How Web Components are Packaged

J2EE components are usually packaged separately, and then bundled together into an Enterprise Archive (EAR) file for application deployment. Web components are packaged in web application archives, also known as WAR files. Each WAR file contains servlets, JSPs, a deployment descriptor, and related resource files.

Static HTML files and JSP are stored at the top level of the WAR directory. The top-level directory contains the WEB-INF subdirectory which contains tag library descriptor files in addition to the following:

Server-side classes

Servlets, JavaBean components and related Java class files. These must be stored in the WEB-INF/classes directory.

Auxiliary JARs

Tag libraries and any utility libraries called by server-side classes. These must be stored in the WEB-INF/lib directory.

web.xml

The web component deployment descriptor is stored in the WEB-INF directory