What is "Deploy applications configured in Tomcat instance" in IntelliJ 2017.2 "Run/Debug Configurations" dialog?

Question

In IntelliJ Ultimate 2017.2, in the Run/Debug Configurations dialog, with the Tomcat Server > Local item selected on the left, what exactly is the meaning of the checkbox Deploy applications configured in Tomcat instance? The entire purpose of this dialog is to run my app within Tomcat, so I am confused.

I tried accessing the documentation via the ? icon in the lower-left, but received a 404 error for its URL.

Answer 1

This setting controls whether the apps you already have present in TOMCAT_HOME\webapps directory will be deployed when Tomcat is started from IntelliJ IDEA.

By default that would deploy the following:

• docs
• examples
• host-manager
• manager
• ROOT

If you don't need any of these default apps or any of your other apps put there manually to be deployed, disable the Deploy applications configured in Tomcat instance option. This will make the server startup faster and it will use less memory.

Documentation page you are looking for is available here, here is the official explanation for this option:

The Tomcat configuration files, among other things, may list the applications that should be deployed at the server start. If this check box is selected, all the applications so listed will be deployed on the server in addition to the artifacts specified on the Deployment tab. If the check box is not selected, only the artifacts and the external resources specified on the Deployment tab will be deployed.