Resolution:
When an Engine times out and fails, you may see the following trace in an Engine log:

10/21/2003 10:29:26:181 Error: JSTaskRunnerPlugin while preparing task: 4538048340635093605-4538048340635093605-2575 java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.io.ByteArrayInputStream.(ByteArrayInputStream.java:89)
at com.livecluster.util.BasicByteSupport.inflateObj(BasicByteSupport.java:100)
at com.livecluster.engine.JSTaskRunnerPlugin.getTasklet(JSTaskRunnerPlugin.java :764) ...

This happens when the Engine times out after all retries, while attempting to read data from the Driver. It typically indicates network problems. This issue has been resolved by failing the task with the proper IOException rather than a NullPointerException.

This issue exists in LiveCluster 3.1.1 and was fixed in GridServer 3.2.

The error JSTaskRunnerPlugin while preparing task, NullPointerException occurs (LiveCluster 3.1.1)