Can't get main Alfresco page after install on FC5

[itauthor]

I've done a fresh install of Fedora Core 5.
I've got Tomcat 5.5.15 running OK (i.e. I can see the Tomcat page on http://localhost:8080/).
I've got MySQL 5.0.18 running OK and created the alfresco DB.

The Alfresco install all appeared to go OK
and I don't get any errors when I start Alfresco:

# /opt/alfresco/alfresco.sh start
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/share/tomcat5/temp
Using JRE_HOME:       /usr/bin/java
Using JAVA_OPTS:       -Xms128m -Xmx512m -server -XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/apache/lucene/index/IndexReader$1,doBody

However, all I get at http://localhost:8080/alfresco is a Tomcat 404 message.

I've spent days on this now - not solidly, of course, but it's dragging on and I just want to get it up & running so that we can evaluate it.

Any help anyone can offer on this would be very welcome.
Thanks

[trying2alfresco]

yes you should use the war or diable the fc5 tomcat and use the one you have. I agree with you it took me some time to figure out the different versions as well.

[itauthor]

Still not working!!!

I removed my previous install and started again, this time using the "WAR" version of the Alfresco download.

It still doesn't work. After following the instructions in the readme, I still don't get the Alfresco page at the end of the process. I just get a 404 message from Tomcat.

The most recent entries in the catalina.out log file are:

5-Aug-06 4:25:01 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol init
INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
5-Aug-06 4:25:06 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFO: Initialization processed in 67686 ms
5-Aug-06 4:25:24 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
INFO: Starting service Catalina
5-Aug-06 4:25:25 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/5.5.15
5-Aug-06 4:25:26 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost start
INFO: XML validation disabled
5-Aug-06 4:25:53 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deploying web application archive alfresco.war
5-Aug-06 4:25:55 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error in dependencyCheck
5-Aug-06 4:25:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error getConfigured
5-Aug-06 4:25:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Context [/alfresco] startup failed due to previous errors
5-Aug-06 4:25:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext stop
INFO: Container org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[Catalina].[localhost].[/alfresco] has not been started
5-Aug-06 4:26:13 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: contextInitialized()
5-Aug-06 4:26:14 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: contextInitialized()
5-Aug-06 4:30:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: org.apache.webapp.balancer.BalancerFilter: init(): ruleChain: [org.apache.webapp.balancer.RuleChain: [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.URLStringMatchRule: Target string: News / Redirect URL: http://www.cnn.com], [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.RequestParameterRule: Target param name: paramName / Target param value: paramValue / Redirect URL: http://www.yahoo.com], [org.apache.webapp.balancer.rules.AcceptEverythingRule: Redirect URL: http://jakarta.apache.org]]
5-Aug-06 4:31:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: ContextListener: contextInitialized()
5-Aug-06 4:31:24 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: SessionListener: contextInitialized()
5-Aug-06 4:33:53 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11BaseProtocol start
INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080


The relevant lines from the above seem to be:

5-Aug-06 4:25:53 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deploying web application archive alfresco.war
5-Aug-06 4:25:55 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error in dependencyCheck
5-Aug-06 4:25:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error getConfigured
5-Aug-06 4:25:56 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Context [/alfresco] startup failed due to previous errors


However, this doesn't help much as I've no idea why it failed the dependency check. I've got Tomcat and MySQL and OpenOffice running, and I've got an empty alfresco database (created using the instructions in the readme).

I was speaking to a sales guy from SiberLogic the other day who warned me that I'd have to go through a lot of hassle and faffing around trying to get Alfresco to work the way I wanted it to. Looks like he was right - except I've actually gone through lots of hassle and faffing around and I haven't even got it to work at all!

I'm trying to evaluate Alfresco with a view to my company using it as our document management system. So far it's not got a cat in hell's chance of being the solution we choose to adopt.

If anyone can help me out here I'd appreciate it.

[steve]

Hello,

Are you using the JRE or JDK versions of Java?

Alfresco requires the JDK version.

Steve

[itauthor]

Thanks, this may be the problem.

However, one of the first things I did before installing Alfresco was to check that I could compile and run a java program. This worked OK, so I assumed I had the required version of java on my machine.

How can I tell whether it's the JRE or JDK version?
The version info doesn't give much away:

# java -version
java version "1.4.2"
gij (GNU libgcj) version 4.1.0 20060304 (Red Hat 4.1.0-3)

My java lives in:
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.4.2-gcj-1.4.2.0/bin

[unknown-user]

DELETED

[itauthor]

# /opt/alfresco/alfresco.sh start
Using CATALINA_BASE:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_HOME:   /usr/share/tomcat5
Using CATALINA_TMPDIR: /usr/share/tomcat5/temp
Using JRE_HOME:       /usr/bin/java
Using JAVA_OPTS:       -Xms128m -Xmx512m -server -XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/apache/lucene/index/IndexReader$1,doBody

For above error pls check JAVA_HOME variable It must have some conflict.
May be in some file It is trying to set JAVA_HOME and it was conflicting

in set_Path remove entry of JAVA_HOME

It will work now.

Note: As per previous comments, I am now using the WAR installation. This does not have an alfresco.sh script.

