False java.net.BindException: Address already in use on Jetty

Question

On my CI server I have a test that needs to start Jetty server.
The test goes like this:

1. Generate random port (using java rand in legit TCP port range).
2. Validate using Linux's fuser to check that port in not in use
3. Run the tests

Occasionally, even after validating the port is free, I get the exception:

---

WARN:oejuc.AbstractLifeCycle:FAILED [email protected]:49277 FAILED: java.net.BindException: Address already in use
java.net.BindException: Address already in use
    at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind0(Native Method)
    at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:444)
    at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:436)
    at sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.bind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:214)
    at sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketAdaptor.bind(ServerSocketAdaptor.java:74)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.nio.SelectChannelConnector.open(SelectChannelConnector.java:172)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.AbstractConnector.doStart(AbstractConnector.java:300)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.nio.SelectChannelConnector.doStart(SelectChannelConnector.java:249)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:59)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server.doStart(Server.java:272)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.plugin.JettyServer.doStart(JettyServer.java:65)
    at org.eclipse.jetty.util.component.AbstractLifeCycle.start(AbstractLifeCycle.java:59)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.plugin.AbstractJettyMojo.startJetty(AbstractJettyMojo.java:511)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.plugin.AbstractJettyMojo.execute(AbstractJettyMojo.java:364)
    at org.mortbay.jetty.plugin.JettyRunWarMojo.execute(JettyRunWarMojo.java:71)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:101)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:209)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:153)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:145)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:84)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleModuleBuilder.buildProject(LifecycleModuleBuilder.java:59)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.singleThreadedBuild(LifecycleStarter.java:183)
    at org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.LifecycleStarter.execute(LifecycleStarter.java:161)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.doExecute(DefaultMaven.java:320)
    at org.apache.maven.DefaultMaven.execute(DefaultMaven.java:156)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.execute(MavenCli.java:537)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.doMain(MavenCli.java:196)
    at org.apache.maven.cli.MavenCli.main(MavenCli.java:141)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launchEnhanced(Launcher.java:290)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.launch(Launcher.java:230)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.mainWithExitCode(Launcher.java:409)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.classworlds.launcher.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:352)

---

The test that runs on:

• RHEL 6.3 host
• Maven 3.0.4
• jetty-maven-plugin:7.5.4
• Java 1.7.51

What can possibly be the reason?

Thanks!

Solution

There is a process on port 49277 already when Jetty attempts to startup.

No way around that.

You can ask Linux what's listening, and see what process is using that port.

$ netstat -tlnp

However, if all you want is a random port that Jetty can startup and listen on, just set the port that Jetty should use to 0, and that will tell TCP to randomly assign an available port when binding for listening.

Your task then, is to figure out what port Jetty is listening on after startup.