The structure of the folder should look like this: Step 3: Open Eclipse Java EE (Enterprise edition. Step 2: Extract the files from zip folder. Step 1: Download the latest version ( 9.0.34 ) of apache tomcat server from this link according to your platform. Here my config which demonstrate how to use development version of project files out of $CATALINA_BASE hierarchy (note that I place this file into src/test/resources dir and intruct Maven to preprocess $ placeholders through pom.xml true so after build in new environment I copy it to $CATALINA_BASE/conf/Catalina/localhost/$APP. Let us go over all detailed steps to configure Apache Tomcat in an Eclipse environment.

$CATALINA_BASE/conf///$APP.xml - best - completely out of application and automatically scanned for changes!!!.

$CATALINA_BASE/webapps/$APP/META-INF/context.xml - nice, but see last option!!.$CATALINA_BASE/work///$APP/META-INF/context.xml - nice, but see last option!!.

$CATALINA_BASE/work/$APP.war:/META-INF/context.xml - bad - require repackaging in order to change config.

$CATALINA_BASE/conf/context.xml - bad - shared across all applications If you have Tomcat running as a Windows Service, you can restart it from the control panel.

$CATALINA_BASE/conf/server.xml - bad - require server restarts in order to reread config.

According to docs deployment descriptor (what in tag) can be placed in: See also question: Can I create a custom classpath on a per application basis in Tomcat

Apache tomcat 8 classpath