Write an implementation of ServletContextListener (org.myapp.Startup.java):
public class Startup implements ServletContextListener
{
@Override
public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent sce) {}
@Override
public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent sce)
{
// Do your startup work here
}
}
And add it to your web.xml:
<listener>
<listener-class>org.myapp.Startup</listener-class>
</listener>