Adding a new servlet to tomcat 6

[titanzero]

Hello everybody

I have been banging my head against a brick wall with this for hours now. I have googled lots and lots and lots and I need a simple answer specifically for tomcat 6.

I have read the tomcat docs but they just confuse me to the point of frustration. I am therefore asking for your kind help in explaining a few simple points to me.

I have a simple servlet that just prints "hello world". I have web.xml and HelloWorldServlet.java and .class.

I want to add these to my tomcat server so I can access it using

http://localhost:8080/ServletLab/HelloWorld

I set my directories as follows

/webapps/ServletLab/WEB-INF

this contains

web.mxl
classes

classes contains my .java and .class file

When I try to get the app to load I get a 404.

I think I need to define the context. I dont know what this means but I assume it means telling tomcat that ServletLab is a servlet.

How do I define the context? I think i need to edit the context.xml file in conf of tomcat home. But I dont know how to do this. Every where I look seems to skip over the basics and I get confused.

Does any one know where there is a VERY simple step-by-step tutorial which will explain how to get my servlet working for tomcat 6? Or, can anyone please explain this to me like I am a child?!?!?!

Thanks for your help and time
Andrew