Problem starting Admin Server using Node Manager

Question

I have configured the Node Manager to run as a windows service. I want it to start the Admin Server when it is started. This is not working. The Node Manager starts without problem but does not appear to even attempt to start the Admin Server. No error message is written to the nodemanager.log. I have configured the following properties as described in the documentation:
StartScriptEnabled=true
StartScriptName=startWebLogic.cmd
Starting the Admin Server using wlst works. As does starting and stopping a Managed server using the Admin console. This leads me to conclude that the Node Manager configuration is ok.
WLS version is 9.2.
All suggestions as to what could be the issue here would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!

Answer 1

Ok, I just wasted a whole day before I found the tricks.
First, you don't need to do that StartScriptEnabled stuff, unless you have important things to add there.
Ok, and now what I found:
- You must make sure you have installed the NodeManager as a service
- Next, make sure the admin server is assigned to the right machine. Since you can do the WLST trick, that should be fine. If not, tough luck, because the docs say you cannot re-assign an admin server.
- In nodemanager.properties (...\weblogic92\common\nodemanager) make sure CrashRecoveryEnabled is set to true
- In nodemanager.domains (same dir) make sure your domain is mentioned with its path
- For each of the servers to be auto-started, make sure that a startup.properties (in <your-domain-dir> \servers\<server-name> \data\nodemanager) contains Arguments=-Xnohup (for JRockit, for Sun JDK its -Xrs)
Make sure they are started through the nodemanager, et voila, they'll be restarted after a reboot.
Why this works? At reboot, the OS ask all processes to die, nicely. Those that don't, get killed forcibly. Without the -Xnohup/rs, the WebLogic servers respond to the nice request, and the nodemanager immediately tries to restart them. Unfortunately, the OS refuses to do that, and the server process is marked as failed, and won't be restarted after reboot. With the option given, the servers ignore mr nice guy, and get killed after the nodemanager has disappeared.
What can go wrong? A lot. I was playing with the nodemanager username and password, and that took some time to clean up. I probably have to redo the entire setup just to make sure I have a repeatable experience now...
Cheers,
Bert