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How would you investigate the following issue?

On a specific server; any HTTP-Requests sent to a Java Server running on localhost fails with "Connection refused". (See the Java code here)

In the Java Server-Application no sign of any problems is visible. The port seems to be listening, but when I try to send a HTTP request with cURL to the Java HTTP-Server application; cURL logs "Connection refused." (I use curl in mingw on the Windows 10 system)

The started Java Server application:

C:\test>java LogTCP_S 8000

Listening on port:8000, type Crtl-C to finish

The curl command [NOK]:

$ curl localhost:8000
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
  0     0    0     0    0     0      0      0 --:--:--  0:00:01 --:--:--     0

 curl: (7) Failed to connect to localhost port 8000: Connection refused

The same Java code works as expected on my Workstation.

I have also tried a different Java Application. I got the same result using the code from the following answer from StackOverflow: simple HTTP server in Java using only Java SE API

The issue happens on a Windows 10 System. There are several anomaly-detection tools and firewall applications and we are having a hard time to identify the source of the problem.

Hint: netstat -a won't list the port 8000. But it should be actually shown as LISTENING.

Hint: When starting a server in PowerShell (as described here), the communication works as expected. The port of the PowerShell Server will be listed in the netstat -a output and the requests return HTTP 200 and the expected content.

Could you please give me a hint, how to debug, investigate or resolve this issue? What tools could be helpful, when investigating such issues?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Java Version:

C:\>java -version
java version "1.8.0_191"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_191-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.191-b12, mixed mode)

Output of the PowerShell Server:

Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


PS C:\Temp\_test\PowerShell> .\server.ps1
[PowerShell] Listening at http://localhost:8000/... (port 8000)

> http://localhost:8000/ola
< 200

curl output, when the PowerShell is running [OK]:

$ curl localhost:8000/ola
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100    38  100    38    0     0    612      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--   612

<html><body>Hello world!</body></html>
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  • 1
    Do you get any error/warning/other logs from the java server? If netstat -a does not show port 8000, then you should focus on that. Why does it seem that the java server started, but did not bind to the port?
    – Tommiie
    Oct 19, 2018 at 8:11
  • No. I don't see any exception being thrown by the Java-Server-Application or anything being logged to the console. Everything seems to be fine in the Java-Application, but as you have described it, the binding seems to be not happening on this problematic system. Do you have any ideas how I could create some useful traces/logs in order to support the further Investigation of the issue?
    – Attila
    Oct 19, 2018 at 8:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

After executing the following steps; the issue was not reproducible anymore:

  • Stopped the Symantec Anti-Virus service
  • Re-installed Java JDK 8 u 171

After restarting the Symantec Anti-Virus Service; the issue is still not reproducible and the problem seems to be solved.

Now the ports, that are opened by Java applications, appear in the Output of "netstat -a" and they also respond as expected. The HTTP-requests sent to Java application are now arriving in the JVM and the responses can be sent.

It is still not completely clear, what caused the issue.

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1
  • Do you have any clues what could have caused the issue? Is it possible that the Antivirus-tool blocked a specific excecutable binary, which was replaced after re-installing the JDK and this solved the issue?
    – Attila
    Oct 23, 2018 at 10:40

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