Tomcat servers have the ability to start lifecycle events. These events include the startup and shutdown of a server. Administrators can write scripts to automatically run when these events occur. For example, scripts can start a third-party server when an instance starts. Logically, another script shuts down the third-party server when the instance shuts down. The scripts must be located in the instance-name/bin directory and use the following naming conventions.

Table 1. Automated lifecycle scripts
Script Lifecycle event
scriptPrefix_startup.bat|sh Executes when the Tomcat container is started but before any web application context are created.
scriptPrefix_started.bat|sh Executes when the Tomcat container is started and after all web application contexts are created.
scriptPrefix_stopping.bat|sh Executes before stopping an instance
scriptPrefix_shutdown.bat|sh Executes after stopping an instance.
Note: Replace the scriptPrefix with a unique name for each instance.

Scripts execute inline

The startup and shutdown event scripts execute in line which means that the Tomcat startup/shutdown process waits for the event script to complete before continuing. If a script hangs, then it prevents the lifecycle event from completing.

Logs and errors

The standard server logs, located in the instance-name/logs directory, track when the scripts are called. If errors are raised by the script, then those errors do not interrupt the standard server startup or shutdown. Administrators are responsible for catching errors in their scripts and writing those errors to a script-specific log file in the instance-name/logs directory.