"Couldn't contact the RemoteTestNG client" error when trying to run tests

Question

Issue

Working with TestNG on a maven managed project, i can't seem to run tests via the TestNG eclipse plugin. When trying to run tests, the following error message pops up (inside a dialog window):

Couldn't contact the RemoteTestNG client. Make sure you don't have an older version of testng.jar on your class path.

Reason:
Timeout while trying to contact RemoteTestNG.

How to resolve this?

Things I have tried

(After asking all my peers at the office QA department on this, and looking up information via the common search engines and on TestNG forums)

Making sure I don't have an older version on my class path (naturally).
Eliminating possible collisions between maven imported jars and jars used by the TestNG eclipse plugin (both are of version 6.7, and the project's pom.xml confirmed to use only its own dependent jar).
Performing maven update and build after said changes.
Running on a different JRE (specifically 1.7.0).

Relevant information

Environment:

OS: Win XP pro SP3
JRE: 1.6.0 update 31
TestNG: 6.7
Maven: 3.0.3
IDE: Eclipse Juno Java EE SR1

`pom.xml` content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <artifactId>SGTest</artifactId>
    <name>SGTest</name>
    <description>Service Grid Test project for XAP</description>

    <parent>
        <groupId>com.my_product.quality.sgtest</groupId>
        <artifactId>SGTest-parent</artifactId>
        <version>3.0.0</version>
        <relativePath>http://mvn-srv:8081/artifactory/libs-snapshot-local/com/my_product/quality/sgtest/SGTest-parent/3.0.0/SGTest-parent-3.0.0.pom</relativePath>
    </parent>

    <properties>
        <xap.home>${env.XAP_LATEST}</xap.home>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.my_product</groupId>
            <artifactId>my_opensource_product</artifactId>
            <version>${gsVersion}</version>
            <scope>system</scope>
            <systemPath>${xap.home}/lib/required/my_opensource_product.jar</systemPath>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.my_product</groupId>
            <artifactId>gs-runtime</artifactId>
            <version>${gsVersion}</version>
            <scope>system</scope>
            <systemPath>${xap.home}/lib/required/gs-runtime.jar</systemPath>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.my_product.quality</groupId>
            <artifactId>DashboardReporter</artifactId>
            <version>0.0.1</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
            <artifactId>apps</artifactId>
            <version>${project.version}</version>
            <type>pom</type>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.my_product.quality</groupId>
            <artifactId>webuitf</artifactId>
            <version>1.0.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.my_product.quality</groupId>
            <artifactId>wanem</artifactId>
            <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.my_opensource_product.xenserver</groupId>
            <artifactId>xenserver-machine-provisioning</artifactId>
            <version>2.0.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.swift.common</groupId>
            <artifactId>confluence-soap</artifactId>
            <version>0.5</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.testng</groupId>
            <artifactId>testng</artifactId>
            <version>6.7</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.ant</groupId>
            <artifactId>ant-jsch</artifactId>
            <version>1.8.3</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
            <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>com.thoughtworks.xstream</groupId>
            <artifactId>xstream</artifactId>
            <version>1.4.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
            <artifactId>mail</artifactId>
            <version>1.4.5</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
            <artifactId>groovy-all</artifactId>
            <version>1.8.6</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-vfs2</artifactId>
            <version>2.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hyperic</groupId>
            <artifactId>sigar</artifactId>
            <version>1.6.5</version>
            <scope>system</scope>
            <systemPath>${xap.home}/lib/platform/sigar/sigar.jar</systemPath>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-jms</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.1.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>hsqldb</groupId>
            <artifactId>hsqldb</artifactId>
            <version>1.8.0.10</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.hamcrest</groupId>
            <artifactId>hamcrest-all</artifactId>
            <version>1.3</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <testSourceDirectory>src/main/java</testSourceDirectory>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.12.4</version>
                <configuration>
                    <classpathDependencyExcludes>
                        <classpathDependencyExcludes>com.my_product.quality.sgtest.apps.security:processor</classpathDependencyExcludes>
                        <classpathDependencyExcludes>com.my_product.quality.sgtest.apps.archives:customSecurityProcessor</classpathDependencyExcludes>
                        <classpathDependencyScopeExclude>runtime</classpathDependencyScopeExclude>
                    </classpathDependencyExcludes>
                    <argLine>-Xmx2048m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m</argLine>
                    <includes>
                        <include>${includes}</include>
                    </includes>
                    <excludes>
                        <exclude>${excludes}</exclude>
                    </excludes>
                    <disableXmlReport>true</disableXmlReport>
                    <reportsDirectory>${sgtest.summary.dir}</reportsDirectory>
                    <reportFormat>xml</reportFormat>
                    <properties>
                        <property>
                            <name>configfailurepolicy</name>
                            <value>continue</value>
                        </property>
                        <property>
                            <name>suitename</name>
                            <value>${sgtest.suiteName}${sgtest.suiteId}</value>
                        </property>
                        <property>
                            <name>testname</name>
                            <value>${sgtest.suiteName}${sgtest.suiteId}</value>
                        </property>
                        <property>
                            <name>outputDir</name>
                            <value>${sgtest.summary.dir}</value>
                        </property>
                        <property>
                            <name>listener</name>
                            <value>framework.testng.SGTestNGListener,framework.testng.SGTestNgSuiteSplitter,framework.testng.report.TestNgReporterImpl</value>
                        </property>
                    </properties>
                    <systemProperties>
                        <sgtest.suiteId>${sgtest.suiteId}</sgtest.suiteId>
                        <sgtest.numOfSuites>${sgtest.numOfSuites}</sgtest.numOfSuites>
                        <selenium.browser>${selenium.browser}</selenium.browser>
                        <org.apache.commons.logging.Log>org.apache.commons.logging.impl.Jdk14Logger</org.apache.commons.logging.Log>
                        <com.gs.logging.level.config>true</com.gs.logging.level.config>
                        <java.util.logging.config.file>${basedir}/logging/sgtest_logging.properties</java.util.logging.config.file>
                        <sgtest.buildFolder>${sgtest.buildFolder}</sgtest.buildFolder>
                        <sgtest.url>http://192.168.9.121:8087/sgtest3.0-xap/</sgtest.url>
                        <sgtest.disconnect.machines>${sgtest.disconnect.machines}</sgtest.disconnect.machines>
                        <com.gs.work>${com.gs.work}</com.gs.work>
                        <com.gs.deploy>${com.gs.deploy}"</com.gs.deploy>
                        <cppOS>${cppOS}</cppOS>
                    </systemProperties>
                    <testFailureIgnore>true</testFailureIgnore>
                    <detail>true</detail>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.3</version>
                <configuration>
                    <descriptors>
                        <descriptor>src/main/assembly/assembly.xml</descriptor>
                    </descriptors>
                    <appendAssemblyId>false</appendAssemblyId>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>make-assembly</id> <!-- this is used for inheritance merges -->
                        <phase>package</phase> <!-- bind to the packaging phase -->
                        <goals>
                            <goal>single</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

