Java applications

Octopus Deploy comes with a number of steps that allow you to deploy and modify the state of Java applications for popular Java application servers.

In addition, Java packages like jar, war, ear and rar files can be managed as part of the Octopus Deploy library.

Supported application servers

The following application servers are supported by Octopus Deploy:

  • Tomcat 7 and above
  • Red Hat JBoss EAP 6 and above
  • WildFly 10 and above

The Deploy Java Archive step deploys a Java package to a location on the target machine’s filesystem. This means that any Java application server that can deploy applications with a file copy can make use of Octopus Deploy.

The application servers listed above are those that are tested with Octopus Deploy, and have custom steps for deploying and managing the state of applications.

Deploying Java applications via Octopus

Regardless of which application server you are deploying to, there are a number of common steps that need to be performed.

1. Push a package to Octopus

For a package to be made available to the deployment steps, it first must be added to the Octopus library.

The Octopus library accepts files with the jar, war, ear and rar file extensions.

The package filenames have to adhere to the standard Octopus versioning rules, which are based on the SemVer format.

Java packages tend to be formatted with Maven versioning schemes. Maven versions are mostly compatible with SemVer, but the two versioning schemes are not identical.

See the section Building SemVer Compatible Artifacts for tips on creating valid package filenames from builds tools like Maven and Gradle.

Valid packages can then be added to the library using the web based interface, or using the CLI tool.

Building SemVer Compatible Artifacts

The most common incompatibility between Maven and SemVer formatting comes from the use of a dash to separate the package name from the version.

For example, by default Maven will build artifacts with names like myapplication-1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war. To be managed by the built in Octopus library, this filename needs to be in the format myapplication.1.0.0-SNAPSHOT.war.

The easiest way to generate the correct filenames in a Maven build is to set the finalName element to <finalName>${project.name}.${project.version}</finalName>.

The following xml is a snippet from a pom.xml file that defines the finalName option in a SemVer compatible format.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <build>
    <finalName>${project.name}.${project.version}</finalName>
  </build>
</project>

Gradle builds can define the filename through the war.archiveName property.

The following code is a snippet of a build.gradle file that defines the name of the WAR file in a SemVer compatible format.

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'war'

group = 'com.example'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'

war.archiveName "${project.name}.${version}.war"

2. Ensure the target meets the minimum requirements

The target machine must have Java 1.8 installed, and the java executable must either be on the path, or the JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set.

Deploying to Tomcat via the Manager

The Deploy to Tomcat via Manager step takes advantage of the Manager application shipped with Tomcat to deploy Java applications. The following steps describe the process of deploying a web application (a WAR package) to Tomcat through Octopus Deploy.

1. Configure Tomcat

Tomcat needs to be configured with a user that Octopus can use to log into the Manager API.

Tomcat users are defined in the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml file. The user that will deploy the applications must be added to the manager-script group.

Here is an example of a $CATALINA_HOME/conf/tomcat-users.xml file that defines a user called tomcat in the manager-script group.

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

See the Tomcat documentation for more details on the groups used by the manager application.

By default you can only upload files of around 50MB through the manager. This is often not large enough for big packages, so you can set a higher limit by editing the webapps/manager/WEB-INF/web.xml file. Inside you will find a <multipart-config> element whose child elements define the maximum file upload size.

This example sets the maximum file upload size to 250MB.

<multipart-config>
  <max-file-size>262144000</max-file-size>
  <max-request-size>262144000</max-request-size>
  <file-size-threshold>0</file-size-threshold>
</multipart-config>

2. Populate the Tomcat deployment step

The Deploy to Tomcat via Manager step is used to deploy a package from the Octopus library to Tomcat. The following steps can be used to deploy an application to a Tomcat server.

  • Select the Package feed and Package ID that references the Java application to be deployed.
  • Define the Context path. This can be the root context with a path of /, a simple path like myapplication, or a nested path like myapplication/v1.
  • If you want to take advantage of Tomcat’s parallel deployment features, you need to define the populate Deployment Version field. To be effective, these values are required to increase with each deployment . Common values are the Octopus release number, which is defined in the #{Octopus.Release.Number} variable. The package version number can also be used, and is defined in the #{Octopus.Action.Package.NuGetPackageVersion} variable.
  • Define the path to the Tomcat Manager. The path is relative to the target machine that is running the step, and includes the manager application context path. In most cases the target machine is also the machine hosting Tomcat, so this URL will typically point to localhost. Common examples of the manager URL are http://localhost:8080/manager.
  • Supply the Management User and Management Password of the user was defined using the instructions from Configure Tomcat.
  • The Start/Stop the Deployment option allows you to deploy the application in a started or stopped state. Typically you will deploy in a started state.

