A) maven appserver:install 1) start maven console in terminal A 2) at terminal A console, execute appserver:stop Gives message like: Maven has determined your <servername> appserver instance is installed in directory <dirname> and not started using socket <socketport> on host <appserver host> 3) execute maven appserver:start in terminal B, leaving console in A open 4) with appserver now started, execute appserver:stop in maven console again running in terminal A 5) message still says: Gives message like: Maven has determined your <servername> appserver instance is installed in directory <dirname> and not started using socket <socketport> on host <appserver host> However server is now started. This has to do with properties being set using ant the first time appserver:stop is called. Properties set by ant are not removable or resettable by design, so the solution is to set the properties via jelly.