Cannot start bitbucket server (SpringMVC dispatcher)

[ThePsycho96]

Trying to start bitbucket server on a windows server 2019 VM. Home directory is a symlinked folder with service account as owner.

2020-06-29 08:36:52,189 ERROR [spring-startup] c.a.j.s.w.s.JohnsonDispatcherServlet SpringMVC dispatcher [springMvc] could not be started
org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'dateFormatter' defined in URL [jar:file:/C:/Atlassian/Bitbucket/7.3.1/app/WEB-INF/lib/bitbucket-service-impl-7.3.1.jar!/com/atlassian/stash/internal/util/DefaultDateFormatter.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor parameter 2; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanExpressionException: Expression parsing failed; nested exception is org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException: EL1021E: A problem occurred whilst attempting to access the property 'dateFormatProperties': 'Error creating bean with name 'dateFormatProperties' defined in class path resource [stash-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect'
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:798)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:878)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:550)
at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:158)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
... 18 frames trimmed
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanExpressionException: Expression parsing failed; nested exception is org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException: EL1021E: A problem occurred whilst attempting to access the property 'dateFormatProperties': 'Error creating bean with name 'dateFormatProperties' defined in class path resource [stash-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect'
at org.springframework.context.expression.StandardBeanExpressionResolver.evaluate(StandardBeanExpressionResolver.java:164)
... 5 common frames omitted
Caused by: org.springframework.expression.spel.SpelEvaluationException: EL1021E: A problem occurred whilst attempting to access the property 'dateFormatProperties': 'Error creating bean with name 'dateFormatProperties' defined in class path resource [stash-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect'
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.readProperty(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:209)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.getValueInternal(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:104)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.getValueInternal(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:91)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.SpelNodeImpl.getValue(SpelNodeImpl.java:112)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpression.getValue(SpelExpression.java:272)
at org.springframework.context.expression.StandardBeanExpressionResolver.evaluate(StandardBeanExpressionResolver.java:161)
... 5 common frames omitted
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'dateFormatProperties' defined in class path resource [stash-context.xml]: Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1796)
at org.springframework.context.expression.BeanExpressionContextAccessor.read(BeanExpressionContextAccessor.java:45)
at org.springframework.expression.spel.ast.PropertyOrFieldReference.readProperty(PropertyOrFieldReference.java:204)
... 10 common frames omitted
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.waitForConnect(Native Method)
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.ftp.impl.FtpClient.doConnect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.ftp.impl.FtpClient.tryConnect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.ftp.impl.FtpClient.connect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.ftp.impl.FtpClient.connect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.ftp.FtpURLConnection.connect(Unknown Source)
at sun.net.www.protocol.ftp.FtpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source)
at org.springframework.core.io.UrlResource.getInputStream(UrlResource.java:173)
at org.springframework.core.io.support.EncodedResource.getInputStream(EncodedResource.java:159)
at org.springframework.core.io.support.PropertiesLoaderUtils.fillProperties(PropertiesLoaderUtils.java:99)
at org.springframework.core.io.support.PropertiesLoaderSupport.loadProperties(PropertiesLoaderSupport.java:181)
at org.springframework.core.io.support.PropertiesLoaderSupport.mergeProperties(PropertiesLoaderSupport.java:162)
... 12 common frames omitted

The part: "Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect" suggests a failed connection, but the server has network access. I have tested disabling the firewall, however this did not change the issue.

[ThePsycho96 · Accepted solution]

Not installing as a service seems to have worked. Even though it's running under the same user. Will check if a clean install as service will work later.

[Rudy Holtkamp · Accepted solution]

Hi @ThePsycho96 ,

Similar questions/answer can be found here: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Bitbucket-questions/Bitbucket-server-springmvc-dispatcher-error/qaq-p/1088513

Thanks for the included log snippet! From the stack trace, we believe what's happening is that it's attempting to retrieve configuration information that is reliant on files in your Bitbucket Home directory - but it's getting a connection refused error on attempting to do so.

This means that this could either be an issue that the Bitbucket instance is pointed to an incorrect location for the Bitbucket home, or that shared location isn't reachable on the network from the server hosting the Bitbucket Install directory.

From this text it looks like your symlink is not correct.

[ThePsycho96]

Hmm, I checked all permissions. Bitbucket was installed as the service account I'm using.

Both on the symlink and network location the service account has full control and ownership. Using the UNC path also resulted in errors. 

Using the symlink in explorer is working correctly.