Remote debugging - Tomcat, Netbeans

To remotely debug your application

• Add the following to the JAVA_OPTS on the application server.

-Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=8800,server=y,suspend=n

• Restart the application, now you can attach debugger using your IDE. 
• On Netbeans, go to Debug > Attach Debugger 
• Choose Debugger as Java Debugger JPDA
• Connector as SocketAttach 
• Transport as dt_socket
• Host as your application server's ip/hostname
• Port as specified in the debug option in this case 8800. 
• And click OK and wait for the debugger to attach. 
• When IDE successfully attaches debugger, "Variables" tab appears on the bottom, and buttons to "Finish Debugger Session" and "Pause" appear on the toolbar.
• You can add/remove breakpoints by right clicking on the line number on the left and clicking "Toggle Line Breakpoint".
• You can choose to continue or step over or step into expressions using the buttons on the toolbar that will be enabled when the application is running.