i have created a folder in C:\>howdyapp
created folders within this main folder SRC, WEB, WEB-INF.
and then sub folders in WEB_INF -> CLASSES, LIB, ETC.
i have compiled HowdyServlet.java and copied it's classs to =>C:\>howdyapp\WEB_INF\Classes
i have created web.xml and copied it to WEB_INF folder.

created a war file on the command prompt as:
c:\jwork\howdyapp\>jar cvf howdyapp.war src web WEB_INF
created a howdyapp.war file in the directory-howdyapp.

when i am deploying the above war file in the sun's Application server, it displays the following error:-

Trying to upload an illegal war archive. Make sure the archive file contains the descriptor file web.xml.

what could have gone wrong with the above procedure.
please help me.