AEM 6.3 Start Up Failure with 'AuthenticationSupport service missing. Cannot authenticate request' and org.apache.sling.settings-1.3.8.jar bundle error

[bobbym33667819]

I'm having a problem starting up AEM 6.3 instance we haven't used for a while in order to restore some assets backups. It is possible the instance had been shut down improperly due to server sudden shutdown. After attempted startup I'm getting the familiar errors:

08.09.2021 16:33:04.039 *ERROR* [qtp541431543-6780] org.apache.sling.engine.impl.SlingHttpContext handleSecurity: AuthenticationSupport service missing. Cannot authenticate request.

08.09.2021 16:33:04.039 *ERROR* [qtp541431543-6780] org.apache.sling.engine.impl.SlingHttpContext handleSecurity: Possible reason is missing Repository service. Check AuthenticationSupport dependencies.

After deleting the index folders in repository/index with no improvement I noticed the following startup error:

08.09.2021 12:26:04.967 *ERROR* [FelixStartLevel] ERROR: Bundle '18' Error starting slinginstall:F:\aem6.3\author\crx-quickstart\launchpad\startup\1\org.apache.sling.settings-1.3.8.jar (java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to read from options data file.)

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to read from options data file.

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.SlingSettingsServiceImpl.readOptions(SlingSettingsServiceImpl.java:250)

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.SlingSettingsServiceImpl.setupRunModes(SlingSettingsServiceImpl.java:211)

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.SlingSettingsServiceImpl.<init>(SlingSettingsServiceImpl.java:91)

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.ServicesListener.<init>(ServicesListener.java:58)

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.Activator.start(Activator.java:38)

        at org.apache.felix.framework.util.SecureAction.startActivator(SecureAction.java:697)

        at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.activateBundle(Felix.java:2227)

        at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.startBundle(Felix.java:2145)

        at org.apache.felix.framework.Felix.setActiveStartLevel(Felix.java:1372)

        at org.apache.felix.framework.FrameworkStartLevelImpl.run(FrameworkStartLevelImpl.java:308)

        at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Caused by: java.io.StreamCorruptedException: invalid stream header: 00000000

        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.readStreamHeader(Unknown Source)

        at java.io.ObjectInputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)

        at org.apache.sling.settings.impl.SlingSettingsServiceImpl.readOptions(SlingSettingsServiceImpl.java:246)

        ... 10 more

My suspicion was an issue with the sling.properties file but modifying or replacing the file did not help. I'm also not able to login to the Felix console /system/console/ to check for any inactive bundles. I also have error with bundle acs-aem-commons-bundle-3.17.0 on startup.

Can you please help me identify possible reason for the failed startup or for the bundle error that might be the reason.

Thank you!

Bobby

[Asutosh_Jena_]

Hi @bobbym33667819 

If you are able to access system/console/bundles please check if any of the bundles are in installed state. Was it working earlier and any recent deployment caused this issue?

If not, then I will suggest to go with a fresh install and see if it works or you are still facing the same issue.

Thanks!

[bobbym33667819]

@Asutosh_Jena_ thank you for the reply. As I mentioned I'm to able to access /system/console/bundles and also I can't use a fresh install since this one has backups of assets we need.

[Asutosh_Jena_]

@bobbym33667819 was there any Java version upgrade any action that was performed on the service where the AEM instance was running? It seems to be like the instance is corrupted.

[dougtoneyMSI]

@Asutosh_Jena_ Thanks again for the reply. I don't believe we've performed any java upgrades on the server where the instance is. When examining closer the error.log on startup separate from the startup logs I noticed the following error as well: 

09.09.2021 11:20:36.691 *ERROR* [FelixStartLevel] org.apache.jackrabbit.oak-segment-tar [org.apache.jackrabbit.oak.segment.SegmentNode               StoreService(619)] The activate method has thrown an exception (java.lang.IllegalStateException: Invalid store version)

java.lang.IllegalStateException: Invalid store version

        at .....

I then attempted to run consistency check using oak-run-1.6.20 as that should be the correct oak version as it is on development server with the same AEM version, but still got "Invalid Store Version" exception. Same with oak-run-1.6.15 to 21.

[Manu_Mathew_]

Hi @bobbym33667819 

Did you try stopping AEM instance and deleting Index files in crx-quickstart folder. and restarting Instance? This might have happened when your instance had shutdown abnormally.

You will be able to find the all the index files under crx-quickstart\repository\index.

[dougtoneyMSI]

@Manu_Mathew_ thank you for the response. As mentioned it was the first thing I did but it did not help. The server indeed had been shut down abnormally, thought, after which the problem occurred I believe.

[bobbym33667819]

We contacted Adobe Support who confirmed the instance in question is corrupted and probably we won't be able to bring it up. We ended up restoring older version from backup.