Deploying to Tomcat via Manager step details

Field NameRequiredDefault ValueField Description
Package feedYesThe feed to use to source the Java package from.
Package IDYesThe Java package to deploy.
Context PathNoDefaults to the deployment file name e.g. myapplication.1.0.0.The context path that the application will be deployed to. Set this value to / to deploy to the root context. Set it to a value like myapplication to deploy to the /myapplication context. Nested contexts are also allowed, such as myapplication/v1.0.

Leading slashes are optional; /myapplication and myapplication will both deploy to the /myapplication context path.
Deployment VersionNoBy default no Tomcat version is assigned to the deployment.An optional field that defines the Tomcat version that the deployment will be assigned when deployed. Versions are most often used with Tomcat parallel deployments. The version can be set to match the version of the package from Octopus, can be set to a custom version, or the deployment can have no version.

It is common to use either the Octopus release number as the Tomcat version using the variable #{Octopus.Release.Number}, or to use the version number of the package with the variable #{Octopus.Action.Package.NuGetPackageVersion}.
Tomcat Manager URLYesThis field defines the URL of the Tomcat manager application. This is relative to the target machine performing the deployment. When the Tentacle is on the same machine as the Tomcat instance, this URL will typically reference localhost i.e. http://localhost:8080/manager.
Management UserYesThe user that is supplied when logging into the Tomcat manager API. Note that this user is required to be part of the manager-script group. See the Tomcat documentation for more details on the groups used by the manager application.
Management PasswordYesThe password that is supplied when logging into the Tomcat manager API.
Start/Stop the DeploymentYesThis field defines the state of the application after it is deployed.

Deploying to WildFly/JBoss EAP

The Deploy to WildFly or Red Hat JBoss EAP step uses the management API to deploy applications and change their state. The following steps describe the process of deploying a web application (a WAR package) to WildFly or JBoss EAP through Octopus Deploy.

1. Configure authentication

You have two options for authenticating with WildFly and JBoss EAP servers.

The easiest solution is to use silent authentication. Silent authentication allows local users to log into the management API without supplying any credentials, and because Octopus typically executes a deployment from the same machine that is hosting the application server, it is treated as a local user.

To take advantage of silent authentication, the user running the Octopus deployment on the target machine (i.e the user assigned to the Tentacle service in Windows or the SSH user in Linux or MacOS) must have access to the auth directory inside the directory defined by the jboss.server.temp.dir variable. By default this directory will be located at $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/tmp/auth or $JBOSS_HOME/domain/tmp/auth.

The second option is to use the application server add-user script to create a new user, and use these credentials in the Octopus deployment steps.

2. Populate the WildFly/JBoss EAP deployment step

The Deploy to WildFly or Red Hat JBoss EAP step is used to deploy a package from the Octopus library to a WildFly or Red Hat JBoss EAP instance.

  • Select the Package feed and Package ID that references the Java application to be deployed.
  • Optionally set the Deployment Name, which will define the name of the deployment in the WildFly deployment library. For example, deploying a file from the Octopus library with the filename myapplication.0.0.1.war and setting this field to myapplication.war will mean the deployment is listed in WildFly as myapplication.war. If this field is left blank, the original file name will be used by WildFly. For example, deploying a file from the Octopus library with the filename myapplication.0.0.1.war and leaving this field blank will mean the deployment is listed in the application server as myapplication.0.0.1.war.
  • Set the Management Host or IP field to the address that the WildFly management interface is listening to. This value is relative to the target machine that is performing the deployment. Since the target machine performing the deployment is typically the same machine hosting the application server, this value will usually be localhost.
  • Set the Management Port to the port bound to the WildFly management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this will default to 9990. For JBoss EAP 6, this will default to 9999.
  • The Management Protocol field defines the protocol to be used when interacting with the management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this will default to http-remoting or remote+http (the two are equivalent). For JBoss EAP 6, this will default to remoting.
  • If you wish to use silent authentication, and have configured the required permissions for the $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/tmp/auth or $JBOSS_HOME/domain/tmp/auth directory, then the Management User and Management Password fields can be left blank. Alternatively these fields can hold the credentials that were configured via the add-user script.
  • If you are deploying to a standalone server, the deployment can be enabled or disabled using the Enable/Disable the Deployment field. This field has no effect when deploying to a domain controller.
  • If you are deploying to a domain controller, the server groups that will have the deployment enabled must be specified in the Enabled Server Groups field. Likewise the server groups that will have the deployment disabled must be specified in the Disabled Server Groups. Multiple server groups can be specified separated by a comma. These fields has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.

