Deploying large war files to Tomcat under Hudson: use Cargo

Whilst

mvn tomcat:deploy

works for the majority of war files under Hudson, for a large war (34m) the deploy failed with Out of memory error, though not at the shell prompt. Failure to fix by tweeking memory arguments led me to use Cargo instead. Note that the local tomcat is treated as remote to reduce rework when deploying to a remote server.

<build>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.cargo</groupId>
<artifactId>cargo-maven2-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<wait>true</wait>
<container>
<containerId>tomcat6x</containerId>
<type>remote</type>
</container>
<configuration>
<type>runtime</type>
<properties>
<cargo.tomcat.manager.url>http://localhost:8080/manager</cargo.tomcat.manager.url>
<cargo.remote.username>admin</cargo.remote.username>
<cargo.remote.password></cargo.remote.password>
</properties>
</configuration>
<deployer>
<type>remote</type>
<deployables>
<deployable>
<groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
<artifactId>${project.artifactId}</artifactId>
<properties>
<context>${project.artifactId}</context>
</properties>
<type>war</type>
</deployable>
</deployables>
</deployer>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>do</id>
<phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
<goals>
<goal>deployer-redeploy</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>

Setting up Hudson CI for GWT Development

GWT development requires a 32 bit Sun JDK.

We decided to do this by using a 32 bit VM, which could be moved to another server at a later date.

1. Install VMWare Player (Ensure networking is enabled during installation)
2. Download a 32 bit ubuntu ISO (or 32 bit Debian)
3. Create a new VM from the ISO.
4. Enter VM and establish your ipaddress.
5. Add hudson repo to /etc/apt/sources

   deb http://hudson.gotdns.com/debian binary/
   

6. Install Sun JDK

   apt-get install sun-java6-jdk 
   update-alternatives --config java
   update-alternatives --config javac

7. Install Tomcat

   apt-get install tomcat6
   apt-get install tomcat6-admin
   

   Modify /etc/tomcat/tomcat-users.xml and add
   <user username="admin" password="" roles="manager,admin"/>
   (or add a password and add password to ~/.m2/settings.xml)
   Set Tomcat security off
   

   sed -i "s/TOMCAT6_SECURITY=.\+/TOMCAT6_SECURITY=no/" \
   /etc/default/tomcat6
   

   Increase Tomcat default memory allocation in /etc/defaults/tomcat6
   JAVA_OPTS="-Djava.awt.headless=true -Xmx1024M -Xms1024m"
   
8. Install Hudson

   apt-get install hudson
   

9. Change Hudson port and ajpport by editting /etc/init.d/hudson to add

   HUDSON_ARGS="--httpPort=8081  --ajp13Port=8102" 

10. Install Apache

    apt-get install apache2
    a2enmod proxy
    a2enmod proxy_http

11. Setup /etc/apache2/httpd.conf (or similar)

servername hudson
ProxyPass   /  http://localhost:8081/
ProxyPassReverse  /  http://localhost:8081/
ProxyRequests   Off
<Proxy http://localhost:8081/*>
Order deny,allow
Allow from all
</Proxy>

12. Install Maven

    apt-get install maven2

13. Configure Hudson
    • setup smtp
    • set MAVEN_HOME to /usr/share/maven2
    • set email from address
    • set url to ip address
14. Download GWT toolkit 1.7.1 and extract then install gwt-dev-linux.jar to your local repo

    mvn install:install-file \
    -DgroupId=com.google.gwt -DartifactId=gwt-dev \
    -Dversion=1.7.1 -Dclassifier=linux \
    -Dpackaging=jar -Dfile=gwt-dev-linux.jar

15. Add individual projects to Hudson

You are using Continuous Integration, aren't you?

This is one of those questions expecting the answer yes, like you have lost your virginity, haven't you?, which has a motivational impact.

Another prod in the right direction was when someone used Hudson as the term for CI server, as you would use Hoover for vaccum cleaner.

I have tried three times to use Continuum, only once with any degree of success. Hudson just works, straight out of the box.

I am proud to say I am, at last and later than most, using Continuous Integration.