Deploy a Java web application inside a Wildfly server container

You can use Docker to run a Wildfly server and deploy your Java web applications on it. This tutorial describes how to create a simple Java web application, build a deployable web application resource (WAR) file, and then deploy it inside a Wildfly server running as a Docker container.

Before you begin, make sure that Docker integration is properly configured.

Create a Java web application

From the main menu, select File | New | Project.
In the New Project dialog, select Java Enterprise. For this tutorial, use Java 1.8 as the project SDKs and leave other settings by default: Maven as the build tool and JUnit as the test runner. Select Java as your project language and click Next.
In the Libraries and Frameworks list, select the Web Profile specification and click Next.
Enter a name for your project: SimpleJavaWebApp. Then click Finish.
Wait for IntelliJ IDEA to create and index the project.
In the Project tool window, right-click the src/main/webapp directory, point to New and click JSP/JSPX.
In the Create JSP/JSPX page dialog, enter the name index and click OK.
Open the src/main/webapp/index.jsp file and paste the following HTML code as the entrypoint for the servlet:
<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=UTF-8" language="java" %> <html> <head> <title>Simple Java Web App Demo</title> </head> <body> <h1>Hello, I am a Java web app!</h1> <p>I am running from a WAR artifact.</p> </body> </html>
Right-click the top level node in the Project tool window and select New | Directory.
In the New Directory dialog, enter the directory name docker-dir and press Enter.
This directory will be used for the Dockerfile and WAR artifact.

Build a WAR artifact

Open project settings Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S and click Artifacts.
Select the SimpleJavaWebApp:war artifact and set the Output directory to point to the docker-dir directory. Click OK to apply the changes.
From the main menu, select Build | Build Artifacts.
In the Build Artifact dialog, select to build the SimpleJavaWebApp:war artifact.

You should see the built artifact in the specified output directory docker-dir/SimpleJavaWebApp-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war.

Run a Wildfly server container from a Dockerfile

In the Project tool window, right-click the docker-dir directory and select New | File.
In the New File dialog, enter the name of the file Dockerfile and press Enter.
Paste the following code into the Dockerfile:
FROM jboss/wildfly COPY SimpleJavaWebApp-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war /opt/jboss/wildfly/standalone/deployments/
This will set the base image of the container to jboss/wildfly and copy the WAR artifact to the Wildfly server default deployment directory.
Click the green arrows in the gutter next to the FROM command and then click Run on Docker.
This will start a run configuration with the default settings. The application will be deployed inside the Wildfly server running in a container, but you will not be able to access it from the host, because port 8080 in the container is not published to the host.
Click the green arrows in the gutter next to the FROM command and then click Edit 'docker-dir/Dockerfile'.
In the Edit Run Configuration dialog, you can optionally specify the name of the container for convenience (otherwise, Docker uses a default randomized name).
Set the following port bindings:
- Host port: 8080
- Container port: 8080
- Protocol: tcp
- Host IP: 127.0.0.1
Add a task in the Before launch section to build the SimpleJavaWebApp:war artifact every time you start this run configuration.
Click Run to recreate the container with the new settings.
When the container starts, open the following address in your web browser: http://127.0.0.1:8080/SimpleJavaWebApp-1.0-SNAPSHOT/.
You should see the following page:

You should be able to see the running container and the pulled jboss/wildfly image in the Services tool window (View | Tool Windows | Services or Alt+8) under Docker.

Services tool window with running Wildfly container and deployed Java app

Last modified: 02 August 2022