ROOT application
The ROOT application is a convenient, specially named web application which Tomcat deploys at the root URL for your website.
For example:
http://yoursite
Other applications appear with their folder or WAR name in the URL, for example:
http://yoursite/YourAppName
http://yoursite/YourWARFileName
There can only be one ROOT application per webapps folder / website.
The ROOT application must be in a folder called ROOT (all in capital letters) or a file called ROOT.war.
Best Practise Tips
- The ROOT application should never be undeployed, as this will cause visitors to your site to receive an error page, unless they also add another valid application name to your URL.
- Some developers place their main site in a differently named application, and have a very simple ROOT application which redirects to the main URL. If you have developed your site in this way, consider moving the files into webapps folder/ROOT to shorten your URL, unless you have a valid reason to keep the site in a different application.