mod_jk - apache tomcat problem

[Chong Yu Meng]

Matthew Carpenter wrote:

> How does this compare to using the Warp connectors?  and ajp13 (or is 
> that mod_jk)?


Errrrmmmmm... ok, let me digress a little with a story :

Many years ago I used to work in a small ISP, back when setting up an 
ISP was considered "bleeding edge" in Singapore and made you eligible 
for grants from the government. I reported to a manager who was related 
to the boss -- needless to say, I didn't like that very much, especially 
since I had demonstrable Visual Basic skills (stop laughing !) and 
knowledge of TCP/IP. Anyway, I used to think that everything had to be 
done "the hard way", which means that you needed to understand what you 
were doing, sometimes to the code level, and you had to code most 
utilities for yourself. Well, my boss had a different idea. Because he 
was not very technical, he preferred to download whatever he needed and 
use it, regardless of whether it was "l33t cool" or not. You could say 
that he subscribed to the late Chinese premier Deng Xiaopeng's statement 
: it doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches 
mice. Needless to say, he used to get the job done faster than me -- 
which irked me no end.

So, back to your question : Warp is no longer under active development. 
That doesn't mean it doesn't work. I used it quite successfully when I 
was still on Tomcat 4.0.x and I *think* it still works, even for Tomcat 
5.0.x. It was very pleasant to use, easy to install, simple to 
configure. What it probably lacks is load balancing capabilities (again, 
not too sure about this, because I haven't used it in a long while), but 
if you just need Apache to hand over requests to Tomcat, it worked well 
for me back then. Compared to the hell that was mod_jk2 (2.0.2) and the 
difficulties still in jk and jk2, I would say warp was an excellent 
connector.

Now that I am older and more shameless (though not necessarily wiser), 
my advice would be : use whatever works. If warp works for you, use it, 
if mod_jk is what you understand, then use it. If you have plenty of 
time, and/or you have a history with mod_jk2, then I would say you can 
*try* mod_jk2. I tried to make the instructions as clear as I could in 
my document, but I found, in the course of working with other people on 
their problems, that there is so much variation in configuration and 
building the connector, depending on the Linux distribution, Java SDK, 
etc., that I think jk2 is for those for whom "fear is not a factor" ... 
and time is not a factor too !

To those who say that you should use the latest stuff, I'd tell them 
where they can stick their advice.

Regards,
pascal chong