Apache Tomcat 4.1 and Windows 2008

Hello,

working on a Windows 2000 to 2008 migration, the application uses Tomcat 4.1 running on Windows 2000 server .  We are upgrading to Windows 2008 server. Will Tomcat 4.1 work with Windows 2008/IS 7?  Has anybody installed Tomcat 4.1 on a Windows 2008 box?

thank you,

asked by jerryemcse

The Apache Tomcat project is developed by a community of volunteers. This is important to remember, since it does have an impact on you as a user. Software being developed, is always developed for use with other software that is current in its era. Apache Tomcat 4, just like Windows 2000, are both 10 years old by now.

So, when the question is asked, will my 10 year old software work on this brand new operating system that didn't even exist when my software was written. The best place for an off shoot question like that is on the mailing lists. Why, well, Apache Tomcat 4.1 is no longer being actively developed. It's been sun setted. So it may or may not work, and if it doesn't, no one will fix it.

In an enterprise environment, one would most likely not plan an upgrade like that. If you have 10 year old software running in your environment, one must ask the questions

1. Is there a plan to upgrade the software itself or will the software end of life in the next few years?

If the software will end of life, there would be little meaning spending a great deal of effort upgrading the operating system underneath. If there is a need to upgrade the operating system due to other software needs, then I would isolate my old Java/Apache Tomcat on a virtual machine with the operating system and configuration I know works.

If the software itself will be upgraded, then I would plan a migration path, where I would upgrade

• The web applications running in Apache Tomcat
• Apache Tomcat
• The Java Virtual Machine
• The operating system

This is not always an easy process, but the bottom line is, the longer you wait, the harder the process becomes. An upgrade like this, will have to start at the web applications, as web applications are not guaranteed to be compatible between different versions of the JSP/Servlet/EL specifications.

Even commerical support vendors will eventually end of life a specific product version. If that time is 3 years, 10 years or 30 years depends on the vendor and the contract itself, but no software lives on forever. When it comes to free and open source software, developed by volunteers, one can expect that timeframe to be in the lower numbers.