sure, @CedricBeust, i'll try this and will update on my findings tomorrow. — Eliran Malka, Nov 18 '12 at 16:58
Are you using testng-6.0.1.jar. Please update and check once again. — Ranjith J, Nov 19 '12 at 08:15
Why have you changed the test folder into src/main/java instead using the conventions? — khmarbaise, Nov 19 '12 at 08:18
Isn't that possible your firewall blocks the connection of the test runner? — rlegendi, Nov 19 '12 at 09:55
I am also facing the same problem. Does anybody know the solution? — , Dec 18 '12 at 03:22

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 06 '14 at 09:16

2

I was able to make the exact problem occur by configuring my TestNG launch configuration (within eclipse) incorrectly. Specifically I specified for it to pass the following as a JVM argument:

-runTestAsTool=true

instead of

-DrunTestAsTool=true

Adding the missing D fixed it for me. So maybe double-check how your launch configuration is configured.

edited Mar 06 '14 at 09:16

Eliran Malka

15,821
6
77
100

answered Mar 05 '14 at 21:33

mcginty8

71
1
3

my configuration is fine, see the accepted answer on what was causing this (in my case). +1, it might help others with the same symptoms. – Eliran Malka Mar 06 '14 at 09:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:29

This issue originates from a problem which occurs when running long Java classpaths on Windows (these exceed the process creation command limit). It had been reported on the Eclipse bug tracking system, and was also discussed here on Stackoverflow.

To work around this on Eclipse Juno releases, we can either bypass the command limit (using the solutions suggested in the above linked post), or apply the patch from the reported bug.

Ivan Sim posted the patching instructions on his coderwall, but I'll include an excerpt for the sake of completeness:

Download bug3271933.4.2hack.zip from the above link

Back up existing eclipse/plugins/org.eclipse.jdt.launching_3.4.*.jar

Copy and paste classes in the patch to org/eclipse/jdt/internal/launching in your org.eclipse.jdt.launching JAR (replace existing files)

Edit the META-INF /MANIFEST.MF file in your org.eclipse.jdt.launching JAR file by removing everything starting from the first "NAME:" entry. Make sure you leave two (2) line break characters at the end of the file.

Re-start eclipse

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '15 at 09:43

1

Please make sure the Sock5 proxy on your Mac OS or Windows is turned off.

answered Apr 01 '15 at 09:43

Hui Hu

81
1
4

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 06 '14 at 08:13

0

It seems TestNG tries to connect to JVM instance via creating socket to 'localhost' and in my /etc/hosts (I use linux) file I renamed localhost to something else so it bombed.

Changed back to localhost and all is good.

answered Feb 06 '14 at 08:13

amit.bhayani

508
2
5
7

i don't see how this has anything to do with the question – Eliran Malka Feb 06 '14 at 09:46
1

generally speaking, removing the 127.0.0.1 localhost entry in hosts on linux is going to cause massive problems for everything in linux. – Damon Smith Jun 16 '15 at 05:37