Develop Reference

How to find where Tomcat is install/running from when it is not installed as a service

I'm trying to determine the Tomcat install directory when it is started from startup.bat in Windows.
It is easy enough to determine where tomcat7.exe is running when Tomcat is running as a service, but I'm not sure how to do it when it's started with the script. I know java is running when Tomcat is started from the script, but the executable path is for the java jre. Is there something I can do to find where catalina is running based on java?

Assuming you know the location of startup.bat, then just go two folders above and you're done.
Assuming you only have a shortcut to this file, then you would need to retrieve a list of processes explaining the application and the location of the files they're using, similar like ps aux command from Unix based OSes. Fortunately, Windows have such thing as well. From this great Q/A: Is there a command in Windows like ps -aux in UNIX?, more specifically, this answer, the way to find the location of tomcat in Windows is to execute the wmic application (through CMD if you want) and write process command, this will provide a list of the current applications running and their parameters. For example, I initialized Tomcat from startup.bat file and got this result using the commands above (single line):
java.exe "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_40\bin\java" -Djava.util.logging.config.file="<TOMCAT_HOME>\conf\logging.properties" -Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager -Djava.endorsed.dirs="<TOMCAT_HOME>\endorsed" -classpath "<TOMCAT_HOME>\bin\bootstrap.jar;<TOMCAT_HOME>\bin\tomcat-juli.jar" -Dcatalina.base="<TOMCAT_HOME>" -Dcatalina.home="<TOMCAT_HOME>" -Djava.io.tmpdir="<TOMCAT_HOME>\temp" org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start
Here's the same result but splitted in several lines to ease readability:
java.exe "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_40\bin\java"
-Djava.util.logging.config.file="<TOMCAT_HOME>\conf\logging.properties"
-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager
-Djava.endorsed.dirs="<TOMCAT_HOME>\endorsed"
-classpath "<TOMCAT_HOME>\bin\bootstrap.jar;<TOMCAT_HOME>\bin\tomcat-juli.jar"
-Dcatalina.base="<TOMCAT_HOME>"
-Dcatalina.home="<TOMCAT_HOME>"
-Djava.io.tmpdir="<TOMCAT_HOME>\temp"
org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap start
Note: I've replaced the real path by <TOMCAT_HOME> in the results from above.
TL;DR do this:
Open cmd
Execute wmic
Execute process
Wait few secs and search java.exe and the arguments containing Tomcat jars.

Since you explicitly mentioned *.bat and Windows here is your answer.
1.Most tomcat application comes as a zip instead as msi/exe . The place where you extract is actually its locations . You start the application by clicking startup.bat file
2.Open the bat file with notepad . You will also find the relative path of the application.
3.Look for the path variables .
Hope this information helps

Jconsole cannot connect

I am using VNC to connect to a server. I am able to VNC into the server, and open Jconsole, but cannot get it to connect to my process whether I include the PID or try connecting using the GUI. The weird thing is all the processes show up in the GUI. See below.
I get this when I try connecting:
Followed by
Is there something I need to do in order to get Jconsole working locally on a Linux server over VNC?

Fix found here: You need to pass to the VM:
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false
--
Edit - Fixed the =fals error mentioned in comments.

In my case, I also had to add this option to get Jconsole to connect to the process.
-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=localhost

Remote JConsole
Add the following parameters to your java Application and run it
-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=DOMAIN_PUBLIC_URL -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=PORTNUMBER -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
DOMAIN_PUBLIC_URL - Like your instance public address
PORTNUMBER - 9955
Launch jconsole in your ubuntu from terminal command and go to remote connection and paste the DOMAIN_PUBLIC_URL and PORT and Connect it without username and password like insecure connection.
Make sure to expose the port number on your AWS Server Instance.

Adding below property as VM argument in Run Configurations --> Arguments --
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote=true

In my case, I had to make it false and also add a hostname to localhost. Add this in VM arguments in Run Configurations.
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=localhost

JVisualVM is unable to connect to process using the --openpid argument

I have an application that is running as a win-service (using Apache-Procrun). I want to monitor that application with JVisualVM. I've used the commandline argument --openpid <PID> without success, ironically the old JConsole managed to connect to that application.
I also checked all issues with the %TMP%\hsperfdata_username -Directory that are described in the JVisualVM-Trouble Shooting Guide. Its all well.
How can i get the JVisualVM to monitor my app?