Also, you do not say where "set_Path" is.

[dgynn]

You need to use JDK 5.0.  Java 1.4 won't work.

[itauthor]

OK, I think I've moved a little forwards on this, but I'm still getting the 404 error.

I've now installed JDK 5.0 - following the excellent instructions on how to do this here:
http://ccl.net/cca/software/SOURCES/JAVA/JSDK-1.5/index.shtml

So I'm now using java 1.5:

# java -version
java version "1.5.0_07"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_07-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_07-b03, mixed mode, sharing)

# echo $JAVA_HOME
/usr/lib/jvm/java

I did a tail -f on the catalina.out log file and restarted Tomcat, at which point there was lots of activity, and when I checked my alfresco database it had been populated with tables. This all looked good, however, I still get a 404 when I browse to http://localhost:8080/alfresco/.

Reviewing Tomcat's catalina.out log file, the following error occurs near the start of the output:

…
Aug 8, 2006 6:11:41 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig deployWAR
INFO: Deploying web application archive alfresco.war
log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
java.io.FileNotFoundException: alfresco.log (Permission denied)
…

Followed, further on, by this:

Aug 8, 2006 6:12:40 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error listenerStart
Aug 8, 2006 6:12:40 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Context [/alfresco] startup failed due to previous errors
06:12:40,794 ERROR [[Catalina].[localhost].[/alfresco]] Exception sending context destroyed event to listener instance of class org.alfresco.web.app.ContextListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'systemInfoBootstrap' defined in class path resource [alfresco/bootstrap-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'authenticationComponent' while setting property 'authenticationComponent'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'authenticationComponent' defined in class path resource [alfresco/authentication-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'authenticationComponentImpl' while setting property 'target'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'authenticationComponentImpl' defined in class path resource [alfresco/authentication-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'authenticationDao' while setting property 'authenticationDao'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'authenticationDao' defined in class path resource [alfresco/authentication-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'searchService' while setting property 'searchService'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'searchService' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'indexerAndSearcherFactory' while setting property 'indexerAndSearcherFactory'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'indexerAndSearcherFactory' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'luceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory' while setting property 'defaultBinding'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'luceneIndexerAndSearcherFactory' defined in class path resource [alfresco/core-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'contentService' while setting property 'contentService'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'contentService' defined in class path resource [alfresco/content-services-context.xml]: Can't resolve reference to bean 'fileContentStore' while setting property 'store'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'fileContentStore' defined in class path resource [alfresco/content-services-context.xml]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.FatalBeanException: Could not instantiate class [org.alfresco.repo.content.filestore.FileContentStore]; constructor threw exception; nested exception is org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.ContentIOException: Failed to create store root: /home/ac/alfresco/data/contentstore
…

This stuff goes on and on, I've just shown the first chunk of it.

There's obviously a problem with the alfresco.log file. However, I've no idea where this gets created. Please let me know the standard path to this log file.

Prior to the install I did:

mkdir -p /home/ac/alfresco/data
chmod -R /home/ac/alfresco

to allow open access to this location. I had expected to see the log file in /home/ac/alfresco, and there's nothing stopping it being written in there. However, /home/ac/alfresco still contains only the data directory, which is empty.

I'm sure I've nearly cracked this now.
Any ideas anyone?

[boisean]

Hi, I had a few problems like you had when installing Alfresco on FC5, what worked for me was stopping mysqld from running on its own, let the alf_start.sh do that part…however it doesn't start httpd so start that yourself.
But since you only get 404 might try to recreate your database.
(make sure you got mysqld running for this, then stop it when your done.)
mysql -u root -p <db_remove.sql (use the pass you created during alfresco setup)
remove your alf_data folder in root of alfresco.
Do the mysql -u command again but with db_setup.sql instead…
Use alf_start.sh and try to access your page again.

(If you don't got db_setup.sql or remove they are available in the alfresco-community-tomcat1.3 download, just cp them over to your alfresco directory)

[itauthor]

Thanks, but that doesn't work.

For starters, I don't have an alf_start.sh file.
I did a
find / -name alf_start.sh
and found nothing.

I suspect this script is part of one of the other downloads, rather than the WAR download I was previously advised to use.

Anyhow, I removed my alfresco database and recreated it, stopped mysqld and then forced Tomcat to restart. At this point I get the same error in Tomcat's catalina.out log file:

INFO: Deploying web application archive alfresco.war
log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
java.io.FileNotFoundException: alfresco.log (Permission denied)

Also, mysqld doesn't get started, so the tables don't get created in the alfresco DB.

I suspect the real problem is indicated by the FileNotFoundException error. If I knew where Alfresco is looking for alfresco.log file I would probably be able to work out why it's getting "Permission denied". But unfortunately the error message doesn't include the path, just the file name.

As a technical writer for a software company I'm obviously a little biased when I say this, but Alfresco's lack of documentation is a severe hindrance for anyone but the most tenacious of masochists from adopting this solution. So far my evaluation of this software has consisted mainly of two weeks of battling to get the thing running on a freshly installed Fedora Core 5.

That said, if someone could let me know the path to alfresco.log that might just be what I need to finally get sight of the start page.