NoClassDefFoundError in Tomcat EAR-WAR
Platform Notice: Data Center - This article applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this knowledge base article was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center knowledge base articles for non-Data Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Symptoms
The following error occurs during startup in the Tomcat EAR/WAR configuration:
Apr 30, 2009 5:01:57 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Error configuring application listener of class com.atlassian.jira.appconsistency.db.DatabaseCompatibilityEnforcer
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/log4j/Logger
OR
2012-05-08 14:00:07,227 main ERROR [atlassian.jira.startup.LauncherContextListener] Unable to start JIRA.
com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$InitializationException: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/transaction/Status
Cause
The log4j libraries are either missing or not the correct version for your specific version of Tomcat.
Resolution
Ensure you downloaded the extra libraries required for Tomcat which are linked in our guides for Tomcat. You must use the specific library version for your respective Tomcat version (Tomcat 6.x needs jira-jars-tomcat6.zip, Tomcat 5.x needs jira-jars-tomcat5.zip).