issue with deployment in tomcat. Works fine in local tomcat. throws null pointer exception in Production tomcat

Question

I have an application which works fine in my eclipse-tomcat ecosystem. When i have the war file deployed on my production server, i get the below error

org.apache.jasper.JasperException: java.lang.NullPointerException: Module 'null' not found.
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.handleJspException(JspServletWrapper.java:536)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:428)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:313)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:260)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
root cause 
java.lang.NullPointerException: Module 'null' not found.
    org.apache.struts.taglib.TagUtils.getModuleConfig(TagUtils.java:755)
    org.apache.struts.taglib.TagUtils.computeURLWithCharEncoding(TagUtils.java:364)
    org.apache.struts.taglib.TagUtils.computeURLWithCharEncoding(TagUtils.java:285)
    org.apache.struts.taglib.logic.RedirectTag.generateRedirectURL(RedirectTag.java:289)
    org.apache.struts.taglib.logic.RedirectTag.doEndTag(RedirectTag.java:268)
    org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspx_meth_logic_005fredirect_005f0(index_jsp.java:94)
    org.apache.jsp.index_jsp._jspService(index_jsp.java:67)
    org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(HttpJspBase.java:70)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:386)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:313)
    org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:260)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)

When i download the catalina.out file and take a look at it, below is the exception i get.

Dec 12, 2013 1:49:47 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deploying web application archive SRL.war
Dec 12, 2013 1:49:48 PM org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader validateJarFile
INFO: validateJarFile(/opt/tomcat/webapps/SRL/WEB-INF/lib/servlet.jar) - jar not loaded. See Servlet Spec 2.3, section 9.7.2. Offending class: javax/servlet/Servlet.class
- Loading chain catalog from jar:file:/opt/apache-tomcat-6.0.32/webapps/SRL/WEB-INF/lib/struts-core-1.3.8.jar!/org/apache/struts/chain/chain-config.xml
- Begin event threw exception
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.invokeMethod(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1773)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1759)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setNestedProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1648)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1677)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtilsBean.setProperty(BeanUtilsBean.java:1022)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtilsBean.populate(BeanUtilsBean.java:811)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtils.populate(BeanUtils.java:298)
at org.apache.commons.digester.SetPropertiesRule.begin(SetPropertiesRule.java:252)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Rule.begin(Rule.java:175)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1453)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(AbstractSAXParser.java:501)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.dtd.XMLDTDValidator.startElement(XMLDTDValidator.java:767)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:400)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2755)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:648)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:140)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:511)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:808)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:737)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:119)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1205)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:522)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1827)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.parseModuleConfigFile(ActionServlet.java:740)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.initModuleConfig(ActionServlet.java:689)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.init(ActionServlet.java:356)
at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:212)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1173)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:993)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4420)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4733)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:799)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:779)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:601)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:943)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:563)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1397)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean.invoke(BaseModelMBean.java:297)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:836)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:761)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.check(ManagerServlet.java:1500)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.HTMLManagerServlet.doPost(HTMLManagerServlet.java:252)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:637)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.filters.CsrfPreventionFilter.doFilter(CsrfPreventionFilter.java:186)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:563)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
at com.mulesoft.tcat.monitoring.tomcat.Tomcat55AgentValve.invoke(Tomcat55AgentValve.java:20)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:298)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:859)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:588)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:489)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/schenker/srl/model/entity/User : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0 (unable to load class com.schenker.srl.model.entity.User)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2822)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
at org.apache.struts.config.FormBeanConfig.formBeanClass(FormBeanConfig.java:612)
at org.apache.struts.config.FormBeanConfig.setType(FormBeanConfig.java:166)
... 69 more
-   Resource org/apache/struts/action/ActionResources_en_US.properties Not Found.
-   Resource org/apache/struts/action/ActionResources_en.properties Not Found.
 - Parsing error processing resource path jndi:/localhost/SRL/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:3181)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:3207)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1456)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.startElement(AbstractSAXParser.java:501)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.dtd.XMLDTDValidator.startElement(XMLDTDValidator.java:767)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanStartElement(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:400)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:2755)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLDocumentScannerImpl.java:648)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.next(XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.java:140)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.java:511)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:808)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(XML11Configuration.java:737)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(XMLParser.java:119)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(AbstractSAXParser.java:1205)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(SAXParserImpl.java:522)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1827)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.parseModuleConfigFile(ActionServlet.java:740)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.initModuleConfig(ActionServlet.java:689)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.init(ActionServlet.java:356)
at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:212)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1173)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:993)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4420)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4733)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:799)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:779)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:601)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:943)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:563)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1397)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean.invoke(BaseModelMBean.java:297)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:836)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:761)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.check(ManagerServlet.java:1500)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.HTMLManagerServlet.doPost(HTMLManagerServlet.java:252)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:637)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.filters.CsrfPreventionFilter.doFilter(CsrfPreventionFilter.java:186)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:563)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
at com.mulesoft.tcat.monitoring.tomcat.Tomcat55AgentValve.invoke(Tomcat55AgentValve.java:20)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:298)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:859)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:588)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:489)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
at     sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.invokeMethod(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1773)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setSimpleProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1759)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setNestedProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1648)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.PropertyUtilsBean.setProperty(PropertyUtilsBean.java:1677)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtilsBean.setProperty(BeanUtilsBean.java:1022)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtilsBean.populate(BeanUtilsBean.java:811)
at org.apache.commons.beanutils.BeanUtils.populate(BeanUtils.java:298)
at org.apache.commons.digester.SetPropertiesRule.begin(SetPropertiesRule.java:252)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Rule.begin(Rule.java:175)
at org.apache.commons.digester.Digester.startElement(Digester.java:1453)
... 55 more
Caused by: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/schenker/srl/model/entity/User : Unsupported major.minor version 51.0 (unable to load class com.schenker.srl.model.entity.User)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClassInternal(WebappClassLoader.java:2822)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.findClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1159)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1647)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1526)
at org.apache.struts.config.FormBeanConfig.formBeanClass(FormBeanConfig.java:612)
at org.apache.struts.config.FormBeanConfig.setType(FormBeanConfig.java:166)
... 69 more

My web.xml seems fine. I changed the JRE in the build path to 1.6 from 1.7 to check if this is a version issue. Can anyone identify what the issue is and suggest possible solutions?

Answer 1

You compiled your application with newer version of Java (then one available on your server).

Double check what version of Java is used by your local Eclipse and remote Tomcat.