webapps folder

This is the folder on your local hard disk, or hosting server, where you can create web applications which run on Tomcat.

• For sites hosted at Metawerx, this is located at /private-cgi-bin/tomcat.
• For self-managed dedicated Tomcat instances at Metawerx, this is located at /webapps.
• On a fresh tomcat installation, this is located at <path you installed tomcat to>/webapps

Two types of things can be placed inside the webapps folder:

• Web Application folders
• WAR files (Web Application Archives)

There is one special web application inside the webapps folder called ROOT (which must be all in capital letters). This folder holds your ROOT application.

The difference between the ROOT application and other applications, is that ROOT appears at the root of your website.

    http://yoursite

Other applications appear with their folder or WAR name in the URL, for example:

    http://yoursite/YourAppName
    http://yoursite/YourWARFileName

For an application to be noticed by Tomcat, it must have a WEB-INF/web.xml file.

More Information

• The Deployment Descriptor File web.xml