JBAS011843 InitialContextFactory Instantiation Failure in Identity Manager

Products

• CA Identity Manager
• CA Identity Suite

Issue/Introduction

This article provides troubleshooting steps for the JBAS011843: Failed instantiate InitialContextFactory error occurring during Identity Manager startup. This error often manifests as a NumberFormatException in the server logs, typically referencing a port number (e.g., 20389), and indicates an issue with the Provisioning Server connection or configuration data.

Environment

Identity Manager

Cause

The error is generally caused by one of two issues:

1. Connectivity: The Identity Manager Provisioning Server (IMPS) is down or unreachable.
2. Database Configuration: Data inconsistency or corruption in the Identity Manager directory or connection tables.

Resolution

Step 1: Verify IMPS Connectivity

1. Confirm the IMPS service is running on the provisioning server.
2. Attempt to log into the environment using the Provisioning Manager console.
   • If the service is not running, investigate startup logs and restart the service.
   • If the service is running, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Check Database Integrity Verify that the following tables in the Identity Manager database contain valid configuration data and are not corrupted:

• IM_DIRECTORY
• IM_DIRECTORY_LD
• IM_DIR_CONNECTION

Ensure that the connection string parameters (such as port numbers) stored in these tables match the environment configuration and do not contain unexpected characters or formatting errors that could trigger a NumberFormatException.

Error Log Details:

ERROR [stderr] (ServerService Thread Pool -- 94) javax.naming.NamingException: JBAS011843: Failed instantiate InitialContextFactory com.sun.jndi.ldap.LdapCtxFactory from classloader ModuleClassLoader for Module "deployment.iam_im.ear.user_console.war:main" from Service Module Loader [Root exception is java.lang.NumberFormatException: For input string: "20389"]