KB-2005 Appian URL uses a database schema, server, or port different than what is defined in custom.properties
Symptoms
Symptom 1
The login page loads via HTTPS but static content does not load. Inspecting the page through a network capture reveals that static content response is coming from an undesired port.
Symptom 2
Setting a default User Start Page on the 'User Start Pages' tab of the Admin Console yields the following error:
The URL is invalid or has an incorrect base URL. The base URL must be https://FQDN:<INCORRECT_PORT>
Symptom 3
Logging in yields a 401 error when hitting:
https://<FQDN>/suite
Symptom 4
JBoss or Tomcat fail to start with errors that point to data sources that do not exist in custom.properties, appian-ds.xml, nor standalone.xml/tomcatResources.xml.
Cause
A custom.properties file exists somewhere else on the server other than the expected location. This file is expected to be under <APPIAN_HOME>/conf for Appian 18.3 and later, and in <APPIAN_HOME>/ear/suite.ear/conf for 18.2 and earlier.
If a custom.properties file is found in one of the following directories:
- Directly from the URL
- Base directory
- User's home directory (if it exists)
Appian will use that file rather than the expected custom.properties file in the conf directory and the application server will fail to start due to a mismatch between custom.properties and the appian-ds.xml, standalone.xml, or tomcatResources.xml files.
Action
Find and remove any custom.properties files extraneous to the classpath.
Affected Versions
This article applies to Appian 18.4 and earlier.
Last Reviewed: October 2019