actionsLib folder with incorrect/outdated files

Products

CA Release Automation - Release Operations Center (Nolio) CA Release Automation - DataManagement Server (Nolio)

Issue/Introduction

After the NAC server is upgraded to a newer version, it may be possible to find some old files there (for example, JAR files from previous version) inside actionsLib folder.

In this article is explained how the update process works for this folder and possible causes when this is not happening.

Environment

Release Automation 6.8, 6.9 and above.

Cause

There is a particular characteristics of “actionsLib” directory, which is that it must be the same on NAC and all Agents from the environment, so there are some methods that ensure its integrity on NAC. The files on disk are replicated into connected Nexus repository and their names, version and checksum is written into DB.

When the files in “actionsLib” need to be updated, it's done through a different directory, which is “uploadActions” and that's where the installer puts new files for “actionsLib” directory.

During NAC runtime there is a special service that scans files in “uploadActions”, which then moves them over to “actionsLib” while also uploading new files into the configured Repository, and later, updates the corresponding DB records. Upon success, new files are removed from “uploadActions” and added to “actionsLib” either as new or as a replacement for existing JARs of older version. When this mechanism works fine the “uploadActions” should be empty and “actionsLib” should contain up-to-date files.

If it’s detected in the environment there is a non-empty “uploadActions” folder, it means that something is not right with the previously described process.

Resolution

The most common root cause is that there is no connectivity between NAC and the configured Repository, which is done through “nolio-repo.properties” file, in this case the service doesn't move any files from “uploadActions” to “actionsLib” because it cannot upload them to the repository.

Some of the error that may be seen in the logs related to repository connection problem are the following:

^{DEBUG (com.nolio.platform.shared.communication.services.artifacts.repositoryplugins.NexusPlugin:121) - Initializing repository admin password for nexus repository at [http://##.##.##.##:####/nexus/content/repositories/nolio].}

^{DEBUG (com.nolio.platform.shared.communication.services.artifacts.repositoryplugins.NexusPlugin:125) - Executing initializeRepositoryAdminPassword request [/nexus/content/repositories/nolio].}

^{DEBUG (com.nolio.platform.shared.communication.services.artifacts.repositoryplugins.ArtifactRepositoryPlugin:431) - Creating HttpClient}

^{ERROR (com.nolio.platform.shared.communication.services.artifacts.repositoryplugins.NexusPlugin:152) - Failed to change repository [http://##.##.##.##:####/nexus/content/repositories/nolio] password from the default value.}

^{org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connect to ##.##.##.##:#### [/##.##.##.##] failed: Connection refused (Connection refused)}

^-

^{INFO (com.nolio.platform.server.dataservices.services.model.ActionsInfoMngServiceImpl:1386) - Repository was not synced yet. Verify that we can connect to the repository, and that the user/password is correct}

^{ERROR (com.nolio.platform.server.dataservices.services.model.ActionsInfoMngServiceImpl:1393) - Failed to connect to actions package's repository}

^{WARN (com.nolio.platform.server.dataservices.services.model.ActionPackManagementServiceImpl$SyncWithRepositoryTask:311) - Couldn't connect to the repository - try again in 30 seconds}