TomEE sesison persistance storage not working

Question

I am using TomEE plus 1.7.1 on rhel machine. I have setup jdbc store for persistence storage to store session data in mysql databse. The jdbc store is not working on rhel machine. Even persistence in file is not working. Below are the settings the I have done.

In the /conf/context.xml added this

<Manager className="org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager"
        maxIdleBackup="0">
  <Store className="org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore"
         connectionURL="jdbc:mysql://dbservername:3306/someName?user=[user]&amp;password=[pass]"
         driverName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
         sessionAppCol="app_name"
         sessionDataCol="session_data"
         sessionIdCol="session_id"
         sessionLastAccessedCol="last_access"
         sessionMaxInactiveCol="max_inactive"
         sessionTable="TOMCAT_SESSIONS"
         sessionValidCol="valid_session"/>
</Manager>

I have a TomEE start up script with the below contents. Line 2 is related to jdbc store

export JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Dawt.toolkit=sun.awt.HToolkit"
export CATALINA_OPTS="-Dorg.apache.catalina.session.StandardSession.ACTIVITY_CHECK=true"
sh catalina.sh start

created the following in table in mysql

created following table
 create table tomcat_sessions (
  session_id     varchar(100) not null primary key,
  valid_session  char(1) not null,
  max_inactive   int not null,
  last_access    bigint not null,
  app_name       varchar(255),
  session_data   mediumblob,
  KEY kapp_name(app_name)
);

added mysql-connector-java.jar in /lib The following error is observed

Errors observed-

for every applicattion deployed in apache i am getting these errors

SEVERE: Error manager.start()
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/tomee]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5499)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:649)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory(HostConfig.java:1247)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployDirectory.run(HostConfig.java:1898)
        at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore[org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/tomee]]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManagerBase.startInternal(PersistentManagerBase.java:864)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 12 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.open(JDBCStore.java:961)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.getConnection(JDBCStore.java:893)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.startInternal(JDBCStore.java:1064)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 14 more



SEVERE: Error manager.start()
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname1]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5499)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:649)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1083)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1880)
        at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore[org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname1]]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManagerBase.startInternal(PersistentManagerBase.java:864)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 12 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.open(JDBCStore.java:961)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.getConnection(JDBCStore.java:893)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.startInternal(JDBCStore.java:1064)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 14 more



        SEVERE: Error manager.start()
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname2]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5499)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:649)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1083)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1880)
        at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore[org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname2]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManagerBase.startInternal(PersistentManagerBase.java:864)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 12 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.open(JDBCStore.java:961)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.getConnection(JDBCStore.java:893)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.startInternal(JDBCStore.java:1064)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 14 more


        SEVERE: Error manager.start()
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname3]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5499)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:901)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:877)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:649)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1083)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1880)
        at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore[org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManager[/myAppname3]]]
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:154)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.PersistentManagerBase.startInternal(PersistentManagerBase.java:864)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 12 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.open(JDBCStore.java:961)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.getConnection(JDBCStore.java:893)
        at org.apache.catalina.session.JDBCStore.startInternal(JDBCStore.java:1064)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
        ... 14 more

Answer 1

I would not recommend using JDBC session persistence. Even the Tomcat manual recommends against it. It's unstable, slow, and error-prone.

It would appear something is going wrong with the driver: http://grepcode.com/file/repo1.maven.org/maven2/org.apache.tomcat/tomcat-catalina/7.0.55/org/apache/catalina/session/JDBCStore.java#961

I would look to make sure it's on your classpath first. After that, set a breakpoint in your debugger and see what is actually null.

Answer 2

In my case it was because I am using the wrong JDBC URL, especially the scheme part.

I used:

postgres://

(which is okay for psql , but not for JDBC). The correct one is:

jdbc:postgresql://