Vaadin upload works on localhost, but fails on server - upload

Question

The goal was to use the Vaadin upload-component to upload files. On localhost it just works fine while on the server I get the error message below.
I am running the application on a Glassfish 3.1.2 (build 23) and use Vaadin 7.4.1. Also have tried other Glassfish versions except Glassfish 4, as I have a dependency that is not yet ready for Glassfish 4.
Things tried or checked:
Size-limit: Not defined, files used ranged from 10kb to 500kb.
JVM version: Neither using the exact same version (1.7.0_52), nor playing with different patch-levels or java versions (1.8) changed the situation.
Possible port restrictions: Used more restricted and completely open security groups.
Provider: Tried Amazon AWS and DigitalOcean.
Fresh system: Set up a fresh system with just minimal installations to run the application.
Hardware resources: Whilst Amazon AWS (micro) is quite limited, the instance of DigitalOcean runs with 2 CPUs and 4GB ram.
Glassfish: Used several 3.x versions.
Upload component: Used the vaadin provided upload component and the addon easy uploads.
Things not checked:
OS: My dev system is running Windows 8.1 while the server is linux based.
Glassfish 4.x: As my jenkins deploy plugin is not yet ready for Glassfish 4.x I did not try that yet.
Vaadin: Did not yet downgrade Vaadin.
The code of the upload component looks like this, might have modified it some times trying to fix the error.
Upload-Component:
ImageUploader receiver = new ImageUploader();
upload = new Upload("", receiver);
upload.addSucceededListener(receiver);
addComponent(upload);
ImageUploader (as taken from Book of Vaadin):
class ImageUploader implements Upload.Receiver, Upload.SucceededListener {
public OutputStream receiveUpload(String filename, String mimeType) {
// Create upload stream
FileOutputStream fos = null; // Stream to write to
File file = new File(filename);
try {
fos = new FileOutputStream(file);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
... database stuff ...
// Return the output stream to write to, necessary for framework
return fos;
}
public void uploadSucceeded(Upload.SucceededEvent event) {
... UI-Stuff ...
}
}
Using this on a localhost instance works all fine. But having it deployed to a server makes it return the following error immediately upon hitting the upload-button. However there is no UI-error-message shown.
[#|2015-03-17T15:42:14.153+0000|WARNING|glassfish3.1.2|javax.enterprise.system.container.web.com.sun.enterprise.web|_ThreadID=515;_ThreadName=Thread-2;|StandardWrapper$
java.io.IOException: The multipart stream ended unexpectedly
at com.vaadin.server.communication.FileUploadHandler.readLine(FileUploadHandler.java:302)
at com.vaadin.server.communication.FileUploadHandler.doHandleSimpleMultipartFileUpload(FileUploadHandler.java:360)
at com.vaadin.server.communication.FileUploadHandler.handleRequest(FileUploadHandler.java:285)
at com.vaadin.server.VaadinService.handleRequest(VaadinService.java:1408)
at com.vaadin.server.VaadinServlet.service(VaadinServlet.java:350)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:770)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1542)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:281)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:175)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:655)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:595)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:161)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:331)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:231)
at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper$AdapterCallable.call(ContainerMapper.java:317)
at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:195)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.invokeAdapter(ProcessorTask.java:849)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.doProcess(ProcessorTask.java:746)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.ProcessorTask.process(ProcessorTask.java:1045)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.DefaultProtocolFilter.execute(DefaultProtocolFilter.java:228)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.executeProtocolFilter(DefaultProtocolChain.java:137)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:104)
at com.sun.grizzly.DefaultProtocolChain.execute(DefaultProtocolChain.java:90)
at com.sun.grizzly.http.HttpProtocolChain.execute(HttpProtocolChain.java:79)
at com.sun.grizzly.ProtocolChainContextTask.doCall(ProtocolChainContextTask.java:54)
at com.sun.grizzly.SelectionKeyContextTask.call(SelectionKeyContextTask.java:59)
at com.sun.grizzly.ContextTask.run(ContextTask.java:71)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:532)
at com.sun.grizzly.util.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:513)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
|#]
There is also a Vaadin [addon][3] that should make the process easier, but same results for localhost/server.
If it helps these technologies are used in the overall architecture:
Maven 3.2.1
Jenkins 1.602 (currently only used for build, not deploy)
Hibernate (not relevant, as the error occurs before hibernate is used)
MySQL (not relevant, as the error occurs before the database is accessed)
JDK: 1.7
IntelliJ Idea 14
Glassfish 3.1.2
Used server hosts are Amazon AWS and DigitalOcean.
Right now I don't have anymore clue what could fix this error. Any recommendations? Any further details I can provide?
-- UPDATE on JVM version --
Regarding the JVM I noticed that locally I recently installed 1.8 on my local machine. Using a 1.7 JVM does not reproduce the error.
-- UPDATE on JVM patch level --
Using the same patch level (1.7.0_75) in the development environment does not reproduce the error.

Answer 1

Upgrading to Glassfish 4.1 resolved the issue. The upload- and database-process now runs smoothly. However I was not able to identify the reason behind this issue.
Further information:
GlassFish Server Open Source Edition 4.1 (build 13)
I was pointed to a Vaadin-ticket that has the same issue, but the other way round: working with GF 4.1 but not with 3.1.
I was not able to search for another glassfish ticket that has something to do with this issue. If someone knows one, please tell me where I can add further information.