We have a Debian X64 server which currently has a tomcat instance where we have 3 webapps
in WAR
file ofcourse. Also, we have an Apache webserver, which has one CMS system running. And one final project is the Maintenance
webapp, which is shown when we are working on the server and service is not available.
The problems we face are :
- Only one out of Tomcat or Apache web-server is actively running on Port-80 all the time.
- For Tomcat apps, the apps have to be accessed by their context-paths which are different.
- We are unable to run everything under multiple-domain names, but under single server.
What I am trying to do in long-term :
- Use Tomcat(preferred) or Apache web-server as a load-balancer, which will relay requests based upon domain-names. So, if someone is calling url
www.xyz.com
, then it should invoke theXYZ
webapp which we have. Same webapp name and domain-name is purely co-incidental. - Tie up the
Maintenance
webapp to the whole grid, which will be called when any domain is not-alive or not responding or busy.
I have created a picture(a horrible one.. :-( ), which explains the task a bit more illustratively.
As you can see now the architecture, here is/are my questions.
- Is this a good approach? If not, kindly tell me where and what I can do better.
- The task I am trying to do, what is it called? Grid-config, load-balancing?
- How to tie all the webapps, websites together which can be referred via different URL's, but will point to the correct webapp or website.
- I have a good understanding of Apache tomcat and Linux administration , not so much of Apache webserver. Can anyone help me in how to proceed with this problem, some planning and what I would require, so I can execute it.
Please note, we have domain-names registered in DNS for all the webapps and webserver based website.
I hope I have added enough information, if there is anything required, kindly let me know. Any help would be nice. Thanks a lot. :-)