Very simple Init Script for Tomcat 7 (works for 6, too). Tested on RHEL 6. Should work on RHEL 5 and SLES, too. Relies on file /etc/sysconfig/tomcat7 which contains two variables RUN_AS_USER (who to run) and CATALINA_HOME. Everything else (JAVA_OPTS, CATALINA_OPTS, CATALINA_PID) is set in $CATALINA_HOME/bin/setenv.sh

tomcat7

#!/bin/bash
#
# Init file for Tomcat 7 server
#
# chkconfig: 2345 80 20
# description: Tomcat 7 server
#

# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions
. /etc/sysconfig/tomcat7

start() {
        echo "Starting Tomcat 7: "
        if [ "x$USER" != "x$RUN_AS_USER" ]; then
          su - $RUN_AS_USER -c "$CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh"
        else
          $CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh
        fi
        echo "done."
}
stop() {
        echo "Shutting down Tomcat 7: "
        if [ "x$USER" != "x$RUN_AS_USER" ]; then
          su - $RUN_AS_USER -c "$CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh"
        else
          $CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh
        fi
        sleep 10
        echo "Hard killing any remaining threads.."
        pkill -u ${RUN_AS_USER} java
        echo "done."
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        start
        ;;
  stop)
        stop
        ;;
  restart)
        stop
        start
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
esac

exit 0