Welcome files are used to satisfy HTTP requests that end in a directory name, rather than specifying the full path to a file or a path that is mapped to a servlet invocation. For each request that maps to a directory, the server searches the directory for files that occur in the Web application’s list of welcome files, in the listed order. For example, if the welcome-file list is “index.html, index.htm, welcome.jsp”, the server looks for index.html, then index.htm, then welcome.jsp. If the server finds a static file on the welcome-file list, the server returns its content. If a JSP exists on the welcome-file list, the server invokes the JSP. If no match exists in the directory, the server returns an HTTP 404 (file not found) error, because EAServer does not support directory listings.
