Deploy and debug a Java web application inside a container running Tomcat

Clone the sample project

The source code of the application is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/IdeaUJetBrains/Tomcat_docker_debug

1. In the main menu, go to File | New | Project from Version Control.

2. Specify the URL of the repository and click Clone.

3. If necessary, agree to open the cloned project in a new window.

Build the WAR artifact

1. In the main menu, go to Build | Build Artifacts

2. Select tomcat_docker_debug:war exploded and build it.

The built artifact appears in the project root under target/.

Run the application using Docker Compose

1. Open docker-compose.yml.

2. Click in the gutter next to services.

This creates a Docker Compose run configuration that runs the application in a container as a separate Docker Compose service defined in docker-compose.yml.

Image

This tutorial uses the image tomcat:10.0-jdk17, which is compatible with Jakarta EE 9.1. If your application uses Jakarta EE 10, run it on Tomcat 10.1. For Java EE 8, use Tomcat 9 and earlier versions.

Ports

To access the application from your host machine, Docker Compose exposes port 8080 in the container as port 8888 on the host. It also exposes port 5005 in the container as port 5005 on the host for the debugger.

Volumes

Instead of copying the WAR artifact to the container, Docker Compose bind mounts the application output directory ./target to the Tomcat directory in the container: /usr/local/tomcat/webapps.

Environment variables

To attach the debugger, Docker Compose sets the JAVA_OPTS environment variable to the following:

-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=*:5005

Command

Docker Compose overrides the default command declared by the Tomcat image and sets it to catalina.sh run.

Check that the application is running

1. Open the container log and make sure it ends with a message that Tomcat has started.

2. Open the following URL in your browser: http://localhost:8888/Tomcat_docker_debug-1.0-SNAPSHOT/api/hello-world. It should return a page with Hello, World!

Attach the debugger

1. Run the Remote JVM Debug configuration named remote_tomcat_debug, which attaches the debugger remotely.

2. Open src/main/java/com/example/tomcat_docker_debug/HelloResource.java and set a breakpoint in the hello() method on the line with return "Hello, World!";

   

3. Refresh or open the REST endpoint again: http://localhost:8888/Tomcat_docker_debug-1.0-SNAPSHOT/api/hello-world. This time, it should hit the breakpoint inside the mentioned method.