variables.xml was not loaded, java.lang.NullPointerException startServer command throws java/lang/ClassFormatError received
 Technote (troubleshooting)
 
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Problem(Abstract)
startServer script throws following error.
/opt/WebSphere/AppServer/config/cells/ProdCell/variables.xml was not loaded
java.lang.NullPointerException

[Signaling in VM: java/lang/ClassFormatError, message: com/ibm/ejs/models/base/bindings/init/BindingsInit
(inner_class_info_index has bad constant pool index)]
 
Cause
One of the IBM WebSphere Application Server library jar may be corrupt.
 
Resolving the problem
Following error observed in startServer.log without JVM debug option
[3/28/05 15:18:15:433 CST] 6ee0e183 ResourceLocat d /opt/WebSphere/AppServer/config/cells/ProdCell/variables.xml was not loaded
java.lang.NullPointerException at com.ibm.ws.runtime.service.ConfigRootImpl.getResource(ConfigRootImpl.java:262)

startServer script without JVM debug and verbose option does not display above error.

Take following steps to enable JVM debug and verbose options.

(1) Edit startServer.sh or startServer.bat script

(2) Duplicate following line


@REM set DEBUG=-Djava.compiler=NONE -Xdebug -Xnoagent -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=y,address=7777

(3) Remove @REM and edit the line as following

set DEBUG=-Djava.compiler=NONE -Xdebug -verbose

(4) save startServer.sh or startServer.bat script

(5) Run startServer.sh or startServer.bat script and capture the standard output

(6) In standard output, find error "java/lang/ClassFormatError"

(7) Find the java class causing the problem. In this example:

com/ibm/ejs/models/base/bindings/init/BindingsInit

(8) Find the jar file containing above class, In this example:
com.ibm.ejs.models.base.bindings.init.BindingsInit

(9) This class is contained by <WAS_HOME>/lib/ws-j2eex.jar

(10) Run following command to see if this jar is corrupt.


jar -xf ws-j2eex.jar
You might see output like this.
java.util.zip.ZipException: invalid entry CRC
(expected 0xb402bf56 but got 0x92772d1d)

(11) Above error indicates that ws-j2eex.jar is corrupt.
You can apply latest maintenance package to refresh this library jar file or
this library jar needs to be replaced by good copy at WebSphere version customer is running

 
 
Cross Reference information
Segment Product Component Platform Version Edition
Application Servers Runtimes for Java Technology Java SDK
 
 


Document Information


Product categories: Software > Application Servers > Distributed Application & Web Servers > WebSphere Application Server > Classloader
Operating system(s): AIX
Software version: 6.0.2
Software edition:
Reference #: 1203462
IBM Group: Software Group
Modified date: Apr 15, 2005