I have just set up Apache Tomcat startup script on Snow Leopard and I thought I'd blog about it while it's still fresh in my head.  Assuming you have installed Tomcat in /usr/local/tomcat directory, you can do the following to start Tomcat on system startup.

1. Create your startup script:

sudo nano /usr/local/tomcat/bin/tomcat

#!/bin/sh # Tomcat Startup Script
 
CATALINA_HOME=/usr/local/tomcat; export CATALINA_HOME
JAVA_HOME=/Library/Java/Home; export JAVA_HOME
TOMCAT_OWNER=root; export TOMCAT_OWNER
 
start() {
        echo -n "Starting Tomcat:  "
        su $TOMCAT_OWNER -c $CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh
        sleep 2
}
stop() {
        echo -n "Stopping Tomcat: "
        su $TOMCAT_OWNER -c $CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh
}
 
# See how we were called.
case "$1" in
  start)
        start
        ;;
  stop)
        stop
        ;;
  restart)
        stop
        start
        ;;
  *)
        echo $"Usage: tomcat {start|stop|restart}"
        exit
esac

Set your TOMCAT_OWNER correctly.  You should run it as a valid system user.

2. Create a symbolic link in /usr/bin for easier access

sudo ln -s /usr/local/tomcat/bin/tomcat /usr/bin/tomcat

3. Create the startup daemon which will start Tomcat when the system boots up

sudo mkdir /Library/StartupItems/tomcat
sudo nano /Library/StartupItems/tomcat/tomcat

#!/bin/sh
. /etc/rc.common
 
# The start subroutine
StartService() {
    # Insert your start command below.  
    tomcat start
}
 
# The stop subroutine
StopService() {
    # Insert your stop command(s) below.
    tomcat stop
}
 
# The restart subroutine
RestartService() {
    # Insert your start command below.
    tomcat restart
}
 
RunService "$1"

4. Create your startup parameters plist file

sudo nano /Library/StartupItems/tomcat/StartupParameters.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist SYSTEM "file://localhost/System/Library/DTDs/PropertyList.dtd">
<plist version="0.9">
    <dict>
        <key>Description</key>
        <string>Tomcat web server</string>
        <key>OrderPreference</key>
        <string>Late</string>
        <key>Provides</key>
        <array>
                <string>Local Web Services</string>
        </array>
        <key>Uses</key>
        <array>
                <string>SystemLog</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</plist>

Restart your Mac and you should be sweet.

For more info on how to install Tomcat, e.g. Railo on Tomcat via Apache see my blog post on Learnosity Website. Also, have a look at Mark's version using Apache mod proxy 
 
Marko

I've had problems starting up MySQL database server on startup on Snow Leopard.  MySQL preference pane seems to be flaky and it often fails to start MySQL server.

I created this startup script myself and it seems to work nicely.

sudo nano /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mysql.mysqld.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
<key>Umask</key>
<integer>7</integer>
<key>UserName</key>
<string>_mysql</string>
<key>Disabled</key>
<false/>
<key>WorkingDirectory</key>
<string>/usr/local/mysql</string>
<key>GroupName</key>
<string>_mysql</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>Program</key>
<string>/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld</string>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.mysql.mysqld</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>--user=_mysql</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>

Now make sure file permission is correct and load the daemon.

sudo chown root:wheel /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mysql.mysqld.plist
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.mysql.mysqld.plist
sudo launchctl start org.mysql.mysqld

Restart your Mac and your MySQL server should be running.

Marko