8080 is already in use

When trying to start Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS), you may encounter the frustrating error message: “could not start standalone mode because the listen port: 8080 is already in use by another process. check if another instance of ords is already running“. This error indicates that another application or process is already using port 8080, preventing ORDS from starting successfully. In this article, we will guide you through the steps to identify the application using port 8080 on Windows, macOS, and Linux, allowing you to resolve this issue and get ORDS up and running.

Find the Application Using Port 8080:

Windows:

1. Open the Command Prompt: Press Win + R, type “cmd,” and hit Enter.
2. In the Command Prompt, enter the following command: netstat -ano | findstr :8080.
3. Identify the line with the local address 0.0.0.0:8080 or 127.0.0.1:8080 in the output.
4. Take note of the PID (Process Identifier) associated with that line.
5. Open the Task Manager: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
6. Go to the “Details” tab in the Task Manager.
7. Locate the process with the corresponding PID from step 4 to identify the application using port 8080.

macOS:

1. Open Terminal: Navigate to the Applications/Utilities folder or use Spotlight Search to find it.
2. In the Terminal, enter the following command: lsof -i :8080.
3. Look for the line with the local address *:8080 in the output.
4. Note the PID associated with that line.
5. Enter the command: ps -p [PID] -o comm= (replace [PID] with the PID noted in step 4).
6. The output of the above command will display the name of the application using port 8080.

Linux:

1. Open a Terminal: Use a terminal application such as GNOME Terminal, Konsole, or xterm.
2. In the terminal, enter the following command: sudo lsof -i :8080.
3. Look for the line with the local address *:8080 in the output.
4. Note the PID associated with that line.
5. Enter the command: ps -p [PID] -o comm= (replace [PID] with the PID noted in step 4).
6. The output of the above command will display the name of the application using port 8080.

Resolving the Issue:

Once you have identified the application or process using port 8080, you have a few options to resolve the issue:

1. Terminate the Conflicting Application: If the application using port 8080 is not essential or can be temporarily shut down, you can terminate it from the Task Manager (Windows) or using the appropriate command for macOS or Linux.
2. Change the ORDS Port: If terminating the conflicting application is not feasible, you can have ORDS use a different port that is not in use such as port 8081. This can be achieved in one of two ways:
   • On the command line when starting standalone: ords serve --port 8081
   • In the configuration: ords config set standalone.http.port 8081
3. Configure the Conflicting Application: If the conflicting application is critical and cannot be terminated, you may need to adjust its configuration to use a different port, freeing up port 8080 for ORDS. Consult the documentation or support resources for the specific application to learn how to modify its port configuration.

Of course you can change port 8080 for any other port that you happen to want to use. Using the standard ports 80 and 443 can be problematic in that there might be a service already using that port and the above approaches to not always list these background services. For example, if you are using a container management system such as Rancher and have Traefik enabled, it will not be shown as listing on the port, but it will have your traffic redirected to it, and not your ORDS instance.

Conclusion

Hitting the “8080 is already in use by another process” error when starting Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) can be frustrating, but by following the steps outlined in this article, you can identify the application using that port and take appropriate action to resolve the issue. Whether it involves terminating the conflicting application, changing the ORDS port, or configuring the conflicting application differently, you’ll soon have ORDS running smoothly.