500 Error on Confluence Startup

[shredtechular]

I am unable to start up our Confluence instance. Well, we get a 500 error on the home page after starting up at least. The error we see in the web page is:

exception

com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$InitializationException: java.lang.NullPointerException
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.getInterruptibly(LazyReference.java:149)
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.get(LazyReference.java:112)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.LanguageExtractionFilter.getLocaleManager(LanguageExtractionFilter.java:63)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.LanguageExtractionFilter.doFilter(LanguageExtractionFilter.java:48)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
	com.atlassian.confluence.util.RequestCacheThreadLocalFilter.doFilter(RequestCacheThreadLocalFilter.java:25)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.DebugFilter.doFilter(DebugFilter.java:44)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.HeaderSanitisingFilter.doFilter(HeaderSanitisingFilter.java:44)
	com.atlassian.confluence.servlet.FourOhFourErrorLoggingFilter.doFilter(FourOhFourErrorLoggingFilter.java:65)

root cause

java.lang.NullPointerException
	com.atlassian.spring.container.ContainerManager.getComponent(ContainerManager.java:33)
	com.atlassian.confluence.util.LazyComponentReference$Accessor.get(LazyComponentReference.java:44)
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.Lazy$Strong.create(Lazy.java:85)
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference$Sync.run(LazyReference.java:321)
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.getInterruptibly(LazyReference.java:143)
	com.atlassian.util.concurrent.LazyReference.get(LazyReference.java:112)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.LanguageExtractionFilter.getLocaleManager(LanguageExtractionFilter.java:63)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.LanguageExtractionFilter.doFilter(LanguageExtractionFilter.java:48)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
	com.atlassian.confluence.util.RequestCacheThreadLocalFilter.doFilter(RequestCacheThreadLocalFilter.java:25)
	com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.DebugFilter.doFilter(DebugFilter.java:44)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
	com.atlassian.core.filters.HeaderSanitisingFilter.doFilter(HeaderSanitisingFilter.java:44)
	com.atlassian.confluence.servlet.FourOhFourErrorLoggingFilter.doFilter(FourOhFourErrorLoggingFilter.java:65)

In the catalina.out log file we get:

May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property 'debug' to '0' did not find a matching property.
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8090
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8443
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 569 ms
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Tomcat-Standalone
May 24, 2013 8:57:45 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.35
2013-05-24 20:57:46,831 INFO [main] [com.atlassian.confluence.lifecycle] contextInitialized Starting Confluence 5.1 [build 4215 based on commit hash 27aa6aff3fb0e9e5138a84da80ecdaa533a08846]
May 24, 2013 8:57:56 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8090
May 24, 2013 8:57:56 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8443
May 24, 2013 8:57:56 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFO: Server startup in 10290 ms
May 24, 2013 8:57:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve custom
SEVERE: Exception Processing ErrorPage[errorCode=500, location=/500page.jsp]
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.atlassian.spring.container.ContainerManager.getComponent(ContainerManager.java:33)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.sitemesh.PluginDecoratorMapper.getPluginAccessor(PluginDecoratorMapper.java:74)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.setup.sitemesh.PluginDecoratorMapper.getDecorator(PluginDecoratorMapper.java:23)
    at com.opensymphony.module.sitemesh.mapper.AbstractDecoratorMapper.getDecorator(AbstractDecoratorMapper.java:45)
    at com.opensymphony.module.sitemesh.mapper.InlineDecoratorMapper.getDecorator(InlineDecoratorMapper.java:41)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.profiling.ConfluenceDecoratorSelector.selectDecorator(ConfluenceDecoratorSelector.java:59)
    at com.opensymphony.sitemesh.webapp.SiteMeshFilter.doFilter(SiteMeshFilter.java:83)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.util.profiling.ProfilingPageFilter.doFilter(ProfilingPageFilter.java:44)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:71)
    at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:71)
 at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:71)
    at com.atlassian.plugin.servlet.filter.ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.doFilter(ServletFilterModuleContainerFilter.java:63)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at com.atlassian.confluence.web.filter.DebugFilter.doFilter(DebugFilter.java:44)
    at com.atlassian.core.filters.AbstractHttpFilter.doFilter(AbstractHttpFilter.java:31)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.invoke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:646)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.processRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:438)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doForward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:374)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.forward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:302)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.custom(StandardHostValve.java:421)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.status(StandardHostValve.java:342)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.throwable(StandardHostValve.java:286)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:141)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:102)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:293)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:859)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:602)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:489)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks,

Andrew      

[Ruben Fernandez]

Hi, for me (had the exact error described above) solved it by fixing permissions. There were plugin directories under /var/atlassian/application-data/ which the user confluence could not even change to. I believe that SElinux has something to do here ... :)

[Mike Sheehan]

This fixed part of my issue. I also had to use the next answer from Yilin Mo.

[shredtechular]

Thank you for the response. We tried to clear plugin cache via that article, however, that was still unsuccessful. We ended up re-installing the program to fix the issue.

[Yilin]

Seems a plugin issue, maybe you can try to perform the procedure :

https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/CONFKB/How+to+Clear+Confluence+Plugins+Cache

In case issue persist, I would like to advise you to open a new support ticket for help.

[ITMSD]

That did it for me, thanks!