TIBCO Spotfire Server fails to start with "Failed to start component" "java.lang.NullPointerException" error

TIBCO Spotfire Server fails to start with "Failed to start component" "java.lang.NullPointerException" error

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Article ID: KB0082798

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Updated On:

Products Versions
Spotfire Server 7.5 and higher

Description

After successfully installing the TIBCO Spotfire Server, when you enter the server URL (for exampe http://server:port/spotfire) in the browser, you may receive a 404 error and the TIBCO Spotfire Server administration web page fails to load. In the catalina.log, you see the following error indicating that the server could not start:
12-Sep-2017 14:14:05.398 SEVERE [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal ContainerBase.addChild: start: 
 org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Spotfire].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/spotfire]]
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:167)
   ...
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:277)
    at com.spotfire.server.lifecycle.SpotfireApplicationInitializer.initRootContext(SpotfireApplicationInitializer.java:134)
  ...
12-Sep-2017 14:14:05.400 SEVERE [localhost-startStop-1] org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDirectory Error deploying web application directory [/usr/local/bin/tibco/tss/7.10.0/tomcat/webapps/spotfire]
 java.lang.IllegalStateException: ContainerBase.addChild: start: org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Failed to start component [StandardEngine[Spotfire].StandardHost[localhost].StandardContext[/spotfire]]
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:756)
    ...

Issue/Introduction

In this article you will see what may cause the TIBCO Spotfire Server to fail to start up (a 404 error will be seen in the browser) and how to resolve it.

Resolution

This error indicates that you have not created a bootstrap file or there is an issue with the existing bootstrap file. In Linux, if the bootstrap is a soft link you will have this issue. To resolve, unlink (if applicable) and create a new bootstrap. 

Additional Information

Doc: Creating the bootstrap.xml file
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