Knowledge Base - FAQ
Question: My JVM is erratic and/or I see java.util.zip.ZipException errors in my logs.Tomcat in it's default configuration tries to auto-decompress and auto-deploy *.jar files you drop into place in the various directories it keeps watch over.
Normally this is great, but what we've discovered is that if it sees a new file, and the file is in the process of being uploaded (IE, slow scp or ftp link) then Tomcat will try to decompress it, in the process corrupting it.
After that, Tomcat will disable the webapp that the JAR was deployed under, as well as trying to re-decompress it every couple of minutes. Each time failing, and each time leaving behind a mess of unclosed processes and/or files.
The ultimate result, if not caught in time, is a server crash.
There are a couple of ways to work around this problem. One is to disable the auto-deployment features. Another is to upload the files to a temporary directory, then using the command line (via SSH) you can move the complete file into place. Yet another is to stop your Tomcat JVM before doing the upload, then start it after the upload is complete.
Last Modified: Sep 13, 2002