Tomcat started in Eclipse but unable to connect to http://localhost:8085/

I configured Tomcat 6.0.24 in Eclipse on port 8085 and started successfully with log as below:

Feb 17, 2010 4:24:31 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin;.;C:\WINDOWS\Sun\Java\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:/Program Files/Java/jre6/bin/client;C:/Program Files/Java/jre6/bin;E:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\system32\WBEM;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\BINN;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Teleca Shared;C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\;E:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\PrivateAssemblies\;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin;E:\komal-gohil\tools\Subversion\bin;C:\Sun\SDK\bin;e:\instantrails\ruby\bin;c:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin;E:\komal-gohil\tools\apache-maven-2.2.1\bin;C:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin;E:\komal-gohil\tools\Ant\bin;E:\komal-gohil\tools\apache-tomcat-5.5.17\bin;C:\Sun\SDK\lib\j2ee.jar;E:\komal-gohil\tools\android-sdk-windows-1.6_r1\tools;E:\komal-gohil\tools\Scala\bin;E:\komal-gohil\tools\pax-construct-1.4\bin
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:31 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8085
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:31 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 705 ms
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Catalina
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.24
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8085
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8010
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/31  config=null
Feb 17, 2010 4:24:32 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 421 ms

But when I am trying to open http://localhost:8085 in webbrowser, it is giving me the following error:

HTTP Status 404 - /

type Status report

message /

description The requested resource (/) is not available.

Apache Tomcat/6.0.24

When I start Tomcat outside the Eclipse, then I can just open http://localhost:8085 in webbrowser.

What could be the reason for this? How do I solve this problem?

What are you expecting? The default Tomcat homepage? If so, you'll need to configure Eclipse to take control over from Tomcat.

Doubleclick the Tomcat server entry in the Servers tab, you'll get the server configuration. At the left column, under Server Locations, select Use Tomcat installation. This way Eclipse will take full control over Tomcat, this way you'll also be able to access the default Tomcat homepage with the Tomcat Manager when running from inside Eclipse. I only don't see how that's useful while developing using Eclipse.

Note, when it is grayed out, read the section leading text! It literally says "Server must be published with no modules present to make changes". In other words, make sure that you've removed all modules via rightclick server and Add and remove... option, and then performed rightclick server and Publish.

The port number is not the problem. You would otherwise have gotten an exception in Tomcat's startup log, and the browser would show a browser-specific "Connection timed out" error page and thus not a Tomcat-specific error page which could impossibly be served when Tomcat was not up and running.

Eclipse hooks Dynamic Web projects into tomcat and maintains it's own configuration but does not deploy the standard tomcat ROOT.war. As http://localhost:8085/ link returns 404 does indeed show that tomcat is up and running, just can't find a web app deployed to root.

By default, any deployed dynamic web projects use their project name as context root, so you should see http://localhost:8085/yourprojectname working properly, but check the Servers tab first to ensure that your web project has actually been deployed.

Hope that helps.

Right-click on your project's name in Eclipse's Project Explorer, then click Run As followed by Run on Server. Click the Next button. Make sure your project's name is listed in the Configured: column on the right. If it is, then you should be able to access it with this URL:

http://localhost:8085/projectname/

Additionally, whenever you make new additions (such as new JSPs, graphics or other resources) to your project, be sure to refresh the project by clicking on its name and then hitting F5. Otherwise Eclipse does not know that those new resources are available and will not make them available to Tomcat to serve.