To configure tomcat to allow remote debugging, start tomcat using the catalina startup script (from your tomcat home) instead of the normal startup script like so (tomcat must be stopped before you can change over):
WIN:
set JPDA_ADDRESS=8000
set JPDA_TRANSPORT=dt_socket
bin/catalina.bat jpda start
UNIX:
export JPDA_ADDRESS=8000
export JPDA_TRANSPORT=dt_socket
bin/catalina.sh jpda start
We recommend adding this stuff to your startup script so that you are always running tomcat in debug mode.
Open the startup script in (your_tomcat_home)/bin (WIN: startup.bat, UNIX: startup.sh)
Add the following lines at the first blank line in the file (around line 8)
WIN:
set JPDA_ADDRESS=8000
set JPDA_TRANSPORT=dt_socket
UNIX:
export JPDA_ADDRESS=8000
export JPDA_TRANSPORT=dt_socket
Change the execute line at the end to include jpda start
WIN:
call “%EXECUTABLE%” jpda start %CMD_LINE_ARGS%
UNIX:
exec “$PRGDIR”/”$EXECUTABLE” jpda start “$@”
Run the startup script when starting tomcat to run tomcat in debug mode
Once you have tomcat configured and started, you can connect to your running tomcat instance using a number of debugging tools. For example, Eclipse has a debugging view that can help you work with tomcat via remote control.
Note
If you are using Eclipse to debug tomcat remotely so in a Windows environment, you may want to prevent tomcat from launching as a separate process, which will prevent the console output from being captured by the Eclipse debugging view. To do so edit the file TOMCAT_HOME/bin/catalina.bat and change:
Original:
:doStart
shift
if not “%OS%” == “Windows_NT” goto noTitle
set _EXECJAVA=start “Tomcat” %_RUNJAVA%
goto gotTitle
:noTitle
set _EXECJAVA=start %_RUNJAVA%
New:
:doStart
shift
if not “%OS%” == “Windows_NT” goto noTitle
set _EXECJAVA= %_RUNJAVA%
goto gotTitle
:noTitle
set _EXECJAVA= %_RUNJAVA%