I solved a problem today that I hadn’t seen before and thought I’d share:
I encountered java.lang.NullPointerException errors when starting the Domino java controller and server console as a service on a newly built R7 server. It turned out to be a missing “dcontroller.ini” file in the domino\data directory.
I recently built a server for use as an Extranet server. It is running Windows 2000 Server SP4, Microsoft IIS 5.0, Lotus Domino 7.0 and Lotus QuickPlace 7.0 and the Websphere IIS Plugin version 5.0.0.0.
The server was running fine until I tried to run the java server controller and console. I made the necessary “-jc” registry change but when I brought the Domino Server service back up the server controller reported a number of java.lang.NullPointerException errors. The server controller hung without any further obvious activity for a minute or two, then reported the same errors before kicking the java server console off. The server then appeared to be working fine but I saw the same behaviour on each subsequent restart.
I looked here - nothing doing. Unfortunately I didn’t make a full note of the errors but they related to null values for a series of parameters such as host name. I had a poke around on my live domain servers (6.5.4FP2) that run the java server controller and console. I found they all had a “dcontroller.ini” file in the domino\data directory whereas my new server didn’t. I copy-pasted one across to the new server and edited it:
[DController]
Server_Name=MYSERVER/OU/O
Server_Title=DescriptionOfMyServer
Server_Domain=O
Server_OSName=Windows/NT 5.0 Intel
Host_Name=MyServerHostName
Port_Number=2050
ControllerLogFileName=dcntrlr
ControllerLogType=1
ControllerLogExpiration=7
CleanupScript=nserver -kn
AdminDataXmlReadFrequency=300
to match the new server and restarted the new server without error.
I don’t know why the ini file was missing unless the install messed up - I certainly didn’t delete anything. My Domino server install was via setup.exe and tweaked using the advanced options to provide a minimal install. I really only need mail routing, DECS and HTTP. I didn’t take any shortcuts with the install though.
I’ve had the same thing happen when I rebuilt our perimeter SMTP mail relay server using Domino7 - again a minimilast Domino installation with mail routing and replication. I didn’t, however, get the error with an “untailored” install with all the out of the box services switched on. Possibly a problem with the R7 installer then?
HTH