CATALINA_BASE/conf/Catalina/localhost/<APPNAME>.xml is different from application's context.xml

java tomcat web-applications jndi context.xml
Long Thai picture Long Thai · Nov 16, 2012 · Viewed 7.2k times · Source

I've been running a web application on Tomcat, when I make some changes in the application, including context.xml, and redeploy it, I start receiving an exception:

javax.naming.NamingException: Cannot create resource instance
        at org.apache.naming.factory.ResourceFactory.getObjectInstance(ResourceFactory.java:143)
        at javax.naming.spi.NamingManager.getObjectInstance(NamingManager.java:304)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:793)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:140)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:781)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:140)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:781)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:140)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:781)
        at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:153)
        at org.apache.naming.SelectorContext.lookup(SelectorContext.java:137)
        at javax.naming.InitialContext.lookup(InitialContext.java:392)

After looking around, I realise that the appname.xml in CATALINA_BASE/conf/Catalina/localhost is different than an updated context.xml, so when an application tries to look up a jndi resource, it cannot find any. According to this, 2 files must be exactly the same. I come up with 2 explanations, and questions, for this case:

  1. There is an issue that makes appname.xml unchanged during redeployment
  2. Although I change context.xml, tomcat still stores an old version somewhere and use it instead of a new one

I wonder if there is anyone see those issues before, if there is, I really appreciate any solutions. Or, if you have other explanation and/or question for my case, you're welcome! Thanks :)

L

PS: the tomcat is in my company's server, so I cannot just go and change appname.xml directly :(

Answer

Long Thai picture Long Thai · Nov 22, 2012

Explanation 1 is the answer, there is a issue in redeployment which leaves appname.xml unchanged. The issue relates to my company's way of deploying application: we use a script to remove application and add an updated version in CATALINA_BASE/webapp folder then restart tomcat instead of using tomcat's manager page.

L

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