Adding Web App to WebSphere Liberty Profile via Eclipse plugin tools

Question

I'm attempting to get an existing web application working with 'WebSphere Application Server Liberty Profile v8.5 Beta' using the 'IBM WebSphere Liberty Profile Tools for Eclipse'.

I have installed the developer tools for Eclipse as well as the liberty profile runtime by following instructions here: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/wasdev/entry/download?lang=en#comment-1321558450546

I then proceed to create the Liberty Profile Server by following the instructions here: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/beta/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.websphere.w4d.nd.doc%2Ftopics%2Frw4d_dirs.html

I add my web app to the server and start it with the following console output:

Launching TEST (was4d-1.0.0.20111202-0614/websphere-kernel_1.0.0) on Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM, version 1.6.0_26-b03
    Boot properties: file:/home/tbuckley/work/WAS/was4d/usr/servers/TEST/bootstrap.properties
    Config document: file:/home/tbuckley/work/WAS/was4d/usr/servers/TEST/server.xml
[AUDIT   ] CWWKE0001I: The kernel was launched.
[AUDIT   ] CWWKE0002I: The kernel started after 0.91
[AUDIT   ] CWWKF0007I: A feature update is starting after 0.92 seconds.
[AUDIT   ] CWWKZ0058I: Application monitor started after 1.218 seconds.
[AUDIT   ] CWWKO0219I: TCP Channel http-default has been started and is now listening for requests on host localhost  (IPv4: 127.0.0.1) port 9080.
[AUDIT   ] SRVE9998A: Application myWebApp added to web container.
[AUDIT   ] CWWKZ0001I: The application myWebApp has started successfully.
[AUDIT   ] CWWKF0008I: The feature update is complete after 2.141 seconds.

When I hit the web app url http://localhost:9080/myWebApp/ via a browser I get a blank page and the following console info:

[ERROR   ] SRVE0015E: Failure to initialize Web application myWebApp

If I reload the page I get the following:

[WARNING ] SRVE0274W: Error while adding servlet mapping for path-->/login/*, wrapper-->ServletWrapper[Application Servlet:[/login/*]], application-->myWebApp.
[ERROR   ] SRVE0015E: Failure to initialize Web application myWebApp

I also have the following servlets/mappings under my web.xml:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Application Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/login/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Any ideas what could be wrong here or how I could get more detailed debug info?

UPDATE

I just created a skeleton 'dynamic web project' there and put an index.html file in it. I added it to the liberty server and it worked by going to localhost:9080/simpleApp/index.html.

The exisiting dynamic web app I am trying to add is very large and complex. I found the following under was4d/usr/servers/TEST/logs/ffdc/ffdc_12.02.16_16.40.33.0.log:

------Start of DE processing------ = 16/02/12 16:36:06:170 GMT, key = java.lang.NullPointerException com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.osgi.WebContainer 131
Exception = java.lang.NullPointerException
Source = com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.osgi.WebContainer
probeid = 131
S    tack Dump = java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.springframework.web.SpringServletContainerInitializer.onStartup(SpringServletContainerInitializer.java:142)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.initializeServletContainerInitializers(WebApp.java:1860)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.initialize(WebApp.java:499)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.initialize(WebApp.java:5437)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.osgi.WebContainer.discriminate(WebContainer.java:1095)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.osgi.WebContainer.discriminate(WebContainer.java:1009)
at com.ibm.ws.dispatcher.http.internal.channel.HttpDispatcherLink.ready(HttpDispatcherLink.java:143)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.internal.inbound.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:444)
a    t com.ibm.ws.http.channel.internal.inbound.HttpInboundLink.handleNewRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:378)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.internal.inbound.HttpInboundLink.processRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:278)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.internal.inbound.HttpInboundLink.ready(HttpInboundLink.java:249)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.sendToDiscriminators(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:174)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.complete(NewConnectionInitialReadCallback.java:83)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.WorkQueueManager.requestComplete(WorkQueueManager.java:502)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.WorkQueueManager.attemptIO(WorkQueueManager.java:550)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.WorkQueueManager.workerRun(WorkQueueManager.java:899)
at com.ibm.ws.tcpchannel.internal.WorkQueueManager$Worker.run(WorkQueueManager.java:981)
at com.ibm.ws.threading.internal.Worker.executeWork(Worker.java:398)
at com.ibm.ws.threading.internal.Worker.run(Worker.java:380)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

The spring setup in the web app appears to be causing some issue?

Thanks

Answer 1

Turns out it is an issue with Spring on certain platforms (WebSphere liberty 8.5 in my case).

Upgrading from Spring 3.1.0 M2 to Spring 3.1.1 fixes the issue: https://jira.springsource.org/browse/SPR-8496