KB-2346 WebApp Startup Delay Due to Analytics Propagation Stall

Symptoms

In certain Appian environments—most commonly in Appian on Kubernetes (AoK) deployments, but also observed in classic installations—the Application Server startup process is delayed. This delay is visible in the tomcat-stdOut.log file, which continuously logs messages similar to the following:

[wait-for-component] INFO com.appiancorp.tools.WaitForServers - No ids have been propagated to analytics for <N> seconds
[wait-for-component] INFO com.appiancorp.tools.WaitForServers - executionXX - remaining ids to propagate: 0
[wait-for-component] INFO com.appiancorp.tools.WaitForServers - Waiting for analytics to be ready...

These messages can persist for several minutes, resulting in the Application Server failing to reach a ready state within the expected time window. This can delay the availability of the Appian application for users and automated processes.

Cause

This behavior is caused by an edge case during system startup where the execution engines correctly report that there are zero IDs remaining to propagate. However, the analytics engines have not yet fully initialized or established a connection.

As a result, the analytics engines misinterpret this state as a reset condition and fail to signal readiness, leading to extended wait times in the Application Server startup sequence.

This issue has been reported to the Appian Product Team.

Action

To resolve this issue and prevent unnecessary startup delays, you can configure the Application Server to bypass the readiness wait when the execution engines report zero IDs to propagate, even if the analytics engines haven't finished initializing.

Classic Installations

Open the custom.properties file located at <APPIAN_HOME>/conf/custom.properties
Add the following property: appian.feature.ae.engines.incrup.earlyWaitForServersBreakout=true
Save the file.
Start the Application Server(s).

Appian on Kubernetes (AoK)

In Kubernetes-based environments, this configuration is applied via the Appian Custom Resource (CR).

You can add the setting in either of the following ways:

Option 1: Edit the live CR directly

Run the following command to edit the live resource: kubectl edit appian <your_appian_resource_name>
Then, under the customProperties section, add:

customProperties:
    appian.feature.ae.engines.incrup.earlyWaitForServersBreakout: "true"

Option 2: Update the deployment YAML

Add the property under the customProperties map within your Appian CR YAML file before applying it. A sample snippet looks like:

apiVersion: crd.k8s.appian.com/v1beta1
kind: Appian
metadata:
  name: appian
spec:
  version: XX.X.XXX.X
  # other configuration...
  customProperties:
    appian.feature.ae.engines.incrup.earlyWaitForServersBreakout: "true"
  # Rest of your YAML

After modifying the live CR or YAML file, restart the Application Server pod to apply the changes.

Workaround

If this configuration change cannot be made immediately, no action is required. The startup process will eventually complete once the analytics engines finish initializing and signal readiness. The system will become available after this delay without manual intervention.

Affected Versions

This article applies to all self-managed versions of Appian.

Last Reviewed: July 2025