KB-1555 'Unable to run Appian search server' error thrown when starting the search server

Symptoms

When trying to start the Appian search server using start.sh|bat, users may see the following error in the command line:

Unable to run Appian search server.

No search server process is started.

Cause

The start script attempts to create a file called ss.pid which contains the PID of the search server process and validates that the search server was correctly started. If the file cannot be created, the search server does not start. Issues with creating the ss.pid file can be caused by running the script as an invalid user or restrictive permissions on the <APPIAN_HOME>/search-server/bin folder.

Action

Ensure the user running the script has ownership of the search server directory and has read, write, and execute permissions on its files. More information on application user accounts can be found in the documentation here: Linux and Windows

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian.

Last Reviewed: April 2018

Related
Recommended