Goal of this section: Install and run Flowable 6.7.2 on Tomcat 9. At the end, you should be able to open Flowable IDM in your browser at http://localhost:8080/flowable-idm/ and log in with admin/test.

To download and run Flowable you need (in order):

1. A Java JDK 11 installation
2. An Apache Tomcat 9 installation
3. The Flowable 6.7.2 distribution

1. Download and install JDK 11 from https://adoptium.net/temurin/releases?version=11&os=any&arch=any (Eclipse Temurin). Choose Temurin 11 for your operating system and install it with default options.
2. After installation, locate your JDK directory, for example (Windows): C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-11.x.x\
   • On Windows – define JAVA_HOME and update Path:

    Right-click on **This PC** → **Properties** → **Advanced system settings** → **Environment Variables...**
    Under **System variables**, click **New...** and create:
    **Variable name:** `JAVA_HOME`
    **Variable value:** `C:\Program Files\Eclipse Adoptium\jdk-11.x.x`
    

    
    Still under System variables, select Path → Edit... → New and add:
    %JAVA_HOME%\bin

• On Linux (bash example) – define JAVA_HOME:

    //Edit your shell configuration file (e.g. **~/.bashrc**) and add: 
    export JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/java-11-openjdk-amd64"
    export PATH="$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH" </code>
    //Then reload the configuration:
     source ~/.bashrc

• Test that Java is correctly installed (all OS):

• Open a new terminal / command prompt and type:

           java -version
           echo %JAVA_HOME%    (on Windows)
           echo $JAVA_HOME     (on Linux) 

• You should see Java 11 version information and a valid JAVA_HOME path.

• In case of error: Go back to this section, verify the path to your JDK, and fix the environment variables.

- Download Apache Tomcat 9 from: https://dlcdn.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-9/v9.0.112/bin/apache-tomcat-9.0.112.zip
- Extract the archive into your working directory, for example:C:\apache-tomcat-9.0.xx\
This directory will be referred to as TOMCAT_HOME. - Start your Tomcat:

• On Windows: execute (in your cmd)

  TOMCAT_HOME\bin\startup.bat

• On Linux: execute (in your terminal)

  TOMCAT_HOME/bin/startup.sh

- open in your browser:

• http://localhost:8080

- Download flowable-6.7.2.zip from the official Flowable 6.7.2 release page: (https://github.com/flowable/flowable-engine/releases/download/flowable-6.7.2/flowable-6.7.2.zip) - Save the file and extract it into your working directory, for example:C:\flowable-6.7.2\ - Inside this directory, locate the wars subdirectory: “C:\flowable-6.7.2\wars\”

• It should contain:

+ flowable-ui.war

  + flowable-rest.war

- Copy the following WAR files from C:\flowable-6.7.2\wars\ to the webapps folder of Tomcat, for example:

  From: C:\flowable-6.7.2\wars\flowable-ui.war
  To:   TOMCAT_HOME\webapps\flowable-ui.war
 
  From: C:\flowable-6.7.2\wars\flowable-rest.war
  To:   TOMCAT_HOME\webapps\flowable-rest.war

- Test flowable:

• Start your Tomcat:

    //On Windows: execute (in your cmd)
    TOMCAT_HOME\bin\startup.bat

    // On Linux: execute (in your terminal)
    TOMCAT_HOME/bin/startup.sh

• Wait a few seconds so Tomcat can unpack the WAR files into directories (e.g. `flowable-ui`, `flowable-rest`).

• Open your browser and go to (http://localhost:8080/flowable-ui/)

- You should see the Flowable IDM login page.

- Login as administrator:

• Username: `admin`
• Password: `test`

- After login, you will have access to the Flowable web applications through the menu (IDM, Modeler, Task, Admin).

Where to check in case of errors (very important):

• If Tomcat does not start or you get errors:
  1. Check the console/terminal where you launched startup.bat or startup.sh.
  2. Check Tomcat log files located in:

     TOMCAT_HOME\logs\

• The most important log files are:

    catalina.YYYY-MM-DD.log – general server and application startup log
    localhost.YYYY-MM-DD.log – web application specific errors

• If Flowable pages display HTTP 500 errors or do not load, open the latest catalina and localhost logs and look for lines with ERROR or Exception.

