How to install mod_jk on Mac OS X

Question

I am looking for a correct way to install mod_jk on Mac OS X 10.7 Lion or above. The goal is to test Tomcat behind Apache HTTPD.

I've found so far the only way to install mod_jk is to download source then configure it in the console and make and make install.

This is not very true because I will need to manage mod_jk installation and configuration myself. I for example can forget to delete mod_jk later when needed. Anyway I think there should be more friendly way to install mod_jk like some kind of DMG package.

I also found that mod_jk is available in the OS X Server. Actually it's on my development machine, but available only for the server.

<IfDefine MACOSXSERVER>
...
#LoadModule jk_module libexec/apache2/mod_jk.so
...
</IfDefine MACOSXSERVER>

May be there is a package for mod_jk somewhere for developers who don't install OS X Server or any other way.

UPDATES

1. mod_proxy_ajp is an alternative. Main Pros: it's bundled with Apache and Mac OS X
2. I now tested mod_proxy_ajp in my configuration and can say that it's even better - because no need extra configuration. mod_proxy_ajp goes out of the box on Mac and perhaps on linux-server too I believe. You also don't need to use extra workers.properties file.

Here is how my config looks like:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin me@me.com
    DocumentRoot "/Users/me/Sites/projekt"
    ServerName projekt.local

    <Directory "/Users/me/Sites/projekt">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    <Proxy *>
      AddDefaultCharset Off
      Order deny,allow
      Allow from all
    </Proxy>

    ProxyPass /coolapp ajp://localhost:8009/coolapp
    ProxyPassReverse /coolapp ajp://localhost:8009/coolapp

    ErrorLog "/private/var/log/apache2/projekt.local-error_log"
    CustomLog "/private/var/log/apache2/projekt.local-access_log" common    
</VirtualHost>

This above and configured Tomcat with AJP connector is only what you need. Amazing!

Reference:

1. Install mod_jk on OS X - http://www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=1347
2. Comparison mod_jk vs. mod_proxy_ajp apache to tomcat: mod_jk vs mod_proxy
3. How to configure mod_proxy_ajp with Tomcat ?

Please suggest.

Answer 1

You can give mod_proxy_ajp a shot. It does AJP13 and load balancing just like mod_jk but ships with Mac OS X.