Managing Consultant/ Enterprise Architect at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Consultant
Reliable, open-source, and has good documentation but the high availability is not robust
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of this solution is that it supports Java Enterprise."
  • "The high availability is not as robust as the competition is such as WebLogic and Jboss."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for application services and web services.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of this solution is that it supports Java Enterprise. I don't have to worry about compliance. Once Java EE runs then it's good.

What needs improvement?

The high availability is not as robust as the competition is, such as WebLogic and Jboss.

At the moment, it is dependent on how Java is working. So if Java goes this way, then Apache Tomcat follows. Apache is very tightly coupled to Java. 

The question would more be where does Java need to be? Then Apache Tomcat will follow because it's Open-Source.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Apache Tomcat for three years.

I am using the latest version.

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable. It has a lot of support because it is a part of the Apache Foundation, open source. 

I am a strong proponent of open source.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability on its own is getting there. With the Cloud, you can deploy and make it scalable, but on its own, not as much. Unless, along with the cloud, you put it in a Kubernetes cluster, then it's scalable.

How are customer service and support?

The first two projects from Apache were HTTP Daemon, Web Server, and then Tomcat. So it should have one of the richest support articles. Unless you're talking about and speaking with somebody personally, but the documentation for Tomcat is very good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

This is an open-source product and it's free to use.

What other advice do I have?

Apache Tomcat is the application server, but the enterprise server that runs in it is Apache ServiceMix.

For anyone who is interested in using this solution, I would suggest knowing your use case, and knowing it very well.

If you can make it containerized, it's better, so that it can scale better. But, again, know your use case.

Because I have not used other hardware, there is nothing to compare with and it is hard to rate. In terms of my usage, I am happy with it.

I would rate Apache Tomcat a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4032 - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO with 11-50 employees
Vendor
Enterprise ready JSP/Servlet Server and ready for High Loads

Valuable Features:

Easy setup Easy configuration Reliability Stability Scalability Performance Well documented Great time to value and pricing.

Room for Improvement:

Deployment automation needs some custom tooling.

Other Advice:

I started using tomcat since version 4.X as development server with Eclipse. Then I used it as a Production server for medium to large Enterprise intranets. And finally I have setup deployments with Clustering for large ECommerce web sites with Apache HTTP Server as Front End. From these experiences I can say that Tomcat is a really performing and PRODUCTION ready server. Well tuned it can take very high loads provided underlying deployed applications are well coded as with any other JSP/Servlet Server.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
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PeerSpot user
Director at a program development consultancy with 51-200 employees
Real User
Helps developers build up their prototype system to evaluate their application design and feature testing

What is our primary use case?

  • Tomcat is a popular and easy-to-use open source web container.
  • It is easy for a developer to enter Java EE programming.

How has it helped my organization?

It helps the developers to build up their prototype system to evaluate their application design and feature testing.

What is most valuable?

  • Easy to deploy.
  • Developers can pack their application-needed library in a web application archive to deploy to Tomcat.

What needs improvement?

The enterprise support: Tomcat is an open source project, but for IT concerns, the enterprise support is needed when we encounter problems on it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user1227 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
One of the best open source Application Servers & Servlet Container

Valuable Features:

Tomcat Application Serve is an open source Application Server. Compared to other application servers like Jetty, Weblogic etc. this is very light weight Tomcat can be very easily configured to suit your needs. A large number of ever growing web community is there to help you out, in case you face any issue. Tomcat has been known to be very stable and has been deployed and used by many well known organizations. Also, it does not require too much of memory(RAM) to start with. It can start running in a very low memory and uses memory on as needed basis.

Room for Improvement:

There are certain well known compatibility issues with some implementations of JDK Tomcat doesn't give you a performance like Apache when you have static HTML contents. And it is more suitable for hosting servlets and works best as a servlet container. Scalability is a major problem with Tomcat. When your application grows out of proportion and you have applications that draws heavy traffic, then Tomcat is not the right option and you might have to look for other options.

Other Advice:

Tomcat is one of the best application servers and servlet container. It is very light weight and application startup consumes very low memory and it uses memory on as needed basis. Can be run on various platforms like Windows, Linux etc. Not suitable for hosting static HTML content and Scalability is a major problem with Tomcat.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4401 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

Some other advantages of Tomcat are: It is easier to embed Tomcat in applications (e.g. in JBoss), it implements the Servlet 3.0., JSP 2.2. and JSP-EL 2.2. support and it is easy integrated with other applications such as Spring.

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Updated: April 2024
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