1: Install Java

Tomcat runs on Java, so first make sure it’s installed.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install default-jdk -y

Verify installation:

java -version

You should see output like:

openjdk version "11.0.x" ...

Step 2: Create a Tomcat User

It’s best practice not to run Tomcat as root.

sudo useradd -m -U -d /opt/tomcat -s /bin/false tomcat

Step 3: Download Tomcat

Head to the Tomcat download page and grab the latest version. Use wget to download it:

cd /tmp
wget https://downloads.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-10/v10.1.XX/bin/apache-tomcat-10.1.XX.tar.gz

Replace 10.1.XX with the current version number.

Extract and move it to /opt/tomcat:

sudo mkdir /opt/tomcat
sudo tar -xzvf apache-tomcat-10.1.XX.tar.gz -C /opt/tomcat --strip-components=1

Step 4: Set Permissions

Give the Tomcat user access:

sudo chown -R tomcat: /opt/tomcat
sudo sh -c 'chmod +x /opt/tomcat/bin/*.sh'

Step 5: Create a Systemd Service

We’ll set Tomcat up as a service so it can start at boot.

Create the service file:

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

Paste this in:

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

[Service]
Type=forking

User=tomcat
Group=tomcat

Environment="JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64"
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"
Environment="JAVA_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom"

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

Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Save and close.

Reload the daemon and start Tomcat:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start tomcat
sudo systemctl enable tomcat

Check the status:

sudo systemctl status tomcat

Step 6: Access the Tomcat Web Interface

Tomcat should be running on port 8080. Open a browser and visit:

https://your_server_ip:8080

You’ll see the default Tomcat homepage.

Optional: Enable the Admin UI

Want to use the Tomcat Manager or Host Manager apps? You’ll need to add a user.

Edit tomcat-users.xml:

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

Add this inside the <tomcat-users> tag:

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

Then restart Tomcat:

sudo systemctl restart tomcat

Now you can access:

• Manager: https://your_server_ip:8080/manager/html
• Host Manager: https://your_server_ip:8080/host-manager/html

Use the credentials you just set up.

That’s It

You’ve got Apache Tomcat running on Ubuntu. From here, you can deploy your Java web applications and start configuring the server for production.

Have questions or run into issues? Drop a comment below.