Here is the scenario; you have a project that requires hosting a single website in a single web domain, but you have a mix of PHP applications and Java (or in my instance, GRAILS) applications that you need to run. [...] The problem is, that there is no good documentation to help you do this, so here I go!

His example sets up a site that will load static pages, run PHP applications, handle Java application requests without missing a beat. He starts from the very beginning - installing OpenSSH, vsftpd, MySQL, Apache, Java and Tomcat - all from packages on a Ubuntu linux installation. To connect Tomcat with Apache, you'll need to use the mod_proxy Apache module and configure the Tomcat server to listen on the right port.

Sometimes, you want to run PHP with Tomcat. Why? Well, you may have a legacy product, for instance, that will require servlets for many more years. Or you may be using this gigantic Java program and are only interested in adding a tiny PHP piece on the side.

It's a pretty simple process and most of the steps are the standard "download, install, unpack" sorts of things. The important things are the web.xml document you create and the additions to the servlet.properties file to make the PHP module work.