Q: java.net.BindException: Address already in use

The most common hiccup (especially for bin and exe installs) is when another web server (or any process for that matter) has laid claim to port 8080. This is the default HTTP port that GeoServer attempts to bind to at startup. Even if you don't see a BindException, but get something else when you try to go to the geoserver admin, this is probably the problem.

To change the port that GeoServer runs on, open the file:

$GEOSERVER_HOME/etc/jetty.xml

for GeoServer 1.4.x. For older versions it's at:

$GEOSERVER_HOME/documents/jetty.xml

and search for '8080'. Change it to a port that isn't in use, and is greater than 1024, as ports less than or equal to 1024 require superuser access to bind to. Restart GeoServer and you're in business. Be sure that you always replace the "8080" in the URL you're using to access GeoServer. For example, if you change the port to 1979, you would request the URL to

http://localhost:1979/geoserver