Maven multi module project - start module from another module?

Question

I'm a maven newbie...maybe someone can help.

Is it possible to start a module from another?

For example:

My modules: F-Frontend, B-Backend

Now i start my frontend-module via jetty, but i need the backend functionality and need to run the backend-module too.

Is it possible? Any ideas?

Thanks a lot

PS. I'm using intelliJ

UPDATE

parent pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.xxx.maven</groupId>
    <artifactId>project-name</artifactId>
    <packaging>pom</packaging>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>project-name-parent</name>
...

frontend pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <parent>
        <artifactId>project-name</artifactId>
        <groupId>com.xxx.maven</groupId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <artifactId>project-name-frontend</artifactId>
...
<dependency>
            <groupId>com.xxx.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>project-name-backend</artifactId>
            <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
</dependency>

...

backend pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <parent>
        <artifactId>project-name</artifactId>
        <groupId>com.xxx.maven</groupId>
        <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <artifactId>project-name-backend</artifactId>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
...

UPDATE 2 After mvn deploy backend.

 [WARNING] The POM for com.xxx.maven:project-name-backend:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT is missing, no dependency information available
    [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [INFO] BUILD FAILURE
    [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [INFO] Total time: 1.285s
    [INFO] Finished at: Wed Sep 09 15:45:13 CEST 2015
    [INFO] Final Memory: 13M/304M
    [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    [ERROR] Failed to execute goal on project project-name-cmf-frontend: Could not resolve dependencies for project com.xxx.maven:project-name-frontend:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT: Failure to find com.xxx.maven:project-name-backend:jar:1.0-SNAPSHOT in http://maven.vaadin.com/vaadin-addons was cached in the local repository, resolution will not be reattempted until the update interval of vaadin-addons has elapsed or updates are forced -> [Help 1]
    [ERROR] 
    [ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
    [ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
    [ERROR] 
    [ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
    [ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/DependencyResolutionException

Answer 1

Maven modules are not separate applications. The different modules can be used for specifying different parts of an application as different Jars, for reusability.
What you really start is an application (or war, etc). Where a project may link to a submodule by importing that jar.

parent pom need to call the modules to build (and need to be ran out of the pom.xml location of the parent :

<modules>
    <module>front-end</module>
    <module>back-end</module>
</modules>

So do you mean import a different jar through the pom.xml?
For more information on jetty-maven-plugin
Pom.xml like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"
    xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <parent>
        <groupId>parent.project</groupId>
        <artifactId>artifact</artifactId>
        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    </parent>


    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>group_id</groupId>
            <artifactId>artifact_id</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            ...<!-- add plugin for mvn jetty:run (check the name to match your project name) --> 
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
                <artifactId>jetty-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>9.3.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
                <configuration>
                    <war>${project.basedir}/target/mycustom.war</war>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>