diff --git a/dubbo-remoting/dubbo-remoting-http/src/main/java/org/apache/dubbo/remoting/http/tomcat/TomcatHttpServer.java b/dubbo-remoting/dubbo-remoting-http/src/main/java/org/apache/dubbo/remoting/http/tomcat/TomcatHttpServer.java
index ac050f16ebd..f8a898c9713 100755
--- a/dubbo-remoting/dubbo-remoting-http/src/main/java/org/apache/dubbo/remoting/http/tomcat/TomcatHttpServer.java
+++ b/dubbo-remoting/dubbo-remoting-http/src/main/java/org/apache/dubbo/remoting/http/tomcat/TomcatHttpServer.java
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ public TomcatHttpServer(URL url, final HttpHandler handler) {
         context.addServletMapping("/*", "dispatcher");
         ServletManager.getInstance().addServletContext(url.getPort(), context.getServletContext());
 
+        // tell tomcat to fail on startup failures.
+        System.setProperty("org.apache.catalina.startup.EXIT_ON_INIT_FAILURE", "true");
+
         try {
             tomcat.start();
         } catch (LifecycleException e) {