How to deploy Maven based war file to Tomcat

Here we show you how to use Maven-Tomcat plugin to package and deploy a WAR file to Tomcat.

1. Tomcat Authentication

First, add an user with administrator access right for Tomcat. To add Tomcat user, edit this file – “%TOMCAT_PATH%/conf/tomcat-users.xml“.

File : tomcat-users.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<tomcat-users>
  <role rolename="manager"/>
  <role rolename="admin"/>
  <user username="admin" password="password" roles="admin,manager"/>
</tomcat-users>

Later, you will use the user “admin” to do the deployment.

2. Maven Authentication

In Maven side, you need to add the same user authentication information in “%MAVEN_PATH%/conf/settings.xml“.

File : settings.xml

//...
<server>
	<id>TomcatServer</id>
	<username>admin</username>
	<password>password</password>
</server>
//...

3. Maven-Tomcat-Plugin

Declare “Maven-Tomcat plugin” and related Tomcat server detail in your pom.xml file.

<plugin>
	<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
	<artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
	<configuration>
		<url>http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager</url>
		<server>TomcatServer</server>
		<path>/mkyongWebApp</path>
	</configuration>
</plugin>

See a full pom.xml file.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
	http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
	<groupId>com.mkyong</groupId>
	<artifactId>mkyongweb-core</artifactId>
	<packaging>war</packaging>
	<version>1.0</version>
	<name>mkyongweb-core Maven Webapp</name>
	<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
	<build>
		<plugins>
			<!-- Maven Tomcat Plugin -->
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
				<artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<configuration>
					<url>http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager</url>
					<server>TomcatServer</server>
					<path>/mkyongWebApp</path>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
			<!-- Maven compiler plugin -->
			<plugin>
				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
				<configuration>
					<source>1.6</source>
					<target>1.6</target>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>
</project>

How it works ?
During deployment, it tell Maven to deploy the WAR file to Tomcat server (http://127.0.0.1:8080/), on path “/mkyongWebApp“, and using “TomcatServer” (in settings.xml) username and password for authentication.

4. Deploy to Tomcat

Issue “mvn tomcat:deploy” to package your project in a WAR file, and deploy it to Tomcat server. To verify it, just access to the Tomcat’s manager page and make sure “/mkyongWebApp” path is existed.

URL : http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager/

How to redeploy ?
For subsequent deployment, where “mkyongWebApp” web application is existed, you should use “mvn tomcat:redeploy” instead.

For more usages, please refer to this Maven-Tomcat plugin page.