Important note about the database:
By default, Flowable uses an H2 database (file-based) for testing. Data may not be persistent or robust enough for long-term use.
In the next section, you will configure Flowable to use a MySQL database instead.

1. Download and install MySQL Community Server from: (https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/)
2. During installation, remember the MySQL root password and make sure the MySQL service is running.

1. Connect to MySQL as root (or an admin user) using MySQL Workbench or the command line, then execute:

  CREATE DATABASE flowable
  CHARACTER SET utf8mb4
  COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
  
  CREATE USER 'flowable'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'flowablepw';
  GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON flowable.* TO 'flowable'@'%';
  FLUSH PRIVILEGES; </code>

1. You can change the database name, username, or password if you want, but you must use the same values later in the configuration file.

1. Download MySQL Connector/J (JDBC driver) from: https://downloads.mysql.com/archives/get/p/3/file/mysql-connector-j-8.0.33.zip
2. Download the platform-independent version and extract it if it is a zip archive.
3. Locate the JAR file, for example: mysql-connector-j-8.0.33.jar
4. Copy this JAR file into the lib directory of Tomcat, for example:

  From: C:\path\to\download\mysql-connector-j-8.0.33.jar
  To:   TOMCAT_HOME\lib\mysql-connector-j-8.0.33.jar

• Create a file called application.properties in the lib directory of Tomcat:

   TOMCAT_HOME\lib\application.properties

• Add the following content (adapt to your MySQL settings if necessary):

 # ==== JDBC settings for MySQL ====
 spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
 spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/flowable?characterEncoding=UTF-8&useSSL=false&serverTimezone=UTC
 spring.datasource.username=flowable
 spring.datasource.password=flowablepw
 
 # ==== Flowable schema handling ====
 # This will automatically create/update the Flowable tables in the database
 flowable.database-schema-update=true

• Explanation:
  • `spring.datasource.url` indicates the MySQL server, port, and database name (`flowable`).
  • `spring.datasource.username` and `spring.datasource.password` must match the MySQL user created earlier.
  • `flowable.database-schema-update=true` tells Flowable to automatically create and update its tables in the `flowable` database.

1. Restart Tomcat to apply the new configuration:

  // On Windows: (in your cmd)
  TOMCAT_HOME\bin\shutdown.bat
  TOMCAT_HOME\bin\startup.bat
  // On Linux: (in your terminal)
  TOMCAT_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh
  TOMCAT_HOME/bin/startup.sh

1. Open your browser and go again to: http://localhost:8080/flowable-ui/ and log in with admin/test.
2. If the login page appears and you can access Modeler/Task/Admin, Flowable has started correctly with the new database configuration.
3. Now verify that Flowable has created tables in MySQL:
4. Connect to MySQL and execute:

  USE flowable;
  SHOW TABLES;

• You should see many tables with names starting with ACT_ (for example: `ACT_RU_TASK`, `ACT_RU_EXECUTION`, `ACT_HI_PROCINST`, etc.).
  

If Tomcat does not start or Flowable pages show HTTP 500 errors after enabling MySQL, check the following:
1) Tomcat logs directory:

• Open: TOMCAT_HOME\logs\
  
• Look at:
  
  • catalina.YYYY-MM-DD.log
  • localhost.YYYY-MM-DD.log

2) Typical problems and messages:

• Wrong database URL → errors mentioning `Communications link failure` or `Unknown database`.
• Wrong username/password → errors like `Access denied for user 'flowable'@'localhost'`.
• Missing JDBC driver → errors like `ClassNotFoundException: com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver`.
• MySQL server not running → connection timeout errors.
• Correct the configuration in application.properties or fix MySQL, then restart Tomcat and test again.

Once no more errors appear in logs and Flowable is accessible, your configuration with Flowable 6.7.2 + Tomcat 9 + MySQL is complete. 🎉🎉🎉🎉