How to install Jetty on CentOS 7

Discover how to install Jetty on CentOS 7 with our easy-to-follow guide. Get detailed instructions to set up and configure Jetty, ensuring a seamless installation process on your CentOS 7 system. #centlinux #linux #java

What is Jetty Server?

Jetty is a Java HTTP web server and Java servlet container. Jetty is a free and open source project developed and maintained by Eclipse Foundation. Jetty is used in many open source projects and products. Jetty can be easily embedded in devices, tools, frameworks, application servers and clusters.

In this article, we will install Jetty on CentOS 7 and then deploy a Java web application on it.

Linux Server Specification

We have provisioned a CentOS 7 minimal install virtual machine with following specification, for Jetty 9 installation.

• Hostname – jetty-01.example.com
• IP Address – 192.168.116.166/24
• Operating System – CentOS 7.6
• Jetty version – Jetty 9.4

NSPENCM 85W Mac Book Pro Charger, Replacement AC 85w 2T-Tip Connector Power Adapter,Laptop Charger Compatible with MacBook pro & Mac Book Pro 13 inch-15 inch Retina After Mid 2012

(4990)

$19.98 (as of May 2, 2025 16:32 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

Install OpenJDK on CentOS 7

Connect with jetty-01.example.com using ssh as root user.

Jetty requires JVM to execute Java web applications. Therefore we are installing OpenJDK using yum command.

yum install -y java-1.8.0-openjdk

Set Java environment variables.

echo "export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.212.b04-0.el7_6.x86_64" >> /etc/profile
. /etc/profile
env | grep JAVA_HOME
JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.212.b04-0.el7_6.x86_64

Ensure Java installation by checking the version.

java -version

Output:

openjdk version "1.8.0_212"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_212-b04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.212-b04, mixed mode)

OpenJDK has been installed on CentOS 7.

Install Jetty on CentOS 7

Create a user to own Jetty software.

useradd jetty

Download latest version of Jetty from Eclipse website. Earlier releases can be download from Maven Central.

cd /tmp
curl -O https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/eclipse/jetty/jetty-distribution/9.4.18.v20190429/jetty-distribution-9.4.18.v20190429.tar.gz

Extract downloaded file to /opt directory.

tar zxf jetty-distribution-9.4.18.v20190429.tar.gz -C /opt/

Create a soft link for /opt/jetty-distribution-9.4.18.v20190429/ directory.

ln -s /opt/jetty-distribution-9.4.18.v20190429/ /opt/jetty

Set Jetty software ownership to jetty user.

chown -R jetty:jetty /opt/jetty/

We need to set environment variables for Jetty server. You can also set JAVA_OPTIONS specific to Jetty web server here.

cat > /etc/default/jetty << EOF
JETTY_HOME=/opt/jetty
JETTY_BASE=/opt/jetty/webapps
JETTY_USER=jetty
JETTY_HOST=0.0.0.0
JETTY_ARGS=jetty.port=8080
EOF

Create and set privileges on Jetty’s run directory.

mkdir /var/run/jetty
chown jetty:jetty /var/run/jetty

Allow Jetty service port in Linux Firewall.

firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
firewall-cmd --reload

Create a systemd unit for Jetty service.

vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/jetty.service

and add following directives therein.

[Unit]
Description = Jetty Web Server
After = syslog.target network.target

[Service]
User = jetty
ExecStart = /opt/jetty/bin/jetty.sh start
ExecStop = /opt/jetty/bin/jetty.sh stop
ExecReload = /opt/jetty/bin/jetty.sh restart
Type = forking

[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target

Start and enable Jetty service.

systemctl enable jetty.service
systemctl start jetty.service

Browse URL http://jetty-01.example.com:8080/ from a client’s browser.

Jetty 9 web server has been installed on CentOS 7.

Recommended Training: Java Masterclass 2025: 130+ Hours of Expert Lessons from Tim Buchalka

Deploy a Java Application on Jetty Server

Download a Java project source from GitHub.

