KB-1424 Search server is already running

Symptoms

When starting the search server, the following message is displayed:

The Appian Search Server is already running.

Cause

When the search server is started, a file called ss.pid is created in the <APPIAN_HOME>/search-server/bin directory with the process ID of the search server. When the search server is stopped, this file is removed. If the search server is shutdown ungracefully, the process may be unable to remove the file. Upon the next startup of the search server, since the ss.pid file is already present, the start script incorrectly determines that the search server is already running even though it's not.

Action

Run <APPIAN_HOME>/search-server/bin/stop.sh|bat to ensure the search server is not running.
Delete the ss.pid file from <APPIAN_HOME>/search-server/bin.
Start the search server.

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian.

Last Reviewed: November 2017