Defining context paths

There are multiple ways that the context of an application deployed to WildFly and JBoss EAP is defined.

The WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml file inside a war package can define the context path. For example a war package with the following jboss-web.xml file will be deployed to the /myapplication context.

<jboss-web>
    <context-root>myapplication</context-root>
</jboss-web>

If not defined in the jboss-web.xml file, the context of a war file will default to the filename of the deployment. For example, a war file called myapplication.war will be deployed to the context /myapplication.

If the war file has the special name ROOT.war it will be deployed to the root context.

See Setting the context root of a web application for more information.

The context of a web application can also be defined in the application.xml file inside a ear package. For example, package module-web-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war in an ear package with the following application.xml file would de be deployed to the /custom-context-root context.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/application_7.xsd" version="7">
  <display-name>module-ear</display-name>
  <module>
    <web>
      <web-uri>module-web-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war</web-uri>
      <context-root>/custom-context-root</context-root>
    </web>
  </module>
</application>

The context that an application has been deployed to is shown in the WildFly logs. Look for an entry with the text Registered web context.

2017-09-05 02:57:15,598 INFO  [org.wildfly.extension.undertow] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 77) WFLYUT0021: Registered web context: /custom-context-root

WildFly/JBoss EAP deployment step details

Field NameRequiredDefaultField Description
Package feedYesThe feed to use to source the Java package from.
Package IDYesThe Java package to deploy.
Deployment NameNoThe package will retain the original file name.The optional name of the deployment as it will appear in the application server library. Examples include myapplication.war, myapplication.jar, myapplication.ear or myapplication.rar. If this field is not set, the original filename of the deployment will be used.
Management Host or IPYesThe location of the management interface. This is relative to the target machine performing the deployment. When the Tentacle is on the same machine as the application server instance, this URL will typically reference localhost.
Management PortYesThe port that the management interface is bound to. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this defaults to 9990. For JBoss EAP 6, this defaults to 9999.
Management ProtocolYesThe protocol to use when interacting with the management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this defaults to http-remoting or remote+http (the two are equivalent). If the management interface is protected with a certificate, the protocols are https-remoting or remote+https. For JBoss EAP 6 this defaults to remoting. Refer to the JBoss Remoting project for more details on these protocols.
Management UserNoDefaults to using silent authentication.The username to supply when connecting to the management interface. If left blank, silent authentication will be used. Silent authentication requires that the target machine performing the deployment also be the machine hosting the application server, and that the user performing the deployment (i.e. the Tentacle service user or the SSH user) have access to the $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/tmp/auth or $JBOSS_HOME/domain/tmp/auth directory. See the JBoss EAP documentation for more details on silent authentication.
Management PasswordNoDefaults to using silent authentication.The password to supply when connecting to the management interface. This field is option is using silent authentication.
Standalone or Domain ServerYesStandaloneWhen set to Standalone the Enable/Disable the Deployment field is presented, and when set to Domain, the Enabled Server Groups and Disabled Server Groups fields are displayed.
Enable/Disable the DeploymentYesWhen deploying to a standalone server, this field defines if the deployment will be enabled or disabled. This field has no effect when deploying to a domain controller.
Enabled Server GroupsNoWhen deploying to a domain controller, this field lists the server groups that will have the deployment enabled in. Multiple server groups can be supplied as a comma separated list. This field has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.
Disabled Server GroupsNoWhen deploying to a domain controller, this field lists the server groups that will have the deployment disabled in. Multiple server groups can be supplied as a comma separated list. This field has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.

Starting/Stopping Tomcat applications

The Start/Stop App in Tomcat step is used to start or stop applications that have already been deployed to Tomcat. The following steps can be used to start or stop an application deployed to a Tomcat server.

  • Define the Context path of the deployed application to start or stop. This can be the root context with a path of /, a simple path like myapplication, or a nested path like myapplication/v1.
  • Define the Deployment Version of the deployed application to start or stop. Leave this field blank to modify the state of an unversioned Tomcat deployment.
  • Define the path to the Tomcat Manager. The path is relative to the target machine that is running the step. In most cases the target machine is also the machine hosting Tomcat, so this URL will typically point to localhost. Common examples of the manager URL are http://localhost:8080/manager.
  • Supply the Management User and Management Password of the user was defined using the instructions from Configure Tomcat.
  • The Start/Stop the Deployment option allows you to start or stop the deployed application.

