Two ways to resolve address already in use with SpringBoot apps

Jan 27, 2025

Cowrie

Dev @ Bswen

1. Introduction

Sometimes, when starting a SpringBoot web (MVC) application, you may encounter the following exception:

2019-06-24 13:41:59.855 ERROR 68431 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Failed to start connector [Connector[HTTP/1.1-8080]]

org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [Connector[HTTP/1.1-8080]]
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:167) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.addConnector(StandardService.java:225) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.springframework.boot.web.embedded.tomcat.TomcatWebServer.addPreviouslyRemovedConnectors(TomcatWebServer.java:256) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.web.embedded.tomcat.TomcatWebServer.start(TomcatWebServer.java:198) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.startWebServer(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:300) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.finishRefresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:162) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:553) [spring-context-5.0.6.RELEASE.jar:5.0.6.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.context.ServletWebServerApplicationContext.refresh(ServletWebServerApplicationContext.java:140) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:759) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:395) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:327) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1255) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1243) [spring-boot-2.0.2.RELEASE.jar:2.0.2.RELEASE]
  at com.bswen.sbmvc.Application.main(Application.java:10) [classes/:na]
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain.main(AppMain.java:147) [idea_rt.jar:na]
Caused by: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Protocol handler start failed
  at org.apache.catalina.connector.Connector.startInternal(Connector.java:1020) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  ... 18 common frames omitted
Caused by: java.net.BindException: Address already in use
  at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:433) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.nio.ch.Net.bind(Net.java:425) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketChannelImpl.bind(ServerSocketChannelImpl.java:223) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at sun.nio.ch.ServerSocketAdaptor.bind(ServerSocketAdaptor.java:74) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
  at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint.bind(NioEndpoint.java:210) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AbstractEndpoint.start(AbstractEndpoint.java:1150) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.start(AbstractProtocol.java:591) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  at org.apache.catalina.connector.Connector.startInternal(Connector.java:1018) ~[tomcat-embed-core-8.5.31.jar:8.5.31]
  ... 19 common frames omitted
2019-06-24 13:41:59.862  INFO 68431 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Stopping service [Tomcat]
2019-06-24 13:41:59.875  INFO 68431 --- [           main] ConditionEvaluationReportLoggingListener :
Error starting ApplicationContext. To display the conditions report re-run your application with 'debug' enabled.
2019-06-24 13:41:59.877 ERROR 68431 --- [           main] o.s.b.d.LoggingFailureAnalysisReporter   :
***************************
APPLICATION FAILED TO START
***************************
Description:
The Tomcat connector configured to listen on port 8080 failed to start. The port may already be in use or the connector may be misconfigured.

Key Concept

The error occurs because the port (e.g., 8080) is already occupied by another process. This is a common issue when running multiple SpringBoot applications or other services on the same machine.

2. Environments

• SpringBoot 1.x and 2.x

3. The Solution

3.1 Way 1: Change your port

The simplest way to resolve this issue is to change the port your application uses. You can do this by adding the following line to your application.properties file:

src/main/resources/application.properties

server.port=28080

Tip

Always choose a port number that is unlikely to conflict with other services. Ports above 1024 are generally safe to use.

3.2 Way 2: Stop or kill the old app

If you prefer to use the default port (8080), you can identify and stop the process currently using it. Follow these steps:

1. Install lsof (if not already installed):

   yum install lsof

2. Identify the process using port 8080:

   lsof -i:8080

   Output:

   COMMAND   PID       USER   FD   TYPE             DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
   java    68428 bswen.com   75u  IPv6 0x2b29170d4b2d39b7      0t0  TCP *:http-alt (LISTEN)

3. Use jps to confirm the process:

   jps -l -m | grep 68428

   Output:

   68428 com.intellij.rt.execution.application.AppMain springboot2.mvc.Application

4. Kill the process:

   kill -9 68428

After stopping the process, you can restart your SpringBoot application without encountering the “Address already in use” error.

4. Summary

The “Address already in use” error in SpringBoot applications is typically caused by a port conflict. You can resolve this issue by either changing the server port in the application.properties file or identifying and stopping the process currently using the port. Both methods are effective, and the choice depends on your specific requirements.

Final Words + More Resources

My intention with this article was to help others who might be considering solving such a problem. So I hope that’s been the case here. If you still have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me by email: Email me

Here are also the most important links from this article along with some further resources that will help you in this scope:

• 👨‍💻 lsof
• 👨‍💻 jps

Oh, and if you found these resources useful, don’t forget to support me by starring the repo on GitHub!

Tags:

• springboot

How to resolve org.springframework.boot.context.properties.bind.BindException: failed to bind properties under logging.level to java.util.Map

How to do custom JSON serialization in SpringBoot(RESTful) apps