diff --git a/src/main/resources/META-INF/frontpage.html b/gcube/extra-resources/META-INF/frontpage.html
similarity index 100%
rename from src/main/resources/META-INF/frontpage.html
rename to gcube/extra-resources/META-INF/frontpage.html
diff --git a/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/javax.servlet.ServletContainerInitializer b/gcube/extra-resources/META-INF/services/javax.servlet.ServletContainerInitializer
similarity index 100%
rename from src/main/resources/META-INF/services/javax.servlet.ServletContainerInitializer
rename to gcube/extra-resources/META-INF/services/javax.servlet.ServletContainerInitializer
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fab527a..d290cb7 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 	<parent>
 		<artifactId>maven-parent</artifactId>
 		<groupId>org.gcube.tools</groupId>
-		<version>1.1.0</version>
+		<version>1.2.0</version>
 		<relativePath />
 	</parent>
 	<groupId>org.gcube.core</groupId>
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 		</dependencies>
 	</dependencyManagement>
 	<properties>
-		<tomcat.version>8.0.42</tomcat.version>
+		<tomcat.version>9.0.85</tomcat.version>
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
 		<maven.compiler.source>11</maven.compiler.source>
 		<maven.compiler.target>11</maven.compiler.target>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
index 175ac93..2e0a395 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/ApplicationManager.java
@@ -81,10 +81,6 @@ public class ApplicationManager {
 
 			ApplicationHandlers handlers = provider().handlersFor(context);
 
-			/*
-			extensions = provider().extensionsFor(context);
-			extensions.validate();
-			 */
 			
 			List<ApplicationLifecycleHandler> lifecycleHandlers = handlers.lifecycleHandlers();
 			List<RequestHandler> requestHandlers = handlers.requestHandlers();
@@ -99,7 +95,7 @@ public class ApplicationManager {
 			registerExtension(extensions);
 
 			// then intercept them all
-			registerHandlers(requestHandlers);
+			registerHandlersAsFilter(requestHandlers);
 
 			// start lifecycle management
 			start(lifecycleHandlers);
@@ -171,29 +167,18 @@ public class ApplicationManager {
 
 	}
 
-	private void registerHandlers(List<RequestHandler> rqHandlers) {
+	private void registerHandlersAsFilter(List<RequestHandler> rqHandlers) {
 
 		ServletContext app = context.application();
 
-		// attach filters based on request pipeline to each servlet
-		Collection<? extends ServletRegistration> servlets = app.getServletRegistrations().values();
+		String appName = app.getContextPath().replace("/", "");
+		
+		RequestManager requestFilter = new RequestManager(context, appName, rqHandlers);
 
-		for (ServletRegistration servlet : servlets) {
+		FilterRegistration.Dynamic filter = app.addFilter(appName + "-filter", requestFilter);
 
-			String name = servlet.getName();
+		filter.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null, false, "/*");
 
-			if (name.equals("default") || name.equals("jsp")) // skip page-resolving servlets
-				continue;
-
-			for (String mapping : servlet.getMappings()) {
-
-				RequestManager requestFilter = new RequestManager(context, name, rqHandlers);
-
-				FilterRegistration.Dynamic filter = app.addFilter(name + "-filter-"+mapping.replaceAll("/", ""), requestFilter);
-
-				filter.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null, false, mapping);
-			}
-		}
 	}
 
 	private void registerExtension(List<ApplicationExtension> extensions) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/RequestManager.java b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/RequestManager.java
index 4e0414d..4bf17c8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/RequestManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/gcube/smartgears/managers/RequestManager.java
@@ -66,7 +66,9 @@ public class RequestManager implements Filter {
 
 		HttpServletRequest httprequest = (HttpServletRequest) request;
 		HttpServletResponse httpresponse = (HttpServletResponse) response;
-
+	
+		log.warn("request filter for app {} applied to {}", this.servlet, httprequest.getServletContext().getContextPath());
+		
 		List<RequestHandler> filterHandlers = getPipelineHandlers(httprequest, handlers);
 
 		if (filterHandlers.isEmpty()){
diff --git a/src/main/resources/META-INF/.gitignore b/src/main/resources/META-INF/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index b5c4b2d..0000000
--- a/src/main/resources/META-INF/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/smartgears-config.xml