Analytics Backend throws an error message when collector.ara.enabled is commented out: java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke

Products

• CA Automic Workload Automation - Automation Engine

Issue/Introduction

When the property collector.ara.enabled is commented out or missing from the application.properties file, the Automic Analytics backend attempts to start the CDA/ARA (Application Release Automation) collector by default.

Problem Statement

• Expected Behavior: If the property is not explicitly set to true, the collector should either remain disabled or fail gracefully without a system error.

• Actual Behavior: The system attempts to initialize the collector. However, because the associated Data Source configurations are missing or null, it triggers a java.lang.NullPointerException when attempting to establish a database connection.

Error Snippet:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "javax.sql.DataSource.getConnection()" because the return value of "com.automic.analytics.backend.data.common.CollectorDataSource.getDataSource()" is null

Environment

Environment

• Product: Automic Automation / Analytics v24.x

• Component: Analytics Backend

• Configuration File: application.properties

Cause

The Analytics backend is hardcoded to treat the CDA/ARA collector as enabled by default if the configuration key is absent.

Resolution

Workaround

Ensure the following line is explicitly set and uncommented in your application.properties file:

collector.ara.enabled=false

 

Permanent Fix

A clarification regarding the default values and required properties for the Analytics collectors will be included in a future release of the Automic Automation (AWA) documentation.