Starting/Stopping Tomcat applications step details

Field NameRequiredDefaultField Description
Context PathYesThe context path that the application will be deployed to. Set this value to / to deploy to the root context. Set it to a value like myapplication to deploy to the /myapplication context. Nested contexts are also allowed, such as myapplication/v1.0.

Leading slashes are optional; /myapplication and myapplication will both deploy to the /myapplication context path.
Deployment VersionNoDefaults to modifying the state of the unversioned Tomcat deployment.The version of the application to start or stop. Leave the field blank to modify the state of an unversioned Tomcat deployment.
Tomcat Manager URLYesThis field defines the URL of the Tomcat manager application. This is relative to the target machine performing the deployment. When the Tentacle is on the same machine as the Tomcat instance, this URL will typically reference localhost i.e. http://localhost:8080/manager.
Management UserYesThe user that is supplied when logging into the Tomcat manager API. Note that this user is required to be part of the manager-script group. See the Tomcat documentation for more details on the groups used by the manager application.
Management PasswordYesThe password that is supplied when logging into the Tomcat manager API.
Start/Stop the DeploymentYesThis field defines whether the application will be started or stopped.

Enabling/Disabling WildFly and EAP applications

The Enable/Disable deployment in WildFly step is used to modify the state of a deployed application. The following steps can be used to enable or disable an application deployed to an application server.

  • Define set the Deployment Name of the application to be enabled or disabled.
  • Set the Management Host or IP field to the address that the WildFly management interface is listening to. This value is relative to the target machine that is performing the deployment. Since the target machine performing the deployment is typically the same machine hosting WildFly, this value will usually be localhost.
  • Set the Management Port to the port bound to the WildFly management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this will default to 9990. For JBoss EAP 6, this will default to 9999.
  • The Management Protocol field defines the protocol to be used when interacting with the management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this will default to http-remoting or remote+http (the two are equivalent). For JBoss EAP 6, this will default to remoting.
  • If you wish to use silent authentication, and have configured the required permissions for the $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/tmp/auth or $JBOSS_HOME/domain/tmp/auth directory, then the Management User and Management Password fields can be left blank. Alternatively these fields can hold the credentials that were configured via the add-user script.
  • If you are deploying to a standalone server, the deployment can be enabled or disabled using the Enable/Disable the Deployment field. This field has no effect when deploying to a domain controller.
  • If you are deploying to a domain controller, the server groups that will have the deployment enabled must be specified in the Enabled Server Groups field. Likewise the server groups that will have the deployment disabled must be specified in the Disabled Server Groups. Multiple server groups can be specified separated by a comma. These fields has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.

Enabling/Disabling WildFly and EAP applications step details

Field NameRequiredDefaultField Description
Deployment NameYesThe name of the application to enable or disable. This is the name of the application as it appears in the application server management console. This name may or may not be the same as the name of the package from the Octopus library.
Management Host or IPYesThe location of the management interface. This is relative to the target machine performing the deployment. When the Tentacle is on the same machine as the application server instance, this URL will typically reference localhost.
Management PortYesThe port that the management interface is bound to. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this defaults to 9990. For JBoss EAP 6, this defaults to 9999
Management ProtocolYesThe protocol to use when interacting with the management interface. For WildFly 10+ and JBoss EAP 7+, this defaults to http-remoting or remote+http (the two are equivalent). If the management interface is protected with a certificate, the protocols are https-remoting or remote+https. For JBoss EAP 6 this defaults to remoting. Refer to the JBoss Remoting project for more details on these protocols.
Management UserNoDefaults to using silent authentication.The username to supply when connecting to the management interface. If left blank, silent authentication will be used. Silent authentication requires that the target machine performing the deployment also be the machine hosting the application server, and that the user performing the deployment (i.e. the Tentacle service user or the SSH user) have access to the $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/tmp/auth or $JBOSS_HOME/domain/tmp/auth directory. See the JBoss EAP documentation for more details on silent authentication.
Management PasswordNoDefaults to using silent authentication.The password to supply when connecting to the management interface. This field is option is using silent authentication.
Standalone or Domain ServerYesStandaloneWhen set to Standalone the Enable/Disable the Deployment field is presented, and when set to Domain, the Enabled Server Groups and Disabled Server Groups fields are displayed.
Enable/Disable the DeploymentYesWhen deploying to a standalone server, this field defines if the deployment will be enabled or disabled. This field has no effect when deploying to a domain controller.
Enabled Server GroupsNoWhen deploying to a domain controller, this field lists the server groups that will have the deployment enabled in. Multiple server groups can be supplied as a comma separated list. This field has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.
Disabled Server GroupsNoWhen deploying to a domain controller, this field lists the server groups that will have the deployment disabled in. Multiple server groups can be supplied as a comma separated list. This field has no effect when deploying to a standalone server.

