KB-1540 Appian Data Server fails to start due to expired license

Symptoms

When attempting to start the Appian Data Server, the startup fails with the following error in the terminal:

$ ./start.sh|bat
0 [main] INFO com.appian.data.TopologyFactory  - Could not find /appian/data-server/conf/appian-topology.xml. The default topology configuration will be used.
70 [main] WARN com.appian.data.server.config.CustomPropertiesConfiguration  - Failed to load configuration file custom.properties. Default settings will be used. Cause: null
85 [main] INFO com.appian.data.server.Watchdog  - Initializing log4j (processName=wd-5400, logsDir=/appian/data-server/../logs/data-server) from /appian/data-server/conf/log4j.properties
2018-03-26 17:31:00,900 wd-5400 [main] INFO  com.appian.data.server.JvmStarter - Starting JVM: /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_131/jre/bin/java -server -Duser.timezone=GMT -Xms64m -Xmx128m -Dds.home=/appian/data-server -cp /appian/data-server/lib/appian-data-server-classpath-0.72.2.jar com.appian.data.server.Watchdog -f
Killed

On Windows, Killed does not appear, but the output is otherwise the same.

This error appears in the Appian Data Server log, located in <APPIAN_HOME>/logs/data-server/data-server.log:

2018-03-26 17:31:02,849 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-1] INFO com.appian.data.server.Watchdog - Starting HS (port=5402)...
2018-03-26 17:31:02,849 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-1] INFO com.appian.data.server.QStarter - Starting q process: /appian/data-server/engine/bin/q/l64/q /appian/data-server/engine/load.q_ -file hs.q -p 5402 -P 16
'2018.03.26T10:31:02.855 exp
2018-03-26 17:31:02,868 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-2] INFO com.appian.data.server.Watchdog - Starting RTS-0 (port=5405)...
2018-03-26 17:31:02,868 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-2] INFO com.appian.data.server.QStarter - Starting q process: /appian/data-server/engine/bin/q/l64/q /appian/data-server/engine/load.q_ -file rts.q -p 5405 -P 16 -rts 0
'2018.03.26T10:31:02.872 exp
2018-03-26 17:31:02,954 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-1] ERROR com.appian.data.server.Watchdog - Starting HS (port=5402) FAILED: Could not establish WebSocket connection with localhost:5402. The target q process exited abnormally. Check for earlier errors (e.g. license or startup errors).
2018-03-26 17:31:02,970 wd-5400 [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-2] ERROR com.appian.data.server.Watchdog - Starting RTS-0 (port=5405) FAILED: Could not establish WebSocket connection with localhost:5405. The target q process exited abnormally. Check for earlier errors (e.g. license or startup errors).
2018-03-26 17:31:02,971 wd-5400 [main] ERROR com.appian.data.server.Watchdog - Start up failed. Shutting down... Cause: 
java.util.concurrent.CompletionException: com.appian.data.server.UnrecoverableError: Could not establish WebSocket connection with localhost:5402. The target q process exited abnormally. Check for earlier errors (e.g. license or startup errors).

Cause

This issue is caused by an expired k4.lic file. The k4.lic file is used by Appian Data Server, and an expired license file will prevent Appian Data Server from starting up.

Action

Replace the expired k4.lic file with a new temporary license. Steps to request and install new temporary license can be found in the documentation. Once service has been restored using the temporary license, continue to request and install a long-term license for Appian 18.1 and above.

Please note that if the environment was previously running Appian 17.4 or earlier, it is possible that the k4.lic file required by the Data Server is a temporary license while the k3.lic license required by the Appian Engines is a valid long-term license that was previously generated. In this case, both long-term licenses should be renewed at the same time to avoid one unintentionally expiring before the other.

Affected Versions

This article applies to Appian 18.1 and later.

Last Reviewed: April 2018