Tomcat: One or more listeners failed to start

Question

I have an application which is not starting up after I added/upgraded some dependencies. It logs an error saying

SEVERE: One or more listeners failed to start. Full details will be found in the appropriate container log file

I saw all the log files, and catalina., localhost., application.*, but none of them seem to have the stacktrace because of which the startup is breaking.

This is tomcat8, java8.

How do I check the logs and where can the logs go other than the normal tomcat folder.

Catalina logs:

Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: [
/user/name/Library/Java/Extensions:/Library/Java/Extensions:/Network/Library/Java/Extensions:/System/Library/Java/Extensions:/usr/lib/java:.]
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-nio-7060"]
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioSelectorPool getSharedSelector
INFO: Using a shared selector for servlet write/read
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["ajp-nio-9060"]
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioSelectorPool getSharedSelector
INFO: Using a shared selector for servlet write/read
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 556 ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService startInternal
INFO: Starting service [Catalina]
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine startInternal
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/8.5.23
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:32 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deploying web application archive [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/application.war]
Feb 06, 2018 3:07:48 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:07 PM redis.clients.jedis.JedisSentinelPool initSentinels
INFO: Trying to find master from available Sentinels...
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:07 PM redis.clients.jedis.JedisSentinelPool initSentinels
INFO: Redis master running at 127.0.0.1:6379, starting Sentinel listeners...
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:07 PM redis.clients.jedis.JedisSentinelPool initPool
INFO: Created JedisPool to master at 127.0.0.1:6379
Hibernate: A complicated Hibernate query
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:25 PM com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener contextInitialized
INFO: Initializing Mojarra 2.2.7 ( 20140610-1547 https://svn.java.net/svn/mojarra~svn/tags/2.2.7@13362) for context '/application'
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:25 PM com.sun.faces.spi.InjectionProviderFactory createInstance
INFO: JSF1048: PostConstruct/PreDestroy annotations present.  ManagedBeans methods marked with these annotations will have said annotations processed.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:26 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deployment of web application archive [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/application.war] has finished in [53,864] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:26 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/docs]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:26 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:26 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deployment of web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/docs] has finished in [386] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:26 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/examples]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deployment of web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/examples] has finished in [551] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/host-manager]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deployment of web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/host-manager] has finished in [363] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:27 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/manager]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deployment of web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/manager] has finished in [295] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deploying web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/ROOT]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.jasper.servlet.TldScanner scanJars
INFO: At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time.
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployDirectory
INFO: Deployment of web application directory [/usr/local/Cellar/tomcat/8.5.23/libexec/webapps/ROOT] has finished in [298] ms
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-nio-7060"]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-nio-9060"]
Feb 06, 2018 3:08:28 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 55840 ms

Katinakatine

Can you check your logs file ? and can you share with us more details about the error ? – Infidel

This helped to find the error log file and the actual error sh bin/startup.sh ; tail -f logs/*.log; – Particiaparticipant

Answer 1

Found a simple way to identify the problem.

1. In your WEB-INF/classes directory of the application, make a new file: logging.properties.

2. Add the following in that file:

org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].level=INFO
org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].handlers=java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler

3. Restart tomcat.

Now you'll have the complete stacktrace and debug the problem from there on.

For a Maven Build

1. Create a new logging.properties in the src/main/resources directory of the module
2. Add these entries into that new file

org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].level=INFO
org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].handlers=java.util.logging.ConsoleHandler

3. Run mvn clean install
4. Restart Tomcat

Katinakatine

But, what file have you checked for stacktrace? catalina.out? – Hooky

@Sergei Siriik : Sandeep requested us to define a ConsoleHandler. The stacktrace is thus displayed in the Tomcat console. – Sherrer

You can also add this file to the Tomcat lib directory, which avoids modifying your application. – Zamia

Why does Tomcat suppress SEVERE errors without this file? This obstructs debugging and feels counterintuitive as a default behavior. – Debbidebbie

@NickH - thank you for the hint. That helped me just now. I was upgrading from Tomcat 9.0.89 to 9.0.90 and there was only they error with the container. Since I added the logging.properties to the tomcat/lib/ folder I got a precise error! – Boabdil

Answer 2

Adding the logging.properties file didn't do anything for me. Instead found the stack trace of my error in tomcat/logs/localhost.[YYYY-MM-DD].log.

Jeb

Answer 3

The logging.properties solution will not work if your app uses SLF4J. Add a dependency on jul-to-slf4j to redirect the output to your configured logger

Galvanoscope