tomcat5 fails to start on CentOS 5 with NoClassDefFoundError exception

Question

Tomcat fails to start even if i remove all my applications from the WEBAPPS directory leaving everything just like after the OS installation.

The log (catalina.out) says:

Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/share/tomcat5/temp
Using JRE_HOME:       
Created MBeanServer with ID: -dpv07y:fl4s82vl.0:hydrogenium.timberlinecolorado.com:1
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService
   at java.lang.Class.initializeClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.Class.initializeClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.Class.initializeClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.Class.newInstance(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.init(bootstrap.jar.so)
   at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(bootstrap.jar.so)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.commons.modeler.Registry not found in org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader{urls=[file:/var/lib/tomcat5/server/classes/,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/catalina-cluster-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/catalina-storeconfig-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/catalina-optional-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-coyote-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-jkstatus-ant-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-ajp-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/servlets-default-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/servlets-invoker-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/catalina-ant-jmx-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-http-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-util-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/tomcat-apr-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.jdt.core_3.2.1.v_677_R32x.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/servlets-webdav-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/catalina-5.5.23.jar], parent=org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader{urls=[file:/var/lib/tomcat5/common/classes/,file:/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-ja.jar,file:/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-fr.jar,file:/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-en.jar,file:/var/lib/tomcat5/common/i18n/tomcat-i18n-es.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/naming-resources-5.5.23.jar,file:/usr/share/eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.jdt.core_3.2.1.v_677_R32x.jar,file:/usr/share/java/tomcat5/naming-factory-5.5.23.jar], parent=gnu.gcj.runtime.SystemClassLoader{urls=[file:/usr/lib/jvm/java/lib/tools.jar,file:/usr/share/tomcat5/bin/bootstrap.jar,file:/usr/share/tomcat5/bin/commons-logging-api.jar,file:/usr/share/java/mx4j/mx4j-impl.jar,file:/usr/share/java/mx4j/mx4j-jmx.jar], parent=gnu.gcj.runtime.ExtensionClassLoader{urls=[], parent=null}}}}
   at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   at java.lang.Class.initializeClass(libgcj.so.7rh)
   ...5 more

Answer 1

This screams class path issue, to me. Where exactly is your tomcat installed? (Give us command line printouts of where the home directory is.) Also, how are you starting it?

Answer 2

Check your JAVA_HOME/JRE_HOME setting. You might want to use a different JVM rather than the one that is installed with the OS

Answer 3

Seems like you've implemented a JMX service and tried to install it on your server.xml file but forgot to add the apache commons modeler jar to the server/lib directory (therefore the ClassNotFoundException for org.apache.commons.modeler.Registry). Check your server.xml file for anything you might have added, and try to add the proper jar file to your server classpath.

Answer 4

Seems like you need to have the jar for commons-modeler into $CATALINA_HOME/common/lib. You get the same kind of error when trying to setup JDBC datasources if you didn't put the driver's jar file into tomcat's server classpath.