Tomcat deployment failure

Question

The Issue I'm Having

I've implemented a mild change to my application, and I checked it into the subversion repository. Once that was checked in, I ran a Jenkins build. Jenkins is currently running on a Windows server.

The error I am receiving is the following:

org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to execute goal       
org.codehaus.mojo:tomcat-maven-plugin:1.1:deploy (deploy) on project sd-rest-servlet: 
Cannot invoke Tomcat manager: FAIL - Deployed application at context path /sd but 
context failed to start

I investigated further into this error message, so I checked out the Tomcat logs on the Jenkins server, and I found an underlying issue:

SEVERE: Error starting static Resources
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Document base C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\temp\28-sd does not exist or is not a readable directory
at org.apache.naming.resources.FileDirContext.setDocBase(FileDirContext.java:142)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.resourcesStart(StandardContext.java:4320)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4489)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:799)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:779)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:601)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:675)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:601)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:502)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1385)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:306)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:142)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.backgroundProcess(ContainerBase.java:1389)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1653)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1662)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.run(ContainerBase.java:1642)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Now, as I understand it, the temp folder is only ever used in this way when I set antiJarLocking or antiResourceLocking to true in the context file. However, as you can see, I have not included this in the Context element:

<Context unpackWAR="false">

Other Behaviour

Unable to Undeploy

After some close inspection, I've found that Jenkins isn't able to undeploy the application. In the logs, I see this message.

[INFO] Undeploying application at http://localhost:8082/sd
[INFO] OK - Undeployed application at context path /sd

However, the build fails when it attempts to deploy, with the following error:

Cannot invoke Tomcat manager: FAIL - Application already exists at path /sd

Erratic access to the Temp directory

I've also noticed that it throws the same IllegalArgumentException whenever it attempts to access any file inside the temp directory. This tells me there is something wrong with the temp directory, however I've set the permissions, and earlier on in the application, Jenkins actually puts a file in the temp directory.

No Problems Depoying

Jenkins actually deploys the application without a problem. I've watched the directories change when the files are added to them, including the temp directory. This tells me that Jenkins is randomly deciding it can't read the contents of the directory, despite the fact that it is added a file to it. It appears that it has write permissions, but not read permissions, which really doesn't make much sense!

Attempts to Solve the problem

Ensured the file exists

I first attempted to look inside C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\temp\28-sd to see if the file existed. Sure enough, it existed.

Altered Permissions

I've set permissions to allow for full access from every user on the server, as a precaution.

Researched the use of the Temp directory

I've attempted to configure my context file to avoid all use of the temp directory, so I don't have a clue why it's still attempting to read from it. I am inexperienced with the ins and outs of this technology, so I may still have some settings that require the temp folder.

Edits

Expanded Tomcat Logs

18-Dec-2013 12:14:19 org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig checkResources
INFO: Undeploying context [/sd]
18-Dec-2013 12:16:06 org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDescriptor
INFO: Deploying configuration descriptor sd.xml
18-Dec-2013 12:16:09 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext resourcesStart

<!-- Above stacktrace goes here -->

18-Dec-2013 12:16:09 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error in resourceStart()
18-Dec-2013 12:16:09 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error getConfigured
18-Dec-2013 12:16:09 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Context [/sd] startup failed due to previous errors
18-Dec-2013 12:16:09 org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext stop
INFO: Container org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].[/sd] has  not been started

Some more information on the issue

After reading through the logs for the thousandth time, I reread this line:

...Tomcat 6.0\temp\28-sd does not exist or is *not a readable directory*

So when I looked inside the temp directory again, I realized that the files being generated aren't directories. They are these weird file objects with no extension, and they look like this:

For me, this indicates that something has gone wrong with the way Tomcat manipulates files and this is the core of the issue. I hope this extra information helps someone with the answer!

Answer 1

I see that Hoaz suggested moving the deployment out of C:\Program Files\ because of the space character. I wonder if it's rather a permissions issue than the space in the name?

Can you please also try these (without uninstalling the Tomcat from C:\Program Files\):

1. Configure the location of the temp directory to be outside C:\Program Files\

   Reference : SO question How is the Tomcat temp directory location defined?

2. Change the location of docBase and/or appBase

   Reference :Apache documentation http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/config/host.html

Also, forcing the installation outside "C:\Program Files" would work fine unless / until someone insists that "That's where the Program Files should live, you know". :-)