The JVisualVM is not able to connect to a win-service using the --openpid <PID> argument! The old JConsole can this only in WinXP because of a Bug. The alternative is to specify a JMX Agent for the service.
This VM Arguments have to be passed to the prunsrv.exe
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=3333 \
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false \
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false \
For more detail take a look at: Connecting to JMX Agents Explicitly

Can't stop tomcat normally when I configure jmxremote

I added a jmxremote configuraiton in the catalina.bat:
set JAVA_OPTS=-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9004 -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
so that I could start jconsole to monitor the tomcat's performance.
But I got a problem that I couldn't stop tomcat normally through $CATALINA_HOME\catalina.bat stop, neither did $CATALINA_HOME\shutdown.bat
Any suggestions?

In order to monitor the java process, you need to add the following system properties to the command line:
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9999
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
In the visualvm you just use the connection string host:9999.
However, sometimes the RMI listener listens to the wrong IP address, one which is inaccessible to the visualvm. Thanks to Pavel’s tip, I found a way to overcome this is by adding the following parameters:
-Djava.rmi.server.hostname=$(hostname)
-Djava.rmi.server.useLocalHostname=true
Now it works like a charm!
For completeness, I’d mention you can secure the connection to the JVM, either by requiring user/password or by using SSL. If you are interested, please see this guide.
Make sure that you put the definitions in a place only the start command sees, but not the shutdown. The reason or this is that the jmx remote create a listening socket, making the shutdown to listen to the same port if not configured properly.

Are you sure Tomcat started successfully?
Usually you need to add this property before the other jmx properties:
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/monitoring.html#Enabling_JMX_Remote

Better to add these parameters to the CATALINA_OPTS in the file setenv.sh or setenv.bat
# JMX OPTIONS
CATALINA_OPT="$CATALINA_OPT "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
CATALINA_OPT="$CATALINA_OPT "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=9012
CATALINA_OPT="$CATALINA_OPT "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false
CATALINA_OPT="$CATALINA_OPT "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
CATALINA_OPT="$CATALINA_OPT "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false

Unable to use JConsole with Tomcat running as windows service

I am running tomcat 6.0.18 as a windows service. In the service applet the jvm is configured default, i.e. it is using jvm.dll of the JRE.
I am trying to monitor this application with JConsole but cannot connect to it locally. I added the parameter -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote (which works when starting tomcat with the start.bat script). But the jvm does not seem to pick up the parameter.

There's a nice GUI to edit the options, no need to muck around in the registry.
Open up the C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0\bin\tomcat6.exe (or just double-click on the monitor icon in the task bar). Go to the Java pane, add the following to the list of arguments, and restart Tomcat.
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8086
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
Then you can connect with JConsole or the newer VisualVM.

Here's the prescribed way for changing jvmoptions & interacting with the service:
http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-5.5-doc/windows-service-howto.html
I would try going into your registry at HKLM/Software/Apache Software Foundation/Procrun 2.0//Parameters/Java and editing the "Options" multi-string value directly.

If Tomcat is running as a Windows service, and you want to attach to the JVM locally, you need to run VisualVM or JConsole as the System account. You can use Sysinternals PsExec.exe to accomplish this.
psexec.exe -i -s c:\visualvm\bin\visualvm.exe

I'm posting it mainly to record this information to myself, I haven't validated it - but this is supposed to work as well:
http://mysqlandsqlserver.blogspot.com/2010/02/jconsolejmap-and-tomcat-as-windows.html

There is still a rather simple way to connect JConsole to Java process started as Windows Service using the local mode which I discovered here.
Basically it says that in order to connect to Java process launched as a Windows Service you need to launch JConsole as a Windows Service (you can do it using windows native api or using any wrapper like yajsw.)
By the way, this will free you from restarting the Java Process which was critical for me.

Add the following near the top of your catalina.bat
set JAVA_OPTS=%JAVA_OPTS% -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote ^
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port=8086 ^
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false ^
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false
Stop and restart tomcat (obviously)
Run jconsole.exe. If your tomcat is running as service, then run jconsole.exe as administrator.
Select Remote Process and enter localhost:8086