Internal error: java.lang.NullPointerException.

[Former Member]

Hi There

Has anyboday experienced the problem below?

We have a Business Objects XI Release 2 installation that we are currently using for reporting. The BO installation is running on Windows Server 2003 R2 with SP2 and

we're using Apache Tomcat 5.0.27 as a web Application Server.

We have no problems accessing/using the server from inside the department network using the internal hostname srvrhonelbo01.mpuedu.gov.za eg. Infoview/Crystal Reports/Desktop Intelligence reports are all working fine.

However the problem comes when we try to access Infoview from the internet. The external hostname for the BO server is bemis.mpu.gov.za. For our network gateway we use a Microsoft ISA 2006 server.

Whenever a request for bemis.mpu.gov.za arrives at the gateway, the ISA server does a straight NAT to redirect the request to the internal IP address of srvrhonelbo01.

The problem we experience at the moment is that you can log in to Infoview (using enterprise authentication) successfullly and the main Infoview page will load up to a certain point,

after which it will give an error popup: "Internal error: java.lang.NullPointerException. See the log for more information."

If you dismiss the popup the site is still displayed, but you can't browse any folders or viwe any reports.

In the Tomcat\logs folder on the BO server the fllowing is displayed in the stdout.log file:

0 http-8080-Processor20 ERROR com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.ToolkitServlet - Request = /businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch/applications/init.bouitoolkit

16 http-8080-Processor20 ERROR com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.ToolkitServlet - From = 10.175.220.11

16 http-8080-Processor20 ERROR com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.ToolkitServlet - java.lang.NullPointerException

The localhost_log.2008-08-26.txt contains the following entry:

2008-08-26 10:56:33 StandardContext[/businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch]java.lang.NullPointerException

java.lang.NullPointerException

at com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.reportviewer.encyclopedia.EncyclopediaApplication.init(EncyclopediaApplication.java:167)

at com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.HtmlApplicationFactory.createApplication(HtmlApplicationFactory.java:103)

at com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.reportviewer.wrapper.InfoViewPanel.init(InfoViewPanel.java:106)

at com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.HtmlApplicationFactory.createApplication(HtmlApplicationFactory.java:103)

at com.businessobjects.encyclopedia.uitoolkit.web.ToolkitServlet.doPost(ToolkitServlet.java:265)

at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:709)

at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:802)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:237)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:157)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:214)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invokeInternal(StandardContextValve.java:198)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:152)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:137)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)

at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:117)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:102)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:109)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardValveContext.invokeNext(StandardValveContext.java:104)

at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:520)

at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.invoke(ContainerBase.java:929)

at org.apache.coyote.tomcat5.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:160)

at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:799)

at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.processConnection(Http11Protocol.java:705)

at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.TcpWorkerThread.runIt(PoolTcpEndpoint.java:577)

at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPool$ControlRunnable.run(ThreadPool.java:683)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:534)

I suspect it has something to do with a token that gets passed during the Infoview loading process.

When I analyze the the http requests sent by the client, every request contains the following string:

CE_LastAps=SRVRHONELBO01.MPUEDU.GOV.ZA; CE_LogonToken=SRVRHONELBO01.MPUEDU.GOV.ZA@266440Jz0rGDk9eZ2BQbuZ266438JZOR2hc1YZSdA1Sr;

So even though the client is connecting to bemis.mpu.gov.za, once the client authenticates, the application server sends back a token referencing srvrhonelbo01.mpuedu.gov.za, which I suspects causes the problem.

Please advise if you have encountered this error before and how to rectify it.

Thanks

Angela

[Former Member]

Hi Angela,

We are seeing a very similar issue here, and your post is the only one I can find online with the same problem. Did you ever find a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[Former Member]

Nope

[former_member136842]

Hi,

i dont have a real solution for the problem but just two ideas. First check the deployment guide. There is a section on how to configure Tomcat to work with Reverse Proxy.

Second check the Errocode "Internal error: java.lang.NullPointerException" in the SAP Service Marketplace there you get a lot of notes from the KB

Hope you find your solution there !

Regards

-Sebastian

[Former Member]

We are still testing on the client side, but as of today this issue still persists.

Thanks

Angela

[Former Member]

Did anyone fine a resolution to this issue?

[Former Member]

Hi Angela,

Have you been able to get this issue resolved?

Thanks,

Nikhil Nair

[Former Member]

Hi;

if I remember correctly there is a way in MS ISA server to search and replace strings in the http data flow, maybe you want to set this to replace all striongs matching "SRVRHONELBO01.MPUEDU.GOV.ZA" by "bemis.mpu.gov.za" when going out and vice versa when going in.

This is more like a reverse proxy than nice and light NAT and might have a performance impact, but might be a workaround for your problem at the moment.

Regards;

Lionel