Ubuntu 8.04 LTS + openjdk6 + apache-tomcat-6.0.18

Prerequisites
• Ubuntu 8.04 (you can try with other ubuntu/debian, with other OS you have to install JVM in a different way)
Needed files:
• apache-tomcat-6.0.18.zip from http://tomcat.apache.org/download-60.cgi

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk

unpack apache-tomcat-6.0.18.zip where you want (i used /usr/local/tomcat, change the following commands accordingly if you have used a different directory)

set JAVA_HOME environment variable:

JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk
export JAVA_HOME

start the server:

 /usr/local/tomcat/bin/startup.sh 

and try to navigate http://localhost:8080
stop the server:

/usr/local/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh

if you need the init.d script use this (this automatically sets JAVA_HOME)

sudo nano /etc/init.d/tomcat

copy and paste the following

    # Tomcat auto-start
    #
    # description: Auto-starts tomcat
    # processname: tomcat
    # pidfile: /var/run/tomcat.pid

    export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk

    case $1 in
    start)
            sh /usr/local/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
            ;;
    stop)
            sh /usr/local/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
            ;;
    restart)
            sh /usr/local/tomcat/bin/shutdown.sh
            sh /usr/local/tomcat/bin/startup.sh
            ;;
    esac
    exit 0

make it executable

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/tomcat

then you can start/stop/restart tomcat in this way

/etc/init.d/tomcat start
/etc/init.d/tomcat stop
/etc/init.d/tomcat restart

and if you want to run at boot time run this command:

update-rc.d tomcat defaults

i suggest to add a default user changing the password for the tomcat admin page, to do this, edit the file:

sudo nano /usr/local/tomcat/conf/tomcat-users.xml

and add in the node the following:

follow this guide to run zk on this tomcat freshly installation