Cannot load JDBC driver class 'null' ... WTF?

[Ivan Jouikov]

Hi!
I been developing an app on my machine using com.mysql.jdbc.Driver .... Everything seems fine -- when I deploy it on my machine and test it everything works just perfectly...
However when I uploaded it to the server, I began to get the following exception:
"Cannot load JDBC driver class 'null'" whenever I tried to call DataSource's getConnection() method... Here's the basic structure of my app on the final server:
server.xml:

 
 <!-- Context -->
        <Context path="" docBase="" debug="0" reloadable="true" crossContext="true">

<!-- Security -->
    <Realm

className="org.apache.catalina.realm.JDBCRealm"
connectionName="validLogin"
connectionPassword="validPass"

connectionURL="jdbc:mysql://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3306/marina"

driverName="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"

roleNameCol="role"

userCredCol="password"

userNameCol="username"

userRoleTable="roles"

userTable="users"

    />
    <!-- Database -->
    <Resource name="jdbc/marina" auth="Container" type="javax.sql.DataSource" />
    
    <ResourceParams name="jdbc/marina">
    
        <!-- max pool connections -->
        <parameter><name>maxActive</name><value>100</value></parameter>
<!-- max idle connections -->
        <parameter><name>maxIdle</name><value>30</value></parameter>
        <!-- max time to wait for free connections in milliseconds; -1 if infinity -->
        <!-- Exception will be thrown if none are available after the timeout -->
        <parameter><name>maxWait</name><value>20000</value></parameter>

<!-- remove abandoned (forgotten to close) connections? -->
<parameter><name>removeAbandoned</name><value>true</value></parameter>

<!-- after how many seconds is connection considred abandoned? -->
<parameter><name>removeAbandonedTimeout</name><value>60</value></parameter>

<!-- log abandoned connections? -->
<parameter><name>logAbandoned</name><value>true</value></parameter>
        <!-- db username -->
        <parameter><name>username</name><value>valid</value></parameter>
        <!-- db password -->
        <parameter><name>password</name><value>valid</value></parameter>
        <!-- db driver -->
        <parameter><name>driverClassName</name><value>com.mysql.jdbc.Driver</value></parameter>
        <!-- db URL -->
        <parameter><name>url</name><value>jdbc:mysql://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:3306/marina?autoReconnect=true</value></parameter>
    </ResourceParams>

        </Context>
 

$CATALINA_HOME/common/lib:
mysql connector.jar lies here with the driver
Here's the database manager (Manager.java):

/*
 * Created on Jul 25, 2003
 *
 */
package ivj.db;
import ivj.exception.ProgramError;
import javax.naming.*;
import javax.sql.*;
import java.sql.*;
/**
 * Singleton for database management. (Bean-friendly)
 * @author Ivan Jouikov ([e-mail])
 */
public class Manager
{
static Manager instance;
DataSource ds;

public Manager() throws ProgramError
{
if (instance == null)
instance = this;
if (ds == null)
try
{
ds = (DataSource)new InitialContext().lookup("java:comp/env/jdbc/marina");
}
catch (NamingException e)
{
throw new ProgramError("Problem occured when looking up DataSource from InitialContext!",e);
}
}

public static Manager getInstance() throws ProgramError
{
if (instance == null)
instance = new Manager();
return instance;
}

public Connection getConnection() throws ProgramError
{
try
{
return ds.getConnection();
}
catch (SQLException e)
{
throw new ProgramError("Problem occurred when trying to get a connection!\n" + e.getMessage(),e);
}
}

public ResultSet executeQuery(String query) throws ProgramError
{
Connection con = getConnection();
Statement st = null;
ResultSet result = null;
try
{
st = con.createStatement();
result = st.executeQuery(query);
}
catch (SQLException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
throw new ivj.exception.ProgramError("");
}
finally
{
try{ st.close(); con.close(); }
catch (SQLException e1)
{
throw new ivj.exception.ProgramError("Unable to close connection or statement!",e1);
}
return result;
}
}

public boolean execute(String query) throws ProgramError
{
Connection con = getConnection();
Statement st = null;
boolean result = false;
try
{
st = con.createStatement();
result = st.execute(query);
}
catch (SQLException e)
{
throw new ivj.exception.ProgramError("An error occured while trying to execute the following query:\n" + query + "\n",e);
}
finally
{
try{ st.close(); con.close(); }
catch (SQLException e1)
{
throw new ivj.exception.ProgramError("Unable to close connection or statement!",e1);
}
return result;
}
}


}

And here's the file I use to test that crap:

 <%@ page language="java" %>
<%
    ivj.db.Manager.getInstance().execute("CREATE TABLE wooho(wo INT)");
%> 

.. anybody has any ideas why is this happening?
It didn't happen on my home machine but it's happening on server...
JVM is 1.4.x and tomcat is 4.1
Thank you in advance, your help is GREATLY appreciated,
Ivan

[Ivan Jouikov]

BTW, mysql contains the the valid user with the valid password @ my host with all privileges set to him and access to all the databases.

[Ivan Jouikov]

oh yeah, a few things I forgot:
CLASSPATH contains an entry for mysql-connector.jar
web.xml contains the following regarding the database:
<!-- Database -->
<resource-ref>
<description>DB Connection</description>
<res-ref-name>jdbc/marina</res-ref-name>
<res-type>javax.sql.DataSource</res-type>
<res-auth>Container</res-auth>
</resource-ref>