Tomcat5 - Application at context path could not be started

[jcwinnie]

I have Tomcat5 running on FC6. Am able to use Tomcat admin, manager, and view examples.

Supposedly, I should be able to drop a *.war file into webapps or deploy same from Tomcat manager and begin using the application.

Application deploys, but then is not accessible. Error message that appears in Tomcat manager is "FAIL - Application at context path /[my app] could not be started

The two apps that I have tried to deploy, both current versions, are JSPWiki and Pebble.

Any suggestions on how to succeed with a Java app on a Tomcat?

[jcwinnie]

Tried setting JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME to no avail.

[AlexThomson_NZ]

The first thing to try is to start Tomcat and make sure it starts properly. Go to your tomcat directory and type:

./catalina.sh run

Which will start Tomcat running in the current window. Make sure it starts withour error. You should get a line:

INFO: Server startup in 2701 ms

Which means all is good. Otherwise probably the most common error is a Bind error which means the ports used (8005 and 8080 by default) is already in use.

If you are happy this has started ok, and you can browse to the Tomcat placeholder page (http://localhost:8080), it should just be a matter of dropping the WAR file into the /webapps directory- again this should produce some output in the console window again- check to make sure still no errors.

[jcwinnie]

It should be, but isn't.

In other words, yes, I have Tomcat5 running when I go to localhost:8080/
I can run Tomcat manager and admin.
But deploying a war file, either by dropping it into the webapps directory or using manager presents me with an error.

[AlexThomson_NZ]

What errors are displayed at the console when you deploy the WAR file?

[jcwinnie]

Mm, not sure that I understand the question completely as I mislaid my Kiwi-Yankeee dictionary and am unsure of the meaning of "console" in this context, but still will try to answer.

I can deploy the war file without error. But then the deployed application cannot be started, which is when I get the Context path error.

It is about "should work" versus "does work".

[AlexThomson_NZ]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. By "console" I mean "command prompt" or "terminal".

If you can start Tomcat in the terminal using the "./catalina.sh run" command you will get more detailed error messages, or alternatively you can go throuigh the log files and look for a stacktrace or other error messages. Either way you will have to give more information if you need us to help ya.

[Qrius]

well Jcwinnie your not the only one with this problem. I to have trouble starting my app after deploying it on my school server. (It does work on my own server though)
Maybe it has to do with the fact that I run windows and my school server runs on unix/linux I dunno??

With me it has something to do with my database listener (Derby DB) allthough a program on witch I based my program uses the same listener and it is called in the same way in the web.xml and context.xml.

Here's my web.xml"

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.4" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd">
<display-name>valServlet</display-name>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.altapp.valServlet.uploadToServer.UploadS ervlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/upload</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>

<listener>
<listener-class>
com.altapp.valServlet.listeners.DbInitializingList ener
</listener-class>
</listener>
</web-app>

and my context.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Context crossContext="true" debug="5" docBase="valServlet.war" path="/valServlet" reloadable="true">
<Resource auth="Container" driverClassName="org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDri ver" logAbandoned="true" maxActive="100" maxIdle="30" maxWait="10000" name="jdbc/DefaultDS" password="" removeAbandoned="true" type="javax.sql.DataSource" url="jdbc:derby:/tmp/valServlet;create=true" username=""/>
</Context>

compared to the web.xml and context.xml of the program that DOES work:
web.xml

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC
"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

<web-app>
<display-name>Mobile File Sharing</display-name>

<listener>
<listener-class>
com.altapp.fshare.listeners.DbInitializingListener
</listener-class>
</listener>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.UploadServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>DownloadServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.DownloadServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>QueryServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.QueryServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/upload</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>DownloadServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/download</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>QueryServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/query</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

and context.xml

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC
"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

<web-app>
<display-name>Mobile File Sharing</display-name>

<listener>
<listener-class>
com.altapp.fshare.listeners.DbInitializingListener
</listener-class>
</listener>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.UploadServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>DownloadServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.DownloadServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet>
<servlet-name>QueryServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
com.altapp.fshare.servlets.QueryServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>UploadServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/upload</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>DownloadServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/download</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>QueryServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/query</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

Another litlle tit-bit of information is that if I get the fshare.war (the one that works) and import it in eclipse and then export it again unchanged... it doesn't work annymore!!!???

So as summation..: HELP!! me plz

[sentry]

Sorry if this is obvious but what jre are you using? I've found that using the gcj stuff that comes preloaded on FC boxes does not work 100% of the time. You're way better off installing a jdk from sun.

[Qrius]

I am using jdk 1.6.0 from sun.

btw. Is it possible that it has something to do with memory leaks? I found something that indicated it here: http://www.nabble.com/log4j-exceptio...-t3302676.html