Ubuntu 14.04 server tomcat7 won't start on reboot

Question

I have tomcat7 running on server for helpdesk ticketing system (SysAid). After a reboot the tomcat7 service does not start up.

In my catalina.out file when I grep for tomcat7 I get the following: WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/common/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/common], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/server/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/server], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/shared/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/shared], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] INFO: Deploying web application archive /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/sysaid.war WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/common/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/common], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/server/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/server], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/shared/classes], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] WARNING: Problem with directory [/usr/share/tomcat7/shared], exists: [false], isDirectory: [false], canRead: [false] INFO: Deploying web application archive /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/sysaid.war Initializing log4j with: /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/sysaid/./WEB-INF/log4j.properties Initializing log4j with: /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/sysaid/./WEB-INF/log4j.properties INFO: Deploying web application directory /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/ROOT

The help desk program log files show no mention of tomcat7 errors.

When I run a startup script for the program I get the following: Using CATALINA_BASE: /usr/share/tomcat7 Using CATALINA_HOME: /usr/share/tomcat7 Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/share/tomcat7/temp Using JRE_HOME: /usr Using CLASSPATH: /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/share/tomcat7/bin/tomcat-juli.jar touch: cannot touch ‘/usr/share/tomcat7/logs/catalina.out’: No such file or directory ./catalina.sh: 385: ./catalina.sh: cannot create /usr/share/tomcat7/logs/catalina.out: Directory nonexistent

I also checked to make sure it was already set to run at startup through rc.d with the command: sudo update-rc.d tomcat7 defaults

Here's what I get: System start/stop links for /etc/init.d/tomcat7 already exist.

I've removed it and re-added it, with no change. Can someone help me? Thanks in advance.

Solution 1

The problem is with your system variables.

You've CATALINA_HOME defined, but there is no CATALINA_BASE, therefore by default it's the same as CATALINA_HOME, but it's not correct.

CATALINA_BASE: (Optional) Base directory for resolving dynamic portions of a Catalina installation. If not present, resolves to the same directory that CATALINA_HOME points to.

Normally you should see something like:

# /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/catalina.sh run 
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /var/lib/tomcat7
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/share/tomcat7
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /tmp
Using JRE_HOME:        /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64
Using CLASSPATH:       /usr/share/tomcat7/bin/bootstrap.jar:/usr/share/tomcat7/bin/tomcat-juli.jar
Using CATALINA_PID:    /var/run/tomcat7.pid

If these variables are not present, either you may define them manually:

. /etc/default/tomcat7
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64 CATALINA_HOME=/usr/share/tomcat7 CATALINA_BASE=/var/lib/tomcat7 CATALINA_PID=/var/run/tomcat7.pid CATALINA_TMPDIR=/tmp
/usr/share/tomcat7/bin/catalina.sh run

or configure your /etc/init.d/tomcat7 startup script correctly, as normally it should have these variables at the end:

# Directory where the Tomcat 6 binary distribution resides
CATALINA_HOME=/usr/share/$NAME

# Directory for per-instance configuration files and webapps
CATALINA_BASE=/var/lib/$NAME

Check content of catalina.sh for more details, as it describes all Environment Variable Prerequisites.

Otherwise re-install your Tomcat.

Solution 2

Check this to see if it is related:

Tomcat7 installation failed via apt-get on Ubuntu 14.04

Basically, there is a dependency that may be missing (fixed with sudo apt-get install libtomcat7-java), but assuming you already did this, it seems the apt-get package is generically FUBAR and requires post-install massaging (which typically I don't recommend as apt-get reconfigure or other package commands may result in undesirable consequences).

Thus, installing the .tgz (from Apache) manually may be the most stable path of least resistance.

Comments

[Winski Tech]

Here's my results: libtomcat7-java is already the newest version. libtomcat7-java set to manually installed. So it looks like it's already updated. I guess I'll try the .tgz install manually.

[Winski Tech]

A complete reinstall of the program did not work. I additionally flushed out the logs and let the program recreate them, this did not help.

[Andrew]

Not entirely surprising. Did you look in any logs and more importantly, are the log errors different this time? For instance, instead of missing files/directories, this time it might be apparmor or some other issue that might not have occurred using a proper debian package.