Maven Embedded GlassFish Plugin

A Maven plugin for managing Embedded GlassFish server instances during the build lifecycle.

Supports Eclipse GlassFish 6, 7, 8, or newer.

Quick Start

Run your project’s main artifact on Embedded GlassFish directly from command line without modifying your pom.xml:

mvn org.glassfish.embedded:embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin:8.0:run -Dglassfish.version=8.0.1

Or add the plugin to your pom.xml:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.embedded</groupId>
    <artifactId>embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>8.0</version>
    <configuration>
        <glassfish.version>8.0.1</glassfish.version>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Start the server with your application and wait until it stops:

mvn embedded-glassfish:run

Prerequisites

JDK 11 or higher
Maven 3.6.3 or higher

Basic Usage

Command Line

Start server in background:

mvn embedded-glassfish:start

Deploy application:

mvn embedded-glassfish:deploy

Stop server:

mvn embedded-glassfish:stop

Integration Testing

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.embedded</groupId>
    <artifactId>embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>7.0</version>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>start-server</id>
            <phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>start</goal>
                <goal>deploy</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
        <execution>
            <id>stop-server</id>
            <phase>post-integration-test</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>undeploy</goal>
                <goal>stop</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

Goals Overview

Goal

Description

Default Phase

run

Starts server, deploys apps, and runs interactively

none

start

Starts an Embedded GlassFish server

pre-integration-test

stop

Stops the Embedded GlassFish server

post-integration-test

deploy

Deploys an application to the server

pre-integration-test

undeploy

Undeploys an application from the server

post-integration-test

admin

Executes admin commands

pre-integration-test

Configuration

Basic Configuration

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.embedded</groupId>
    <artifactId>embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>7.0</version>
    <configuration>
        <port>8080</port>
        <app>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.war</app>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

port - HTTP port number for the server (default: 8080)
app - Path to the application artifact to deploy (default: main artifact)

Automatic Artifact Deployment

The plugin automatically detects and deploys your project’s main artifact without requiring explicit configuration:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.embedded</groupId>
    <artifactId>embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>7.0</version>
    <configuration>
        <!-- Main artifact automatically deployed if no <app> parameter specified -->
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Note: Currently assumes WAR packaging. For other artifact types, specify the app parameter explicitly.

Admin Commands

Execute administrative commands on the running server:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.embedded</groupId>
    <artifactId>embedded-glassfish-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>7.0</version>
    <configuration>
        <commands>
            <command>set configs.config.server-config.network-config.protocols.protocol.http-listener.http.websockets-support-enabled=true</command>
            <command>create-jdbc-resource --connectionpoolid mypool jdbc/myresource</command>
        </commands>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Command line usage:

mvn embedded-glassfish:admin -Dcommands="set server.monitoring-service.module-monitoring-levels.web-container=HIGH"

Configuration Reference

Server Configuration

configFile - Custom domain configuration file
glassfish.version - GlassFish version to use (default: 8.0.0)
port - HTTP port number (default: 8080)
ports - Map of port configurations
serverID - Server identifier (default: "maven")

Application Deployment

app - Path to application artifact to deploy (defaults to ${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.war)
contextRoot - Application context root
name - Application name (default: "myapp")

Advanced Configuration

bootstrapProperties - Bootstrap properties
glassfishProperties - GlassFish server properties
instanceRoot - Server instance root directory

Goal Reference

run

Starts the server, deploys the project’s WAR artifact by default, and waits for user input. Press Enter to redeploy, type X to undeploy and exit.

A different artifact can be specified via the app configuration parameter.

Default Phase: none (manual execution)

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:run

<!-- Deploy a specific artifact instead of the default WAR -->
<configuration>
    <app>${project.build.directory}/myapp.war</app>
</configuration>

start

Starts an Embedded GlassFish server with the configured parameters.

Default Phase: pre-integration-test

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:start

stop

Stops the Embedded GlassFish server and cleans up resources.

Default Phase: post-integration-test

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:stop

deploy

Deploys an application to the running Embedded GlassFish server.

Default Phase: pre-integration-test

Configuration: * app - Application path (auto-detects if not specified) * name - Application name (default: "myapp") * contextRoot - Web application context root * deploymentParams - Raw asadmin deploy parameters, for options not covered by the above (e.g. --precompilejsp=true, --createtables=true)

<configuration>
    <deploymentParams>
        <param>--contextroot=greetings</param>
        <param>--name=myapp</param>
        <param>--precompilejsp=true</param>
    </deploymentParams>
</configuration>

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:deploy -Dapp=target/myapp.war

undeploy

Undeploys an application from the Embedded GlassFish server.

Default Phase: post-integration-test

Configuration: * name - Application name to undeploy (default: "myapp") * undeploymentParams - Additional undeployment parameters

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:undeploy -Dname=myapp

admin

Executes administrative commands on the running server.

Default Phase: pre-integration-test

Configuration: * commands - Array of admin commands to execute

Example:

mvn embedded-glassfish:admin -Dcommands="create-jdbc-resource --connectionpoolid mypool jdbc/myresource"

Advanced Usage

Forked JVM Mode

By default, the start and run goals launch GlassFish in a forked JVM — a separate process isolated from the Maven JVM. This avoids classloader conflicts and JVM option interference between Maven and GlassFish.

When start forks GlassFish, subsequent goals (deploy, undeploy, admin, stop) automatically detect the forked process and communicate with it — no extra configuration needed.

To pass additional JVM arguments to the forked GlassFish process, use vmArgs in pom.xml:

<configuration>
    <vmArgs>
        <vmArg>-Xmx512m</vmArg>
        <vmArg>-Dmy.property=value</vmArg>
    </vmArgs>
</configuration>

Or via command line using glassfish.vm.args (space-separated):

mvn embedded-glassfish:start -Dglassfish.vm.args="-Xmx512m -Dmy.property=value"

Both can be used at the same time — arguments are merged.

To run GlassFish in-process instead:

mvn embedded-glassfish:start -Dglassfish.fork=false
mvn embedded-glassfish:run   -Dglassfish.fork=false

Or in pom.xml:

<configuration>
    <fork>false</fork>
</configuration>

Non-interactive run mode

The run goal normally waits for user input. Set stop=true to skip the interactive loop — GlassFish starts, deploys all apps, then immediately undeploys and stops. Useful for automated integration tests:

<execution>
    <id>integration</id>
    <phase>integration-test</phase>
    <goals>
        <goal>run</goal>
    </goals>
    <configuration>
        <stop>true</stop>
    </configuration>
</execution>

Or via command line:

mvn embedded-glassfish:run -Dglassfish.run.stop=true

License

Eclipse Public License v. 2.0