Dynamic Debian Wheezy Tomcat 7 Init Script inspired by puppet configuration file https://raw.githubusercontent.com/example42/puppet-tomcat/master/templates/instance/init7-Debian.erb

tomcat7

#!/bin/sh
# /etc/init.d/tomcat7 -- startup script for the Tomcat 6 servlet engine
#
# Written by Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl>.
# Modified for Debian GNU/Linux	by Ian Murdock <imurdock@gnu.ai.mit.edu>.
# Modified for Tomcat by Stefan Gybas <sgybas@debian.org>.
# Modified for Tomcat6 by Thierry Carrez <thierry.carrez@ubuntu.com>.
# Modified for Tomcat7 by Ernesto Hernandez-Novich <emhn@itverx.com.ve>.
# Additional improvements by Jason Brittain <jason.brittain@mulesoft.com>.
#
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          tomcat7-YOURTOMCATNAME
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs $network
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs $remote_fs $network
# Should-Start:      $named
# Should-Stop:       $named
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start Tomcat.
# Description:       Start the Tomcat servlet engine.
### END INIT INFO

set -e

PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin
NAME=`basename $0`
DESC="Tomcat servlet engine"
DEFAULT=/etc/default/$NAME
JVM_TMP=/tmp/tomcat7-$NAME-tmp

if [ `id -u` -ne 0 ]; then
	echo "You need root privileges to run this script"
	exit 1
fi
 
# Make sure tomcat is started with system locale
if [ -r /etc/default/locale ]; then
	. /etc/default/locale
	export LANG
fi

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

if [ -r /etc/default/rcS ]; then
	. /etc/default/rcS
fi


# The following variables can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# Run Tomcat 7 as this user ID and group ID
TOMCAT7_USER=tomcat7
TOMCAT7_GROUP=tomcat7

# this is a work-around until there is a suitable runtime replacement 
# for dpkg-architecture for arch:all packages
# this function sets the variable OPENJDKS
find_openjdks()
{
        for jvmdir in /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-*
        do
                if [ -d "${jvmdir}" -a "${jvmdir}" != "/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-common" ]
                then
                        OPENJDKS=$jvmdir
                fi
        done
        for jvmdir in /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-*
        do
                if [ -d "${jvmdir}" -a "${jvmdir}" != "/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-common" ]
                then
                        OPENJDKS="${OPENJDKS} ${jvmdir}"
                fi
        done
}

OPENJDKS=""
find_openjdks
# The first existing directory is used for JAVA_HOME (if JAVA_HOME is not
# defined in $DEFAULT)
JDK_DIRS="/usr/lib/jvm/default-java ${OPENJDKS} /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun"

# Look for the right JVM to use
for jdir in $JDK_DIRS; do
    if [ -r "$jdir/bin/java" -a -z "${JAVA_HOME}" ]; then
	JAVA_HOME="$jdir"
    fi
done
export JAVA_HOME

# Directory where the Tomcat 6 binary distribution resides
CATALINA_HOME=/usr/share/tomcat7

# Directory for per-instance configuration files and webapps
CATALINA_BASE=/var/lib/$NAME

# Use the Java security manager? (yes/no)
TOMCAT7_SECURITY=no

# Default Java options
# Set java.awt.headless=true if JAVA_OPTS is not set so the
# Xalan XSL transformer can work without X11 display on JDK 1.4+
# It also looks like the default heap size of 64M is not enough for most cases
# so the maximum heap size is set to 128M
if [ -z "$JAVA_OPTS" ]; then
	JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx128M"
fi

# End of variables that can be overwritten in $DEFAULT

# overwrite settings from default file
if [ -f "$DEFAULT" ]; then
	. "$DEFAULT"
fi

if [ ! -f "$CATALINA_HOME/bin/bootstrap.jar" ]; then
	log_failure_msg "$NAME is not installed"
	exit 1
fi

POLICY_CACHE="$CATALINA_BASE/work/catalina.policy"

if [ -z "$CATALINA_TMPDIR" ]; then
	CATALINA_TMPDIR="$JVM_TMP"
fi

# Set the JSP compiler if set in the tomcat7.default file
if [ -n "$JSP_COMPILER" ]; then
	JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Dbuild.compiler=\"$JSP_COMPILER\""
fi

SECURITY=""
if [ "$TOMCAT7_SECURITY" = "yes" ]; then
	SECURITY="-security"
fi

# Define other required variables
CATALINA_PID="/var/run/$NAME.pid"
CATALINA_SH="$CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh"

# Look for Java Secure Sockets Extension (JSSE) JARs
if [ -z "${JSSE_HOME}" -a -r "${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/jsse.jar" ]; then
    JSSE_HOME="${JAVA_HOME}/jre/"
fi

catalina_sh() {
	# Escape any double quotes in the value of JAVA_OPTS
	JAVA_OPTS="$(echo $JAVA_OPTS | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g')"

	AUTHBIND_COMMAND=""
	if [ "$AUTHBIND" = "yes" -a "$1" = "start" ]; then
		JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
		AUTHBIND_COMMAND="/usr/bin/authbind --deep /bin/bash -c "
	fi

