Cloudcat can be used to develop and test Web apps in the cloud and to expand data center capacity MuleSoft this week is launching Cloudcat, which makes the Apache Tomcat Web application server available as a cloud-based service.Available on the the Amazon Web Services and GoGrid cloud platforms, Cloudcat is a virtual image for developers and quality assurance persons to build and test connected Web applications in the cloud, MuleSoft said. Also, IT operations can expand data center capacity by using Cloudcat during peak times or as a cheaper alternative to hosting Tomcat on an internal server.MuleSoft expects Cloudcat will initially be used mostly for development and testing as well as for deployment of certain classes of Web applications. “Anything that runs on a Java servlet container can be deployed on Tomcat. These are typically lighter-weight Web applications that need good scalability” and varying levels of customer demand, said Chris Purpura, MuleSoft vice president of business and corporate development. “By putting them in the cloud, [the applications] can take advantage of elasticity,” Purpura said.Tomcat, however, is not an enterprise Java server; it lacks the full Java stack, he said.“You probably won’t deploy your Siebel application on Tomcat,” said Purpura. Features of Cloudcat include:Provisioning of Cloudcat for developing and testing Tomcat applications.A familiar deployment model in which applications are put on Cloudcat just as they would on a local Tomcat server.Diagnostics of the Cloudcat runtime and MuleSource Tcat Server management console.Integration with the Apache Maven Java repository, for integration between development and testing.Integration with Tcat REST APIs for management and controls.Enterprise support.Inclusion of the MySQL database on Linux.32- and 64-bit images.Cloudcat Amazon Edition starts in price at 30 cents per hour and features Canonical Ubuntu Linux. Cloudcat GoGrid Edition starts at $29 per month, featuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux.This article, “MuleSoft launches cloud-based Tomcat Web app server,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in cloud computing and in software development at InfoWorld.com. Read more about developer world in InfoWorld’s Developer World Channel. PaaSDevelopment Tools