Chapter 1, Installing GeoServer for Production, examines how GeoServer can be deployed in a production environment. Installation of GeoServer in Apache Tomcat on both Windows and Linux platforms is covered. The chapter ends by looking at different production-deployment architectures for failover and high availability.

Chapter 2, Working with Raster Data, addresses the different types of raster data that can be served by GeoServer and how to optimize them to serve at performance. Increasing the number of raster formats that can be served by implementing the GDAL extension is covered along with an approach to storing and serving very large coverage.

Chapter 3, Working with Vector Data in Spatial Databases, concentrates on storage and serving of vector data from spatial databases. PostGIS, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server databases are covered along with the use of SQL Views as layers.

Chapter 4, Using GeoServer to Serve Complex Features, describes how GeoServer can be used to deliver complex-featured schemas as a WFS service. In this chapter, we take a look at the concepts involved in complex schemas, discussing the difference between simple and complex features. To illustrate the concepts, we will take the Open Street Map data and publish it as an INSPIRE Annex I Road Transport Network schema.

Chapter 5, Using GeoServer as a Proxy, takes a look at using GeoServer's cascaded services to act as a proxy to another WMS and/or WFS server. This capability is a little gem and often underutilized in production. We take a closer look and explore the different reasons why we might like to do it.

Chapter 6, Controlling the Output of GeoServer, takes a closer look at the technologies available to allow us to set styling for our layers. The chapter introduces us to the CSS styling extension that allows people familiar with this standard web technology to create gorgeous-looking maps. In addition to looking at how layers can be styled, we will also explore other areas where we can control GeoServer's output, such as responses to WMS GetFeatureInformation requests.

Chapter 7, Using GeoServer to Print Maps, tells us that no web mapping server will be complete without the capability to generate printed output. In this chapter, we take a look at the community print extension that adds the capability to generate output to print through a flexible and powerful template capability. We learn how to install and configure the extension as well as create a print template and exploit the capability with an example using OpenLayers.

Chapter 8, Integrating GeoServer in a Spatial Data Infrastructure, explores the concepts behind SDI. This chapter shows us how GeoServer can be integrated within a complete production system to provide more than just a means of delivering styled maps for a web application.

Chapter 9, GeoServer as a Spatial Analysis Platform, explores the technologies available in GeoServer that allow us to perform server-side spatial analysis. GeoServer, in production, does not have to simply deliver maps for use in web applications. It is a powerful spatial analysis platform in its own right. First, the chapter explores the use of Web Processing Services (WPS), and it then moves on to show us how we can create our own services using GeoScript.

Chapter 10, Enterprise Security and GeoServer, demonstrates how GeoServer can be secured within a corporate environment utilizing standard corporate security technologies such as LDAP and Active Directory. Other options to secure GeoServer are also covered to show us how easy it is to lock down our web mapping servers.

Chapter 11, Monitoring the Performance and Health of GeoServer, is an important chapter because it shows us the tools available to monitor the health of our GeoServer instances. Maintaining a healthy GeoServer instance is crucial for a good user experience of applications using maps and the data served. This chapter will help us to understand when our servers perform sub optimally.

Chapter 12, Optimizing GeoServer for Production, is the final chapter of the book, and this is where we take a last look at the configuration of our server. The chapter goes about providing strategies and options to optimize the configuration of our servers. It also introduces us to some special considerations when running a cluster of GeoServers.

In order to implement what you will be learning in this book, you just need the following:

This book is for a GIS professional who intends to explore advanced techniques and get more out of GeoServer deployment other than simply delivering good-looking maps. This book will teach you advanced topics to enable you to provide a platform for server-side spatial analysis and deploy GeoServer in enterprise deployments. Familiarity with GIS and concepts of web mapping servers will be helpful, but is not essential.

In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "Our crime_type parameter has been recognized and added to the table."

A block of code is set as follows:

SELECT 
    ID, 
    REPORTED_BY, 
    CRIME_TYPE, 
    LAST_OUTCOME_CATEGORY, 
    GEOM 
FROM 
    STREET_LEVEL_CRIME 
WHERE 
    CRIME_TYPE = '%crime_type%' 
    AND 
    LAST_OUTCOME_CATEGORY = 'Under investigation'

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

- !columns
    widths: [709, 113]
    width: 822
    absoluteX: 10
    absoluteY: 585
    items:
      - !text
        text: '${mapTitle}'
        font: Arial Bold
        fontSize: 28
        vertAlign: middle
      - !image

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ sudo service tomcat-1 restart
$ sudo service tomcat-2 restart

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "To the right of the map, there is a Print Settings box that contains controls that can be used to set the content for print."

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