Workaround when a component server startup on Linux hangs

When starting a  Platform component server (CDP, AP, LAP, or HA-CDP) on Linux, the process may take too long to start and appears to be stalled. This is caused by a known Java issue. Use the following workaround:

At the command line, run the following command:

rngd -r /dev/urandom

Restart the Tomcat server.

Ensure that this command is running at server startup or before starting the   component service. 

rngd is not restarted automatically after a server reboot of the server unless you modify the startup files.

The following steps provide an example of how to modify the startup file on Red Hat Linux to automatically start rngd after a server reboot and to specify that rngd use the software source instead of the hardware random number sources that it usually uses. Consult with your system administrator for details on how to do this for your operating system.

The following steps are applicable for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and earlier versions only: :

1. Edit /etc/sysconfig/rngd to have the following setting:

   EXTRAOPTIONS="-i -r /dev/urandom"

2. Make sure that rngd is set to autostart after reboot:
   chkconfig --level 2345 rngd on

3. Start the rngd service:
   service rngd start

To check your entropy levels, use the following command:

watch -n 1 cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail

Note that for fully secure environments, hardware random number sources are recommended and the rngd must be configured appropriately to use these.