How To Deploy Maven Based War File To Tomcat

Here we show you how to use Maven-Tomcat plugin to package and deploy a WAR file to Tomcat.1. Tomcat Authentication

First, add an user with administrator access right for Tomcat. To add Tomcat user, edit this file – “%TOMCAT_PATH%/conf/tomcat-users.xml“.

File : tomcat-users.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<tomcat-users>
  <role rolename="manager"/>
  <role rolename="admin"/>
  <user username="admin" password="password" roles="admin,manager"/>
</tomcat-users>

Later, you will use the user “admin” to do the deployment.

2. Maven Authentication

In Maven side, you need to add the same user authentication information in “%MAVEN_PATH%/conf/settings.xml“.

File : settings.xml

//...
<server>
 <id>TomcatServer</id>
 <username>admin</username>
 <password>password</password>
</server>
//...

3. Maven-Tomcat-Plugin

Declare “Maven-Tomcat plugin” and related Tomcat server detail in your pom.xml file.

<plugin>
 <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
 <artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
 <configuration>
  <url>http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager</url>
  <server>TomcatServer</server>
  <path>/mkyongWebApp</path>
 </configuration>
</plugin>

See a full pom.xml file.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.mkyong</groupId>
 <artifactId>mkyongweb-core</artifactId>
 <packaging>war</packaging>
 <version>1.0</version>
 <name>mkyongweb-core Maven Webapp</name>
 <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
 <build>
  <plugins>
   <!-- Maven Tomcat Plugin -->
   <plugin>
    <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
    <artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
     <url>http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager</url>
     <server>TomcatServer</server>
     <path>/mkyongWebApp</path>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
   <!-- Maven compiler plugin -->
   <plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
    <configuration>
     <source>1.6</source>
     <target>1.6</target>
    </configuration>
   </plugin>
  </plugins>
 </build>
</project>

How it works ?
During deployment, it tell Maven to deploy the WAR file to Tomcat server (http://127.0.0.1:8080/), on path “/mkyongWebApp“, and using “TomcatServer” (in settings.xml) username and password for authentication.

4. Deploy to Tomcat

Issue “mvn tomcat:deploy” to package your project in a WAR file, and deploy it to Tomcat server. To verify it, just access to the Tomcat’s manager page and make sure “/mkyongWebApp” path is existed.

URL : http://127.0.0.1:8080/manager/

How to redeploy ?
For subsequent deployment, where “mkyongWebApp” web application is existed, you should use “mvn tomcat:redeploy” instead.

For more usages, please refer to this Maven-Tomcat plugin page.

source: http://www.mkyong.com/maven/how-to-deploy-maven-based-war-file-to-tomcat/