SEVERE: ContainerBase.addChild: start:org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start error

Question

I encountered this error when I tried to run my application in Tomcat. I already checked the version of tomcat and java home. Both use java 6.

Is there a missing jar? Or is it my web xml? I'm not using any maven tool.

SEVERE: ContainerBase.addChild: start: 
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/ICard]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:618)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:650)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDescriptor.run(HostConfig.java:1582)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/xml/rpc/handler/soap/SOAPMessageContext
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassCond(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2904)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1173)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1681)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1559)
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredMethods(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredMethods(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.Introspection.getDeclaredMethods(Introspection.java:108)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadMethodsAnnotation(WebAnnotationSet.java:279)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadApplicationServletAnnotations(WebAnnotationSet.java:141)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.WebAnnotationSet.loadApplicationAnnotations(WebAnnotationSet.java:67)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationAnnotationsConfig(ContextConfig.java:405)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:881)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:369)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5173)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 11 more
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.xml.rpc.handler.soap.SOAPMessageContext
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1714)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1559)
    ... 33 more
Jan 10, 2014 4:05:06 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDescriptor
SEVERE: Error deploying configuration descriptor F:\RCBC\workspace\.metadata\.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp1\conf\Catalina\localhost\ICard.xml
java.lang.IllegalStateException: ContainerBase.addChild: start: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Catalina].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/ICard]]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:904)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:618)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:650)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDescriptor.run(HostConfig.java:1582)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Jan 10, 2014 4:05:06 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8100"]
Jan 10, 2014 4:05:06 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-bio-8009"]
Jan 10, 2014 4:05:06 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 4003 ms

Answer 1

Got the solution for this problem.... Wooo

1. Make sure that Appliction server (Tomcat etc.) uses the same java runtime version as per what your java application is using.

2. Make sure that your using jre path not jdk path for the runtime enviroments

3. Make sure when creating a project select the appropriate server runtime versions.

Answer 2

This issue arises because of different reasons. It might encountered if you are using Spring boot built war file. As Spring boot web and rest starter projects jars do have embedded Tomcat in it, hence fails with "SEVERE: ContainerBase.addChild: start: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException".

You can fix this by exclusion of the embedded tomcat at the time of packaging by using exclusions in case of maven.

Maven dependency of "spring-boot-starter-web" will look like

   <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        <exclusions>
            <exclusion>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
            </exclusion>
        </exclusions>
    </dependency>

Answer 3

According to me, this would happen if there are two offending classes of same name but with different version. Usually, it happens due to servlet-api.jar. If its present in lib folder of your war, then pls remove it using whichever tool used for building war. Or in case of maven, add the dependency with scope specified as "provided". This will solve the compilation issue and at run time it will refer to jar provided by server environment. Pls configure the dependency as follows:

<dependency>
        <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.1</version>
        <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

Answer 4

What caused this error in my case was having two @GET methods with the same path in a single resource. Changing the @Path of one of the methods solved it for me.