> ok, there is a webapps directory, inside is a very > dirs, examples, ROOT etc. > > the normal root page loads up and I can get to the > examples, the confusion starts here, the ROOT houses > the index.jsp, but the examples are not UNDER ROOT > they are a different dir back one in webapps. > > WHEN I add a jsp page into the root it works fine
Basically, a JSP/Servlet container is a collection of virtual hosts (default installation holds "localhost" as default). A virtual host is a collection of web applications, also known as "Contexts" under Tomcat. "ROOT", "examples" and "tomcat-docs" are separate web applications and can reside ANYWHERE on the disk. Your server.xml file will specify *which* contexts exist and under what path they are mapped for their VHost. Take a closer look there. This, of course, is for standard HTTP connectors. If you're gonna play with mod_jk/mod_jk2/mod_webapp in order to connect Apache and Tomcat then the story still holds true, but you need to setup Apache, too. So, comming down from PHP can be a bit confusing, I know. With PHP, the whole VHost was one big web application. While that may seam flexible, it is also a magnet for bad design and misuse. "A new web application? Oh, lets just make a quick one." - repeat that 5 times and you'll have a mess. :-) Nix.
