Failed to execute goal tomcat:deploy Error writing to server

Question

I'm trying to test a spring-mvc tutorial here.

I would like to deploy the generated war on tomcat 7 using eclipse-maven.

The war works fine when deployed manually on tomcat.

Steps to follow :

• import project on eclipse

• add this plugin to the existing POM:

  <plugin>
               <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
               <artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
              <version>1.1</version>
              <configuration>
                  <mode>war</mode>
                  <url>http://localhost:8080/manager/html/</url>
                  <server>TomcatServer</server>
                  <path>/springexample</path>
                </configuration>
  

• configure a new tomcat server in eclipse with the name TomcatServer

modify the tomcat-users.xml file: include an admin user:

<tomcat-users>
    <role rolename="admin"/>
    <role rolename="standard"/>
    <role rolename="manager-gui"/>
    <role rolename="manager"/>
    <role rolename="tomcat"/>
    <role rolename="manager-script"/>
    <user password="password" roles="standard,manager,admin,manager-gui,manager-script,tomcat" username="admin"/>
</tomcat-users>

• Add the server configuration to the setting.xml config file under .m2 user folder:

  TomcatServer admin password

• Strat tomcat server

When I execute the following goals :

Maven generate-sources : to generate the war file

then Run configuration --> with the goal :

tomcat:deploy

the error is :

[

ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:tomcat-maven-plugin:1.1:redeploy (default-cli) on project springexample: Cannot invoke Tomcat manager: Error writing to server -> [Help 1] org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:tomcat-maven-plugin:1.1:redeploy (default-cli) on project springexample: Cannot invoke Tomcat manager at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:217) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:84) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:59) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.singleThreadedBuild(LifecycleStarter.java:183) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:161) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:320) at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:156) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:537) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:196) at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:141) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:290) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:230) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:409) at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:352) Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: Cannot invoke Tomcat manager at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractCatalinaMojo.java:149) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractWarCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractWarCatalinaMojo.java:70) at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:101) at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:209) ... 19 more Caused by: java.io.IOException: Error writing to server at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source) at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.invoke(TomcatManager.java:604) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.deployImpl(TomcatManager.java:662) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.deploy(TomcatManager.java:295) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractDeployWarMojo.deployWar(AbstractDeployWarMojo.java:85) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractDeployMojo.invokeManager(AbstractDeployMojo.java:85) at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractCatalinaMojo.java:141) ... 22 more [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles: [ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoExecutionException

Answer 1

You should focus your effors on

Caused by: java.io.IOException: Error writing to server 
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source) 
at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.invoke(TomcatManager.java:604)

Look at the source for TomcatManager (http://mojo.codehaus.org/tomcat-maven-plugin/xref/org/codehaus/mojo/tomcat/TomcatManager.html#672)

The maven plugin cannot read from the server. It connects, line 597, it writes the data, line 601, but fails when it reads the response, line 604

I would try to deploy at the server first (to get rid of network problems) and see if the problem persists.

Answer 2

In my case, using the tomcat7 command for deployment worked :

tomcat7:deploy

And you should not use :

tomcat:deploy

Answer 3

My issue was related to the fact the WAR file was over 50mb. You need to set the config in web.xml from the tomcat manager.

The file will normally be in %tomcat installation%\webapps\manager\WEB-INF\web.xml

<multipart-config>
  <!-- 50MB max -->
  <max-file-size>52428800</max-file-size>
  <max-request-size>52428800</max-request-size>
  <file-size-threshold>0</file-size-threshold>
</multipart-config>