Deploy via package copy

The Deploy Java Archive step is used to copy a Java archive to the target machine’s filesystem. This step is not tied to any particular application server, and can be used to deploy applications to any server that will accept files copied into a deployment directory.

The following steps can be used to deploy an application via a file copy to an application server.

  • Select the Package feed and Package ID that references the Java application to be deployed.
  • Unselect the Explode option. This means we will be copying a repacked package instead of the extracted contents of the original package.
  • Select the Custom Deploy Directory option.
  • Set the Deploy Directory field to the location within the application server where deployments are located. For WildFly or JBoss EAP, this will be a directory like $JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments, and for Tomcat it will be $CATALINA_HOME/webapps.
  • Set the Deployed Package File Name field to a filename that reflects the desired context path.
    • For WildFly or JBoss EAP, the filename will be used for the context. For example, setting Package file name to myapplication.war will result in the application being deployed under the /myapplication context. See Defining Context Paths for more information.
    • For Tomcat the filename takes the form context#subcontext##version.war. For example, setting Package file name to myapplication#v1##10.war will result in the application being deployed under the context myapplication/v1 with a Tomcat version of 10. The version and sub-context are optional, so you could set Package file name to myapplication.war, in which case Tomcat would deploy the application under the /myapplication context with no version information.
  • Unselect the Purge option because we don’t want to uninstall any existing applications in the deployment directories.

Deploy Java archive step details

Field NameRequiredDefaultField Description
Package feedYesThe feed to use to source the Java package from.
Package IDYesThe Java package to deploy.
ExplodeNoIf selected, the package will be deployed extracted. Note that the package is always extracted as part of the deployment process, to allow features such as substituting variables in files. By default the package is re-created before deploying to the destination. If the Explode option is selected it remains extracted.
Custom Deploy DirectoryNoBy default the package will be deployed to the target’s application directory. This options allows setting a custom deployment directory.
Deploy DirectoryNoThe package will be copied into the local Octopus Applications directory by default e.g. C:\Octopus\Applications\Local\myapplication\0.0.1-SNAPSHOT_8\myapplication.0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.warThe installed package will be copied to this location on the remote machine.
Deployed Package File NameNoThe file will default to the original filename from the feed.Defines the name of the file that is copied into the destination directory.
PurgeNoIf selected, all files in this location will be removed before the package is copied.
Exclude from purgeNoA newline-separated list of file or directory names, relative to the installation directory, to leave when it is purged. Extended wildcard syntax is supported. E.g., appsettings.config, Config*.config, ***.config

Variable substitution in Java packages

Octopus provides the ability to replace variables in packages during deployment. This is done using a specific syntax implemented by the Octostash library.

The syntax used by Octostash and Java libraries such as Spring do overlap, so care must be taken to ensure that files intended to be used as Octostash templates during deployment don’t interfere with local development.

For example, you may have a application.properties file that defines an environment variable which reflects the environment that the application has been published to.

environment: #{Environment}

This file is expected to be used as an Octostash template during deployment, but when testing locally you will receive an error like Unsatisfied dependency expressed through field 'environment';. This is because during local development the template file has not been processed, and the common syntax between Spring and Octostash means Spring is attempting to resolve the variable Environment, which doesn’t exist.

Spring profiles provide a convenient way to load valid properties files for local development, while leaving environment specific templates for deployments processed by Octopus.

For example, you may create a file called application-dev.properties with the following settings:

environment: Development

Maven can then be instructed to active the dev profile for testing:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<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/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <build>
    <plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
          <argLine>-Dspring.profiles.active=dev</argLine>
        </configuration>
      </plugin>
    </plugins>
  </build>
</project>

Gradle can do the same:

test {
    systemProperties = [
            "spring.profiles.active": "dev"
    ]
}

Now local testing is done against a valid properties file, while the main application.properties file is used a template during deployment to environments managed by Octopus.

Error messages

The Java deployment steps include a number of unique error codes that may be displayed in the output if there was an error. Please see the error codes and troubleshooting page for more details.

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Page updated on Wednesday, October 4, 2023