This guide describes how to setup appNGizer.

1. Introduction

appNGizer is a REST based webapplication for remote managing an appNG instance.

See the User Manual for further usage details about how to use appNGizer.

See the platform installation guide for details about how to setup your appNG instance with appNGizer.

2. Prerequisites

  • Java 8

  • Apache Tomcat >= 7.x

  • an appNG installation (expanded war)

3. Configuration

appNGizer comes as a packaged webapplication, namely appNGizer.war. For installation, unpack this file into the webapps directory of your Tomcat installation.

appNGizer needs the know the absolute path to the appNG installation it is ought to manage. This path needs to be set in two locations.

3.1. web.xml

The first is WEB-INF/web.xml as the <init-param> named APPNG_HOME of the appNGizer-servlet:

<servlet>
        <servlet-name>appNGizer</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.appng.appngizer.controller.AppNGizerServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
                <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
                <param-value>/WEB-INF/appNGizer-servlet.xml</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <init-param>
                <param-name>APPNG_HOME</param-name>
                <param-value>/path/to/tomcat/webapps/ROOT</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

3.2. context.xml

The second location is in META-INF/context.xml. Depending on whether you are using tomcat 7 or Tomcat 8, this file has to look different.

3.2.1. Tomcat 7

The virtualClasspath-attribute of the <Loader>-element has to point to {APPNG_HOME}/WEB-INF/lib/*.jar, as shown below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Context privileged="true">
        <WatchedResource>WEB-INF/web.xml</WatchedResource>

        <Loader className="org.apache.catalina.loader.VirtualWebappLoader"
            virtualClasspath="/path/to/tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib/*.jar" />

</Context>

3.2.2. Tomcat 8

The base-attribute of the PostResources-element has to point to {APPNG_HOME}/WEB-INF/lib:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Context privileged="true">
        <WatchedResource>WEB-INF/web.xml</WatchedResource>

        <Resources>
                <PostResources className="org.apache.catalina.webresources.DirResourceSet"
                    webAppMount="/WEB-INF/lib"
                        base="/path/to/tomcat/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/lib" />
        </Resources>
</Context>