The application server or deployment manager does not start or starts
with errors
If the WebSphere Application Server installation program completes successfully,
but the Application Server does not start, or starts with errors:
- Browse the application
server log files, which are located by default in install_dir\logs\server_name\SystemErr.log and SystemOut.log for clues. Several applications deployed
on an application server or node can take time to start. Browse the SystemOut.log periodically
and look at the most recent updates to see if the server is still starting
up.
- On UNIX platforms, the tail -f installation_path/logs/SystemOut.log is
a convenient way to watch the progress of the server.
- Look for any errors or warnings relating to specific resources with the
module, such as Web modules, enterprise beans and messaging resources. If
you find any, examine the application server configuration file for the configuration
settings of that resource. For example, in a base or non-distributed configuration
on Windows systems, browse install_dir\config\cells\BaseApplicationServerCell\nodes\host_name\servers\server_name\server.xml,
and examine the xml tags for the properties of that resource. Change its initialState value
from START to STOP. Then restart the
server to see if this component causes the problem.
- Look up any error or warning messages in the message reference table by
clicking the Reference view of the information center navigation and
expanding Messages in the navigation tree.
- If the application server is part of a network deployment or multiple
server configuration,
- Verify that the configuration is synchronized between the deployment manager
and the node. If auto synchronization is running, wait until the synchronization
completes. If you are using manual synchronization, request a synchronization
to each node in the cluster.
- Before starting an application server:
- Start the deployment manager process by typing either installation_root/bin/startManager.sh or installation_root\bin\startManager.bat.
- Complete the one-time step of federating the node on which the application
server is running to the deployment manager. This step has to be done, even
if there is only one node, and it is the same physical server as the one on
which the deployment manager is running. Run the addnode nodename utility
in the installation_root/bin directory
of the application server host.
- Start the node manager process on the nodes hosting the application servers
you want to run by typing either installation_root/bin/startNode.sh or installation_root\bin\startNode.bat.
- Verify that the logical name that you specified to appear on the console
for your application server does not contain invalid characters like: - /
\ : * ? " < > and leading or trailing spaces.
- If you are unable to start the deployment manager after an otherwise successful
installation:
- Look in the installation_root/dmgr/logs/SystemErr.log and SystemOut.log files
for messages.
- Check the location of the product installation. This product is not stand-alone,
and depends upon some files that are already installed as part of the base.
Look for the Network Deployment product under the WebSphere Application Server
root directory of a node with the base product, at the same level as the base
product.
For example, if the base product is in the /usr/WebSphere/AppServer directory,
the network deployment product is installed into a directory like /usr/WebSphere/NetworkDeployment.
Installing the product apart from the base product can result in an error
running the startManager command similar to: WSVR0102E: An error occurred
stopping, null [class com.ibm.ws.cache.ServerCache].
- If you are using IBM Cloudscape and receive an ERROR XSDB6: Another
instance of Cloudscape may have already booted the database databaseName. error
starting the application server, consult this
topic for more information.
- When using a non-root user ID to run application servers, verify that
the non-root user has write access to the WebSphereRoot/AppServer/temp directory
- When using a non-root user ID to run application servers, verify that
the JVM has write access to WebSphereRoot/config/plugin-cfg.xml

Troubleshooting by task: What are you trying to do?

Troubleshooting installation problems
Searchable topic ID:
rtrb_appsrvstart
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 4:12:58 PM CDT
WebSphere Application Server Express, Version 5.0.2
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