bash - Shell script Process PID logging and maintenance using exec

I am trying to launch a java process as a server and then might periodically need to restart/kill it at certain times. Since I use a shell script to launch java jvm(to build classpath), I thought of logging the shell script process id using $$ and then run java as
"exec java" so that I can use the logged process id for killing the process and launching the new jvm.
Is that the best way to do it? Any feedback?