Tomcat 8.5 server.xml - Multiple SSLHostConfig elements were provided for the host name [_default_]. Host names must be unique

Question

I am trying to change server.xml with Tomcat 8.5 and get the following error when trying to start tomcat:

09-Feb-2017 06:23:25.278 WARNING [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load Catalina.start using conf/server.xml: Error at (135, 20) : Multiple SSLHostConfig elements were provided for the host name [default]. Host names must be unique.

Relevant server.xml code:

<Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol" SSLEnabled="true"
           maxThreads="150" scheme="https" secure="true"
           clientAuth="false" >
  <SSLHostConfig>       
                  keystoreFile="/saswork/sasadmin/tomcat/certs/eccerts" 
                   keystorePass="xxxxxxxx"
                   storepass="xxxxxxxx"
                   truststoreFile="/saswork/sasadmin/tomcat/certs/eccerts"
                   sslProtocol="TLS"
 </SSLHostConfig>   

Advice appreciated on what the error means and suggestions on a solution welcome.

Answer 1

A quite confusing error "Multiple SSLHostConfig elements" when you clearly only have one.

Turns out this is caused by using deprecated directives.

If you put any of these deprecated attributes in the Connector directive, tomcat assumes you are using the old way and auto creates a SSLHostConfig itself, which then conflicts with the one you are creating.

In your particular case you were using clientAuth="false" on the Connector directive which has become certificateVerification="none" on the SSLHostConfig directive