JSP - Architecture
The web server needs a JSP engine ie. container to process JSP pages. The JSP container is responsible for intercepting requests for JSP pages. This tutorial makes use of Apache which has built-in JSP container to support JSP pages development.A JSP container works with the Web server to provide the runtime environment and other services a JSP needs. It knows how to understand the special elements that are part of JSPs.
Following diagram shows the position of JSP container and JSP files in a Web Application.