Tomcat starting from command prompt but not from eclipse

[Dwarka Damodaran]

Hello All,

I ran into an issue as the subject says with apache-tomcat-6.0.33 zip archive installation.

When i run the tomcat server from command prompt it starts up perfectly correct i.e. i am able to access the admin console shipped with tomcat @ http://localhost:8080/. On the other hand i configured the same installation of tomcat with Eclipse Helios Service Release 1 and started the server and was able to see following log

Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: C:\Program Files\Java\jre7\bin;C:\WINDOWS\Sun\Java\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin/client;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/bin;C:/Program Files/Java/jre7/lib/i386;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\PROGRA~1\DISKEE~1\DISKEE~1\;C:\WINDOWS\Support\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\develop\environment;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\PROGRA~1\DISKEE~1\DISKEE~1\;C:\WINDOWS\Support\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;.
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 323 ms
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Catalina
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.33
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/16 config=null
Nov 10, 2011 2:28:04 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 176 ms

meaning the server started @localhost:8080, but i was not able to access the admin console as before with the command line. There were no error in the trace or any abnormal activity on the log. i looked into the TCPView and the port 8080 had the established status. The following are my environment details,

OS - Windows XP Professional (Service pack 3)
Eclipse: Helios Service Release 1 (Build 20100917-0705)
Tomcat: 6.0.33
Java: jdk1.6.0_14

Thanks and Regards,
Dwarka

[Peter Johnson]

When Eclipse fires up Tomcat I don't that that it uses the tomcat_home/websapps directory. Thus none of those apps will be available. Only apps that you publish to Tomcat within Eclipse will be available.

[Dwarka Damodaran]

Hello Peter,

Ya as you said i had not deployed anything onto the tomcat and it was a fresh install. So i created a simple dynamic web project with an index.html and tried accessing it but it still failed with a HTTP Status 404 error. As you had mentioned about the tomcat deploy directory i did check the Server Overview page and found that under Server Locations composite "Use Workspace metadata" was checked. I changed it to "Use Tomcat Installation" and everything worked fine. But why was it not working when "Use Workspace metadata" was checked (Atleast the project that i deployed should have been accessible).

I will anyways try to find out why this happened and keep this post updated.

Thank you very much for your help !!!

Thanks and Regards,
Dwarka