How to test a restful web service in java

I've written a web service at work and now I want to write some tests. I'm doubtful as how to test them, but I know which tools I need: JUnit 4 and perhaps an embedded application container, for instance Tomcat, plus Jersey Client. Nevertheless, here you are my approaches:

1. Create a test class where an embedded Application Container (Tomcat) is started. Then, deploy the web service to it and make test calls using Jersey Client. This is the way I've done it so far. The problem comes here: to deploy the web service, I must have the WAR created previously. This is a problem, as when building the application with Maven firstly tests are executed and then WAR is built; I think this is actually a loop. Would it be possible to deploy my webapp without the need of the war? Here you are my test class:

   public class TestAutenticacionService {
   
       private final String mWorkingDir = "C://Users//Asasa//workspace//myWebApp//";
       private Tomcat tomcat = null;
       private WebTarget webTarget = null;
       private ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
       private Long idClienteCorrecto = 787538L;   
   
       @Before
       public void setUp() throws Exception {  
           tomcat = new Tomcat();
           tomcat.setPort(9090);
           tomcat.setBaseDir(mWorkingDir);
           tomcat.getHost().setAppBase(mWorkingDir);
           tomcat.getHost().setAutoDeploy(true);
           tomcat.getHost().setDeployOnStartup(true);
           tomcat.getServer().addLifecycleListener(new VersionLoggerListener());
           tomcat.getHost().addLifecycleListener(new HostConfig());
   
           try {
               tomcat.addWebapp("/bidegiWsCli", "C:/Users/Asasa/workspace/myWebApp/myWebApp.war");
               tomcat.start();
               System.out.println("Tomcat iniciado en " + tomcat.getHost());
   
               webTarget = buildClientWs();
   
           } catch (LifecycleException e) {
               System.err.println("Tomcat no se pudo iniciar.");
               e.printStackTrace();
           }
       }
   
       @After
       public void tearDown() throws Exception {
           if(tomcat != null){
               try {
                   tomcat.stop();
                   System.out.println("Tomcat parado.");
               } catch (LifecycleException e) {
                   System.err.println("Error al intentar parar Tomcat.");
                   e.printStackTrace();
               }   
           }
       }
   
       @Test
       public void test() {
   
           WebTarget loginTgt = webTarget.path("login");
   
           // Probamos un login correcto:
           WebTarget loginTgtOk = loginTgt.queryParam("Aus", "764577676t").queryParam("Pass", "****");
           Response respOk = loginTgtOk.request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).get();
           String strLrOk = (String) respOk.readEntity(String.class);
           try {
               LoginResponse lrOk = mapper.readValue(strLrOk, LoginResponse.class);
               Long idClienteOk = lrOk.getIdCliente();
               assertEquals(idClienteOk, idClienteCorrecto);
           } catch (Exception e) {
               try {
                   mapper.readValue(strLrOk, ExceptionResponse.class);
                   assertTrue(true);
               } catch (JsonParseException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error JsonParseException: " + e1.getMessage());
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               } catch (JsonMappingException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error JsonMappingException: " + e1.getMessage());
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               } catch (IOException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error IOException: " + e1.getMessage());    
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               }
           }
   
           // Probamos un login incorrecto:
           WebTarget loginTgtWrong = loginTgt.queryParam("Aus", "764577676t").queryParam("Password", "***");
           Response respWrong = loginTgtWrong.request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).get();
           String strLrWrong = (String) respWrong.readEntity(String.class);
           try {
               LoginResponse lrWrong = mapper.readValue(strLrWrong, LoginResponse.class);
               Long idClienteWrong = lrWrong.getIdCliente();
               assertNotEquals(idClienteWrong, idClienteCorrecto);
           } catch (Exception e) {
               try {
                   mapper.readValue(strLrWrong, ExceptionResponse.class);
                   assertTrue(true);
               } catch (JsonParseException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error JsonParseException: " + e1.getMessage());
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               } catch (JsonMappingException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error JsonMappingException: " + e1.getMessage());
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               } catch (IOException e1) {
                   System.err.println("Error IOException: " + e1.getMessage());
                   e1.printStackTrace();
               }
           }
   
       }
   
       private WebTarget buildClientWs(){
           Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
           return client.target("http://localhost:9090").path("myWebApp").path("resources").path("Auth");
       }
   
   }
   

2. The other approach would be executing directly web service methods directly, without the need of an application container. I'm not sure about this, as I wouldn't be testing the Web Service itself.

Any thoughts about this?

Thank you in advance