How do i check tomcat is running?

amurleopard

Default port check, not always reliable because it might not be running on the default port. or port 8080 being used by another service, that's a precaution, it is generally left at port 8080.

If you want to check by default port.

$ sudo netstat -lpn |grep :8080
tcp6       0      0 :::8080                 :::*                    LISTEN      8930/java

Check by process id.

$ ps -aux | grep catalina

See if it matches you tomcat.pid.

$ cat $CATALINA_HOME/tomcat.pid
8870