Tomcat 6 (for GroupWise 2012 WebAccess) on Windows 2008 server does not start.

  • 7011565
  • 02-Jan-2013
  • 01-Nov-2013

Environment

Novell GroupWise WebAccess 2012
Tomcat 6
Microsoft Windows 2008 server

Situation

Windows 2008 server already has Java JDK installed.  When user runs the installer for GroupWise 2012 WebAccess, the installer sees that Java is already installed and does not install Java to the Novell default location of c:\Novell\java. There is no error / input requested and the install process ends without any complaint. However, when attempting to start Tomcat 6 after the WebAccess installation is finished, the Tomcat 6 service fails to start and WebAccess is not available.

Error starting the Tomcat 6 service: "Windows could not start the Tomcat 6 on Local Computer. For more information, review the System Event Log."

The Windows Event Viewer shows entries with the following errors:
--"The Tomcat 6 service entered the stopped state."
--"The Tomcat 6 service terminated with service-specific error" EventID: 7024

Error in Tomcat 6 log file jakarta_service_YYYYMMDD (in c:\Novell\tomcat6\logs\)
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] Starting service...
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] [197  javajni.c] [error] The specified module could not be found.
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] [994  prunsrv.c] [error] Failed creating java

Resolution

This problem happens because the 2012 WebAccess installer detects an existing installation of Java on a Windows 2008 server but does not configure Tomcat 6 to use Java in that non-default location. The Tomcat 6 service still looks for Java in the Novell default directory of c:\novell\java, but since Java is not installed there, the Tomcat 6 service will not start. 

To workaround the problem, users should manually configure the Tomcat 6 service with the location of the Java virtual machine using these steps:
Login to the Windows 2008 server as a local Administrator
Go into C:\novell\tomcat6\bin directory. 
Run tomcat6w.exe which will start a GUI window for the Tomcat 6 process
Click on the "Java" tab and enter the correct path to the Java virtual machine
Click "Apply" and then "OK" to save the changes.
Open the Services utility and start the Tomcat 6 service.
 
It has been reported to the development.

Additional Information

On a Windows 2008 server, If I had the JAVA root installation installed to C:\Java\jdk1.7.0_07 and the JRE installed to 
C:\Java\jdk1.7.0_07\jre7 then when you run TOMCAT6W.EXE, the Java Virtual Machine should be :
  C:\Java\jdk1.7.0_07\jre7\bin\server\jvm.dll