Jira Server won't start, even after restoring a server snapshot taken well before the failure

bryhoyt

Our Jira Server installation stopped working yesterday, and refuses to start up. On startup it gives two error messages which don't seem to make sense in the context:
1) It says that it can't create the home directory due to permissions (but the directory exists, and updating the permissions and explicitly setting the correct Jira user does not fix this), and
2) It says there is a version mismatch between the Jira build number 801000 and the database build number 804003. Weirdly, the Jira build number is *lower* than the database number. We have not upgraded, and have certainly not downgraded Jira!!

Occasionally it allows me to get past the error screen and view the dashboard, at which point it shows "Test" in the page title, and no project data.

Most importantly, when we restore a FULL server snapshot taken from two days ago, well before the error occured, Jira still does not start, and gives the same error messages. How can it

All this leads me to believe that a) Jira has somehow decided to point at the wrong database, maybe a test database somewhere, and b) it is making that decision based on something outside of the server configuration because a full snapshot restore does not make it go away. Could it be a license key issue somehow?

How can I troubleshoot this, and what are the possible causes?

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-

On the home directory bit, could you show us the permissions and settings on the top-level home directory, and the 1st level of content, and let us know which account is expected to be running Jira?

The rest of your question is a bit fuzzy.  Not what you are reporting, that's very clear, but in my head, because I'm really struggling to work out how you might get there!

The one thing that really jumps out is, as you say, the version mismatch.  The only ways I know of getting there are:

• Someone  pointed a Jira 8.4.2 installation at a database that an 8.1.0 installation was using and told it to upgrade it. 
• Someone has taken your installation and pointed it at a pre-existing 8.4.2 database that they were using somewhere else.

Your restoration of the full server snapshot is near, if not at, the top of the list of tests to start with.  It leaves us with one question though - where is the database?   Is it part of the snapshot (i.e. running your Jira on the same server as a database server that provides the data store) or separate? 

Oh, lastly, cross off the licence idea.   Absolutely right to check up, but Atlassian's licences are not quite that complicated.  They cap the number of people you have using the system and limit you to using versions of the software released before the end of the license.  I don't think they are the problem here.