Ant and Tomcat7: java.net.ConnectException - eclipse

Question

I'm following along with this Springsource.org tutorial except I'm using Tomcat7 instead, and I'm encountering the following error whenever I run "ant list" or "ant reload" or "ant start".
/home/patchouli/workspace/springapp/build.xml:110: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:327)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:193)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:180)
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:384)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:546)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:495)
at sun.net.NetworkClient.doConnect(NetworkClient.java:178)
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:409)
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(HttpClient.java:530)
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.<init>(HttpClient.java:240)
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.New(HttpClient.java:321)
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.New(HttpClient.java:338)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getNewHttpClient(HttpURLConnection.java:935)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect(HttpURLConnection.java:876)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.connect(HttpURLConnection.java:801)
at org.apache.catalina.ant.AbstractCatalinaTask.execute(AbstractCatalinaTask.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.ant.AbstractCatalinaTask.execute(AbstractCatalinaTask.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.ant.StartTask.execute(StartTask.java:44)
at org.apache.tools.ant.UnknownElement.execute(UnknownElement.java:291)
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:616)
at org.apache.tools.ant.dispatch.DispatchUtils.execute(DispatchUtils.java:106)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Task.perform(Task.java:348)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Target.execute(Target.java:390)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Target.performTasks(Target.java:411)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeSortedTargets(Project.java:1399)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeTarget(Project.java:1368)
at org.apache.tools.ant.helper.DefaultExecutor.executeTargets(DefaultExecutor.java:41)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Project.executeTargets(Project.java:1251)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Main.runBuild(Main.java:809)
at org.apache.tools.ant.Main.startAnt(Main.java:217)
at org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher.run(Launcher.java:280)
at org.apache.tools.ant.launch.Launcher.main(Launcher.java:109)
Here is my build.xml file:
<property file="build.properties"/>
<property name="src.dir" value="src"/>
<property name="web.dir" value="war"/>
<property name="build.dir" value="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/classes"/>
<property name="name" value="springapp"/>
<path id="master-classpath">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/lib">
<include name="*.jar"/>
</fileset>
<fileset dir="${appserver.lib}">
<include name="servlet*.jar"/>
</fileset>
<pathelement path="${build.dir}"/>
</path>
<target name="usage">
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="${name} build file"/>
<echo message="-----------------------------------"/>
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="Available targets are:"/>
<echo message=""/>
<echo message="build --> Build the application"/>
<echo message="deploy --> Deploy application as directory"/>
<echo message="deploywar --> Deploy application as a WAR file"/>
<echo message="install --> Install application in Tomcat"/>
<echo message="reload --> Reload application in Tomcat"/>
<echo message="start --> Start Tomcat application"/>
<echo message="stop --> Stop Tomcat application"/>
<echo message="list --> List Tomcat applications"/>
<echo message=""/>
</target>
<target name="build" description="Compile main source tree java files">
<mkdir dir="${build.dir}"/>
<javac destdir="${build.dir}" source="1.6" target="1.6" debug="true"
deprecation="false" optimize="false" failonerror="true">
<src path="${src.dir}"/>
<classpath refid="master-classpath"/>
</javac>
</target>
<target name="deploy" depends="build" description="Deploy application">
<copy todir="${deploy.path}/${name}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}">
<include name="**/*.*"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
<target name="deploywar" depends="build" description="Deploy application as a WAR file">
<war destfile="${name}.war"
webxml="${web.dir}/WEB-INF/web.xml">
<fileset dir="${web.dir}">
<include name="**/*.*"/>
</fileset>
</war>
<copy todir="${deploy.path}" preservelastmodified="true">
<fileset dir=".">
<include name="*.war"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
<path id="catalina-ant-classpath">
<fileset dir="${appserver.lib}">
<include name="catalina-ant.jar"/>
<include name="tomcat-coyote.jar"/>
<include name="tomcat-util.jar"/>
</fileset>
<fileset dir="${appserver.home}/bin">
<include name="tomcat-juli.jar"/>
</fileset>
</path>
<taskdef name="list"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask"
classpathref="catalina-ant-classpath"/>
<taskdef name="reload"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask"
classpathref="catalina-ant-classpath"/>
<taskdef name="start"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.StartTask"
classpathref="catalina-ant-classpath"/>
<taskdef name="stop"
classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.StopTask"
classpathref="catalina-ant-classpath"/>
<target name="reload">
<reload url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${name}"/>
</target>
<target name = "start">
<start url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"/>
</target>
<target name = "stop">
<stop url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${webapp.name}"
failonerror="false"/>
</target>
<target name="list">
<list url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"/>
</target>
<target name="install">
<install url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
username="${tomcat.username}"
password="${tomcat.password}"
path="/${name}"
war="${name}"/>
</target>
And my build.properties file:
# Ant properties for building the springapp
appserver.home=/usr/share/tomcat7
appserver.lib=${appserver.home}/lib
deploy.path=/var/lib/tomcat7/webapps
tomcat.manager.url=http://localhost:8080/manager/html
tomcat.username=admin
tomcat.password=admin
I am pretty frustrated. At the moment, I can just start tomcat7 manually and go to localhost:8080/springapp/index.jsp without any issue. But I want this to be automated using Apache Ant. It seems like the problem is that Ant cannot connect to Tomcat. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

You seem to have similar problem I faced with Tomcat 7 and posted at ant target to deploy war to tomcat7/webapps.
Two Changes you need apply :
1) update tomcat manager url for Tomcat 7 (in build.properties)
# Ant properties for building the springapp
tomcat.manager.url=http://localhost:8080/manager/text
2) add extra manager role to user (in TOMCAT_DIRECTORY/conf/tomcat-users.xml)
<role rolename="manager-script"/>
<user username="admin" password="admin" roles="tomcat,manager-gui,manager-script"/>
MAKE SURE YOUR TOMCAT IS ALREADY RUNNING, BEFORE ant TRIES TO DEPLOY WAR.

Answer 2

Do you have spaces or tabs after any of these lines in your build.properties?
tomcat.manager.url=http://localhost:8080/manager/html
tomcat.username=admin
tomcat.password=admin
They would be treated literally.

Answer 3

I had the same problem. If you are on windows maybe the paths cause this, because the tutorial is based on a linux OS. You can try backslasses (\) instead of (/)
appserver.home=\usr\share\tomcat7
appserver.lib=${appserver.home}\lib
deploy.path=\var\lib\tomcat7\webapps
To solve this I also replaced the variables with the absolute paths of tomcat's installation folder.

Answer 4

Start the tomcat manually where it is installed.
Path of bat/sh : {tomcat--ver-}/bin/startup.
And then run the build.xml