DPA web page does not load after an update or installation on Windows

6/2/2021 8:54 PM

7/5/2025 5:27 PM

This article provides steps to take if you upgrade to DPA on Windows, but the web page where DPA existed before does not load or is blank.

On a Windows installation of DPA, the service that should run all of DPA including the web page is called "Ignite PI Server". At the end of the installation, there is a  script to create this service. This process can be blocked. It it is blocked, the installation will appear to be complete, but there will be no page for the DPA site. 

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Database Performance Analyzer

At the end of an installation or upgrade, DPA runs scripts to finalize the installation and create the "Ignite PI Server" service. The scripts are in a batch file, and they are run as the installation user, who should be an admin on the server. The main script is in the following location by default: 

C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\CreateWindowsService.bat  

If you examine this file you see that it calls a script of either 
C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\java_version.vbs. 
or 
C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\java_version.ps1

These script finds installed versions of Java that can be used to start DPA. It defaults to the Java that is shipped with DPA. If no others are found, the default path of C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\bin\java.exe is used. 

This script can be blocked by a group policy object (GPO) setting on the server, antivirus software, or something else such as a registry entry that blocks .VBS execution. or if the Powershell version fails for any reason.
 the installer finishes without creating the service. However, there are no errors in the log files for the .VBS version. 
The Powershell version does log to a file in the path that would be similar C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\ignite-service.log

It there is no web site for DPA found at the URL addresses, first determine if the "Ignite PI Server" exists and is running. Open the Windows services menu (for example, run Services.msc from a command prompt) and look for the "Ignite PI Server" service. If it exists but is not running, start the service.

It the "Ignite PI Server" service does not exist, try to manually run the C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\CreateWindowsService.bat script in an admin command line.

If the file that is called in that batch script is blocked, you might see a permission denied error, a message that a bad Java version was detected.

Solution 1 

Use this solution if the installer script is not able to create the service. Here we are passing in parameters that are sent to this script from other files. 

For example: We would need to set DPA to 8 GB max heap. This would be correct for a DPA install that had memory max set to this value in C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat\ignite_config\idx\server.properties 

1. Open the command line as an admin, and change directory to DPA's iwc folder. By default, the path is:
   C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc 
2. Run the following command:
   runService.cmd "" "" "8192" "" "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\"
    
   Result:
   C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc>runService.cmd "" "" "8192" "" "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\"
   C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc>echo off
   runService P1 = ""
   runService P2 = ""
   runService P3 = "8192"
   runService P4 = ""
   runService P5 = "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\"
   runService P6 =
   STACK_SIZE=
   MIN_HEAP_MEMORY=
   MAX_HEAP_MEMORY=8192
   ADDITIONAL_JVM_OPTION=
   JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\
   calling service.bat with P1="install"
   Installing the service  'IgnitePI' ...
   Using CATALINA_HOME:    "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat"
   Using CATALINA_BASE:    "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat"
   Using JAVA_HOME:        "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\"
   Using JVM:              "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\\bin\server\jvm.dll"
   JvmSs 256 JvmMs 256 JvmMx 8192
   JvmOptions -Dcatalina.home=C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat;-Dcatalina.base=C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat;-Djava.io.tmpdir=C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat\temp;-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.juli.ClassLoaderLogManager;-Djava.util.logging.config.file=C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\tomcat\conf\logging.properties;-XX:-OmitStackTraceInFastThrow
   The Ignite PI Server service is starting.
   The Ignite PI Server service was started successfully.
    
   *************************************************************************
   *
   *  Request to start 'Ignite PI Server' service succeeded.
   *
   *************************************************************************
    

Disclaimer: Execute the command below only if required to remove the service. Otherwise, skip to next step.

To remove the service:
runService.cmd "" "" "" "" "C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre\" remove
 
To stop the service:
net stop IgnitePi
 
To start the service:
net start IgnitePi

 

Solution 2

echo  *************************************************************************
echo  *                                    
echo  *  If this script fails you can manually create a windows
echo  *  service by following steps:
echo  *
echo  *  1) Set the 'JAVA_HOME' environment variable to your Java Development
echo  *     Kit installation.
echo  *  2) Add JAVA_HOME/bin to your 'PATH' environment variable.
echo  *  3) Go to the 'Ignite Home/tomcat/bin' directory.
echo  *  4) Run service.bat install
echo  *    
echo  "**************************************************************************

1. Set JAVA_HOME as an environment variable: 
   1. In the Windows File Explorer, right-click "This PC" and choose Properties. 
   2. In the section for Computer name, Domain, and workgroup settings, click "Change settings".
   3. Click the "Advanced" tab.
   4. Click "Environment Variables".
   5. Click New, and create a new environment variable named "JAVA_HOME" with a value of the path to the Java that DPA ships:
      C:\Program Files\SolarWinds\DPA\iwc\jre
   6. Click OK.
2. Edit the "Path" Environment Variable: 
   1. Click Edit.
   2. Add to the end of anything that is in there ";JAVA_HOME\bin" with out the quotes. Note: the ";" -- this is the separator for items in "Path".
3. Go to the 'Ignite Home/tomcat/bin' directory and run the .bat file:
   1. Open a command line as an admin and change the directory to DPA's tomcat\bin path.
   2. From this command line, run the following:
      service.bat install
      
      This should install the DPA service "Ignite PI Server" and start it with the default Java heap memory settings. (Note:  If DPA needs to scale the settings to monitor more instances than the default heap memory settings support, see this article: DPA scale settings .)

DPA defaults to a memory max setting for about 20 monitored database servers. Solution 1 does not create the service with any scaled settings, only the defaults. So if DPA was monitoring 101 servers before the upgrade (for example), these settings would not be appropriate. See Solution 2.