1. Download and install Oracle Java JRE or JDK 6.0; gcc-java does not work and is bundled with some Linux distributions; The latest versions of ConcourseSuite work with Java 7 and Tomcat 7. ConcourseSuite 6.0 is aligned with Java 6 while ConcourseSuite 5.0 is aligned with Tomcat 5.5 up to 5.5.25.
2. Download and install Tomcat stable "Core" from 
http://tomcat.apache.org ; Apache Tomcat is bundled with some Linux distributions and fails if it was compiled with gcc-java
3. Depending on the total memory of your system, typically set Tomcat’s memory to half of the server by setting the following environment variable (directly in the startup.sh file):

export JAVA_OPTS="-Xms512 -Xmx512m -XX:PermSize=64m \
-XX:MaxPermSize=128m"

4. Enable software graphics rending, or else ConcourseSuite CRM will fail, by setting the following environment variable (directly in the startup.sh file).

# For Tomcat 5.5.27 with older CRM versions only
export CATALINA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true \
-Dorg.apache.jasper.compiler.Parser.STRICT_QUOTE_ESCAPING=false"

5. Download and copy the ConcourseSuite CRM application (crm.war) into Tomcat’s "webapps" directory
6. Setup a service to automatically have Tomcat start and stop during startup and shutdown, according to Tomcat’s documentation; the user that starts Tomcat must have a home directory as this is where Java stores preferences for Java applications

Permissions for the Tomcat User

The Java API tries to store a preference in the user's home directory. If the user that runs Tomcat does not have a home directory, then after a restart the user will be prompted to configure the application again. Choosing the same path reloads the existing configuration.

If this occurs, then in the Tomcat startup script, you can add a variable called CATALINA_OPTS, or use an environment variable, with a directory that the tomcat user does have access to...

CATALINA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true \
-Djava.util.prefs.userRoot=/opt/concursive/crm/fileLibrary/userPrefs \
-Djava.util.prefs.systemRoot=/opt/concursive/crm/fileLibrary/systemPrefs"

1. java.awt.headless is used for any server generated graphics
2. the other two specify the directory to write the prefs to (and must already exist with the correct permissions).

Notes about gcc-java

GCJ supports most of the Java 1.4 libraries plus some 1.5 additions, but not all. This causes ConcourseSuite CRM to break. If you are using a Linux distribution with gcj then you can take the following steps after installing Sun Java and Apache Tomcat (do not use the versions included with Linux):

1. Overwrite (or rename) the existing bin/java command by creating a soft link to Sun's bin/java
2. Update /etc/init.d/tomcat with the user that should be running Tomcat
3. Make changes to /etc/ant.conf (if using ConcourseSuite CRM source)