Tomcat on a Different Port

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Tomcat on a Different Port

Welcome to this hands-on lab, where we'll change the default port used by Apache's Tomcat, a Java-based application platform built around deploying and managing Java Web Applications. The server provided in this lab environment is Red Hat Enterprise 8 and has Tomcat 9 pre-installed for you. The Tomcat instance is currently available for you on port **8080**, on the provided server. You will log into the server and change the port used to be **8081**. Once you have completed the task you will need to test the new port works by connecting to it with a web browser.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 21, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Test to Ensure You Can Access the Preconfigured Tomcat Instance, Using the Server's Public IP Address and Port 8080
It may take from 3 to 10 minutes after the hands-on lab has started before you can access the Tomcat server on Port 8080.

To access the server, copy the external IP address and test in your browser by using this IP address and appending the :8080 to it.

For example, if the IP address shown was 3.92.152.3 then you would put the following into your web browser:
```
http://3.92.152.3:8080
```
Challenge

Log into the Server's Console and Change the Port to 8081
Note: Tomcat is installed under /usr/local/tomcat9

You will log into the server's console (not the web GUI) and make the changes required for changing the port to 8081.

The file you need to edit is /usr/local/tomcat9/conf/server.xml.

Find the following portion:
```
port="8080"
```
Then replace it with the following:
```
port="8081"
```
Save the file and exit.
Challenge

Restart the Tomcat Server and Check for Any Errors
Restart the Tomcat server. This can be done with the following command:
```
systemctl restart tomcat
```
Challenge

Connect to the Tomcat GUI via the New Port

Use a web browser and connect to your server on port 8081. If your server IP address was 3.93.186.99, then you would use the following (Note: Your IP address will likely be different):

http://3.93.186.99:8081

You should now see the Tomcat GUI. This shows your change was successful.

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