IntelliJ IDEA: Tomcat 8.5.13 and 9.0.0.M19 — Error during artifact deployment. See server log for details

There appears to a be a deployment issue with the most recent Tomcat versions from IntelliJ IDEA. We have an open bug for that with the patched files attached that you can use to workaround the problem:

  • IDEA-171174 Tomcat 9.0.0.M19: failed to deploy simple WAR artifact

You can find the patched jar of IntelliJ IDEA Tomcat plug-in, replace <IDEA_HOME>/plugins/Tomcat/lib/tomcatIntegration.jar with it.

The original issue is caused by this Tomcat bug:

  • Bug 60949 - unable to deploy/undeploy war file using the manager

This bug is resolved in the following Tomcat versions:

  • 8.5.14 and later
  • 9.0.0.M20 and later

It's recommended to either wait for/install the fixed Tomcat versions or to revert back to the versions which are not affected by the bug (5.8.12 and 9.0.0.M18), since the workaround for IntelliJ IDEA uses some dirty hacks to make it work with Tomcat 5.8.13 and 9.0.0.M19 which are affected by Bug 60949 (broken JMX).