We are downloading simple-crud-app, which is a simple Hello World application.

curl -O https://codeload.github.com/trdngy/toy-project-1/zip/master

Extract downloaded file.

unzip master

This project is powered by Apache Maven, therefore, we have to install Apache Maven to compile this project.

yum install -y maven

Verify Apache Maven installation by checking its version.

mvn -v

Output:

Apache Maven 3.0.5 (Red Hat 3.0.5-17)
Maven home: /usr/share/maven
Java version: 1.8.0_212, vendor: Oracle Corporation
Java home: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.8.0-openjdk-1.8.0.212.b04-0.el7_6.x86_64/jre
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: UTF-8
OS name: "linux", version: "3.10.0-957.el7.x86_64", arch: "amd64", family: "unix"

Compile the source to generate WAR file. We will deploy this WAR on our Jetty 9 web server.

cd toy-project-1-master/
mvn compile

Output:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building simple-crud-app Maven Webapp 0.0.1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.5:resources (default-resources) @ simple-crud-app ---
[debug] execute contextualize
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] Copying 1 resource
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:2.3.2:compile (default-compile) @ simple-crud-app ---
[WARNING] File encoding has not been set, using platform encoding UTF-8, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] Compiling 8 source files to /tmp/toy-project-1-master/target/classes
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 4.954s
[INFO] Finished at: Wed May 15 01:18:17 PKT 2019
[INFO] Final Memory: 13M/32M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Build WAR file to deploy on our Jetty 9 web server.

mvn package

Output:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building simple-crud-app Maven Webapp 0.0.1
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.5:resources (default-resources) @ simple-crud-app ---
[debug] execute contextualize
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] Copying 1 resource
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:2.3.2:compile (default-compile) @ simple-crud-app ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.5:testResources (default-testResources) @ simple-crud-app ---
[debug] execute contextualize
[WARNING] Using platform encoding (UTF-8 actually) to copy filtered resources, i.e. build is platform dependent!
[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory /tmp/toy-project-1-master/src/test/resources
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:2.3.2:testCompile (default-testCompile) @ simple-crud-app ---
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-surefire-plugin:2.10:test (default-test) @ simple-crud-app ---
[INFO] No tests to run.
[INFO] Surefire report directory: /tmp/toy-project-1-master/target/surefire-reports

-------------------------------------------------------
 T E S T S
-------------------------------------------------------

Results :

Tests run: 0, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0

[INFO]
[INFO] --- maven-war-plugin:3.2.0:war (default-war) @ simple-crud-app ---
[INFO] Packaging webapp
[INFO] Assembling webapp [simple-crud-app] in [/tmp/toy-project-1-master/target/simple-crud-app]
[INFO] Processing war project
[INFO] Copying webapp resources [/tmp/toy-project-1-master/src/main/webapp]
[INFO] Webapp assembled in [378 msecs]
[INFO] Building war: /tmp/toy-project-1-master/target/simple-crud-app.war
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 7.324s
[INFO] Finished at: Wed May 15 01:19:15 PKT 2019
[INFO] Final Memory: 9M/92M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy the generated WAR file in Jetty 9 webapps directory.

mv /tmp/toy-project-1-master/target/simple-crud-app.war /opt/jetty/webapps/

If you access the URL http://jetty-01.example.com:8080/ , you may notice that our application is automatically added in Jetty 9 web server.

Browser URL http://jetty-01.example.com:8080/simple-crud-app/ to access our Java Web Application via Jetty 9 web server.

We have successfully deployed a Java web application in our Jetty 9 web server on CentOS 7.

Linux Basics for Hackers, 2nd Edition

$37.99 (as of May 2, 2025 16:32 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)

Final Thoughts

Installing Jetty on CentOS 7 gives you a lightweight and efficient Java-based web server and servlet container, ideal for running modern web applications. In this guide, we covered downloading Jetty, configuring the environment, setting up the service, and verifying the installation.

With Jetty now successfully installed, you have a flexible and scalable platform ready to support your Java applications. To maintain optimal performance and security, remember to keep Jetty updated, secure your server configurations, and monitor your applications regularly.

From setting up scalable AWS solutions to managing complex Linux environments, I’ve got you covered. Visit my Fiverr profile to get started.