jdk and other issues

i'm trying to create a web log for a non-profit to use in international communications.

in speaking to his isp, we found the following questions?:

1. they use jdk v 1.17 which came with apache v2.0 this apparently requires jdk v1.3.

will this work with jdk v1.17 at all? they have no immediate plans to upgrade.

2. they do not run tomcat. what functionality is lost, if any? is it really required?

3. they run a single java virtual machine. is that a problem? each user has their own config files.

They are running Red Hat 5.4 and 6.2 with a modified kernel (for security).

answers asap is most appreciated. time is a major consideration here.

thank you so much!