After using WebLogic Admin Console to add WebAppSupport.jar to Server classpath it fails to start and stdout log shows "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: weblogic/Server"

Products

• CA Application Performance Management Agent (APM / Wily / Introscope)
• INTROSCOPE

Issue/Introduction

New WebLogic agent install under WebLogic 10.3.6 cluster instance.

After using WebLogic Admin Console to add WebAppSupport.jar to the classpath in "Servers/SERVER_NAME/Environment/Server Start/Class Path" the instance fails to start and the stdout log shows:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: weblogic/Server 

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: weblogic.Server 

at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202) 

at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method) 

at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190) 

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:306) 

at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301) 

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:247) 

Could not find the main class: weblogic.Server. 

Environment

APM Agent 9,x, 10.xWebLogic 10.3.6

Cause

The customisation of the classpath has caused the main WebLogic class not to be picked up.

Normally the advice is to also add weblogic_sp.jar and weblogic.jar to the classpath when customising it. However doing that still does not allow the instance to start (shows "FAILED_NOT_RESTARTABLE") and the stdout log shows this error:

Parsing Failure in config.xml: failed to find method MethodName{methodName='setCacheInAppDirectory', paramTypes=[boolean]} on class weblogic.management.configuration.AppDeploymentMBeanImpl> 

Resolution

Per the Oracle DOC ID 1509703.1:

"Managed Server State FAILED_NOT_RESTARTABLE When Class Path Provided And Started From Admin Console (Doc ID 1509703.1)" 

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SYMPTOMS 

After applying the WebLogic Server 10.3.6 PSU, a managed server fails to start when the class path is provided and started from the admin console. 

SOLUTION: 

Specifying WL_HOME/server/lib/weblogic_sp.jar;WL_HOME/server/lib/weblogic.jar in the classpath of Server-start is causing this issue. There is no need to set these in the classpath of Server-start since they will come in from the system classpath. If a custom classpath is needed for the managed server. then it should set as below: 

BEA_HOME/patch_wls1036/profiles/default/sys_manifest_classpath/weblogic_patch.jar:BEA_HOME/patch_ocp371/profiles/default/sys_manifest_classpath/weblogic_patch.jar:WL_HOME/server/lib/weblogic_sp.jar:WL_HOME/server/lib/weblogic.jar 

The weblogic_patch.jar must precede weblogic_sp.jar and weblogic.jar -- this ensures that the classes in the patch are loaded rather than the unpatched classes. 

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One weblogic_patch.jar was found on the installation and this was added to the classpath to resolve the problem using this final classpath:

/opt/weblogic10.3.6/patch_wls1036/profiles/default/sys_manifest_classpath/weblogic_patch.jar:/opt/weblogic10.3.6/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/weblogic_sp.jar:/opt/weblogic10.3.6/wlserver_10.3/server/lib/weblogic.jar:AGENT_HOME/wily/common/WebAppSupport.jar

Additional Information

Managed Server State FAILED_NOT_RESTARTABLE When Class Path Provided And Started From Admin Console (Doc ID 1509703.1) (requires Oracle Support account to access)