Failed to execute goal tomcat:deploy Error writing to server - eclipse

Question

I'm trying to test a spring-mvc tutorial here.
I would like to deploy the generated war on tomcat 7 using eclipse-maven.
The war works fine when deployed manually on tomcat.
Steps to follow :
import project on eclipse
add this plugin to the existing POM:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.1</version>
<configuration>
<mode>war</mode>
<url>http://localhost:8080/manager/html/</url>
<server>TomcatServer</server>
<path>/springexample</path>
</configuration>
configure a new tomcat server in eclipse with the name TomcatServer
modify the tomcat-users.xml file:
include an admin user:
<tomcat-users>
<role rolename="admin"/>
<role rolename="standard"/>
<role rolename="manager-gui"/>
<role rolename="manager"/>
<role rolename="tomcat"/>
<role rolename="manager-script"/>
<user password="password" roles="standard,manager,admin,manager-gui,manager-script,tomcat" username="admin"/>
</tomcat-users>
Add the server configuration to the setting.xml config file under .m2
user folder:
TomcatServer
admin
password
Strat tomcat server
When I execute the following goals :
Maven generate-sources : to generate the war file
then Run configuration --> with the goal :
tomcat:deploy
the error is :
[
ERROR] Failed to execute goal
org.codehaus.mojo:tomcat-maven-plugin:1.1:redeploy (default-cli) on
project springexample: Cannot invoke Tomcat manager: Error writing to
server -> [Help 1]
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.LifecycleExecutionException: Failed to
execute goal org.codehaus.mojo:tomcat-maven-plugin:1.1:redeploy
(default-cli) on project springexample: Cannot invoke Tomcat manager
at
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:217)
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(Unknown Source) at
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source) at
java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source) 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)
Caused by: org.apache.maven.plugin.MojoExecutionException: Cannot
invoke Tomcat manager at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractCatalinaMojo.java:149)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractWarCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractWarCatalinaMojo.java:70)
at
org.apache.maven.plugin.DefaultBuildPluginManager.executeMojo(DefaultBuildPluginManager.java:101)
at
org.apache.maven.lifecycle.internal.MojoExecutor.execute(MojoExecutor.java:209)
... 19 more Caused by: java.io.IOException: Error writing to server
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown
Source) at
sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown
Source) at
sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown
Source) at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.invoke(TomcatManager.java:604)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.deployImpl(TomcatManager.java:662)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.deploy(TomcatManager.java:295)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractDeployWarMojo.deployWar(AbstractDeployWarMojo.java:85)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractDeployMojo.invokeManager(AbstractDeployMojo.java:85)
at
org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.AbstractCatalinaMojo.execute(AbstractCatalinaMojo.java:141)
... 22 more [ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR] For more information about the
errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1]
http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoExecutionException

Answer 1

In my case, using the tomcat7 command for deployment worked :
tomcat7:deploy
And you should not use :
tomcat:deploy

Answer 2

My issue was related to the fact the WAR file was over 50mb. You need to set the config in web.xml from the tomcat manager.
The file will normally be in %tomcat installation%\webapps\manager\WEB-INF\web.xml
<multipart-config>
<!-- 50MB max -->
<max-file-size>52428800</max-file-size>
<max-request-size>52428800</max-request-size>
<file-size-threshold>0</file-size-threshold>
</multipart-config>

Answer 3

You should focus your effors on
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Error writing to server
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.writeRequests(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source)
at org.codehaus.mojo.tomcat.TomcatManager.invoke(TomcatManager.java:604)
Look at the source for TomcatManager (http://mojo.codehaus.org/tomcat-maven-plugin/xref/org/codehaus/mojo/tomcat/TomcatManager.html#672)
The maven plugin cannot read from the server. It connects, line 597, it writes the data, line 601, but fails when it reads the response, line 604
I would try to deploy at the server first (to get rid of network problems) and see if the problem persists.