	# Define the command to run Tomcat's catalina.sh as a daemon
	# set -a tells sh to export assigned variables to spawned shells.
	TOMCAT_SH="set -a; JAVA_HOME=\"$JAVA_HOME\"; source \"$DEFAULT\"; \
		CATALINA_HOME=\"$CATALINA_HOME\"; \
		CATALINA_BASE=\"$CATALINA_BASE\"; \
		JAVA_OPTS=\"$JAVA_OPTS\"; \
		CATALINA_PID=\"$CATALINA_PID\"; \
		CATALINA_TMPDIR=\"$CATALINA_TMPDIR\"; \
		LANG=\"$LANG\"; JSSE_HOME=\"$JSSE_HOME\"; \
		cd \"$CATALINA_BASE\"; \
		\"$CATALINA_SH\" $@"

	if [ "$AUTHBIND" = "yes" -a "$1" = "start" ]; then
		TOMCAT_SH="'$TOMCAT_SH'"
	fi

	# Run the catalina.sh script as a daemon
	set +e
	touch "$CATALINA_PID" "$CATALINA_BASE"/logs/catalina.out
	chown $TOMCAT7_USER "$CATALINA_PID" "$CATALINA_BASE"/logs/catalina.out
	start-stop-daemon --start -b -u "$TOMCAT7_USER" -g "$TOMCAT7_GROUP" \
		-c "$TOMCAT7_USER" -d "$CATALINA_TMPDIR" -p "$CATALINA_PID" \
		-x /bin/bash -- -c "$AUTHBIND_COMMAND $TOMCAT_SH"
	status="$?"
	set +a -e
	return $status
}

case "$1" in
  start)
	if [ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
		log_failure_msg "no JDK found - please set JAVA_HOME"
		exit 1
	fi

	if [ ! -d "$CATALINA_BASE/conf" ]; then
		log_failure_msg "invalid CATALINA_BASE: $CATALINA_BASE"
		exit 1
	fi

	log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC" "$NAME"
	if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT7_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null; then

		# Regenerate POLICY_CACHE file
		umask 022
		echo "// AUTO-GENERATED FILE from /etc/tomcat7/policy.d/" \
			> "$POLICY_CACHE"
		echo ""  >> "$POLICY_CACHE"
                if [ $(ls -1 $CATALINA_BASE/conf/policy.d/ | grep ".policy$" | wc -l) -ne 0 ]; then
                  cat $CATALINA_BASE/conf/policy.d/*.policy \
                         >> "$POLICY_CACHE"
                fi

		# Remove / recreate JVM_TMP directory
		rm -rf "$JVM_TMP"
		mkdir -p "$JVM_TMP" || {
			log_failure_msg "could not create JVM temporary directory"
			exit 1
		}
		chown $TOMCAT7_USER "$JVM_TMP"

		catalina_sh start $SECURITY
		sleep 5
        	if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
			--user $TOMCAT7_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
			>/dev/null; then
			if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
				rm -f "$CATALINA_PID"
			fi
			log_end_msg 1
		else
			log_end_msg 0
		fi
	else
	        log_progress_msg "(already running)"
		log_end_msg 0
	fi
	;;
  stop)
	log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"

	set +e
	if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then 
		start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
			--user "$TOMCAT7_USER" \
			--retry=TERM/20/KILL/5 >/dev/null
		if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
			log_progress_msg "$DESC is not running but pid file exists, cleaning up"
		elif [ $? -eq 3 ]; then
			PID="`cat $CATALINA_PID`"
			log_failure_msg "Failed to stop $NAME (pid $PID)"
			exit 1
		fi
		rm -f "$CATALINA_PID"
		rm -rf "$JVM_TMP"
	else
		log_progress_msg "(not running)"
	fi
	log_end_msg 0
	set -e
	;;
   status)
	set +e
	start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT7_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null 2>&1
	if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then

		if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
		    log_success_msg "$DESC is not running, but pid file exists."
			exit 1
		else
		    log_success_msg "$DESC is not running."
			exit 3
		fi
	else
		log_success_msg "$DESC is running with pid `cat $CATALINA_PID`"
	fi
	set -e
        ;;
  restart|force-reload)
	if [ -f "$CATALINA_PID" ]; then
		$0 stop
		sleep 1
	fi
	$0 start
	;;
  try-restart)
        if start-stop-daemon --test --start --pidfile "$CATALINA_PID" \
		--user $TOMCAT7_USER --exec "$JAVA_HOME/bin/java" \
		>/dev/null; then
		$0 start
	fi
        ;;
  *)
	log_success_msg "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart|try-restart|force-reload|status}"
	exit 1
	;;
esac

exit 0

Tomcat 7 Setup Cheat Sheet

Set different JDK (optional)

export JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.7.0_51/
update-alternatives --set javac $JAVA_HOME/bin/javac
update-alternatives --set java $JAVA_HOME/bin/java
update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/jar jar $JAVA_HOME/bin/jar 1

#1. Install Tomcat 7

apt-get install tomcat7 tomcat7-user

#2. Stop tomcat and remove from autostart

sudo service tomcat7 stop
sudo update-rc.d -f tomcat7 remove

#3. Create new tomcat instance directory

cd /opt/
tomcat7-instance-create tomcat7-dummy
mkdir -p /opt/tomcat7-dummy/conf/policy.d

#4. Prepare init scripts

cd /etc/init.d
wget -O tomcat7-dummy https://gist.githubusercontent.com/Jotschi/8aa6dd546d748fc806dc/raw/57fea106a18b4c93725912dd08ff0fe3e4e29fde/tomcat7 
sed -i 's/YOURTOMCATNAME/dummy/' tomcat7-dummy 
insserv tomcat7-dummy

#5. Prepare default config

cp /etc/default/tomcat7 /etc/default/tomcat7-dummy
echo "CATALINA_BASE=/opt/tomcat7-dummy" >> /etc/default/tomcat7-dummy