A customer recently contacted us regarding an issue with an old Alfresco Enterprise 4.2.2 environment. The system had been running stably for years, with a nightly restart of the Tomcat/Alfresco service to help recycle the memory and fix long-standing issues in this version. Earlier this week, one of these nightly restarts suddenly failed and since then, Alfresco would completely refuse to start. Unfortunately, that was on Production, so it was rather important! Yes, it is a very old version of Alfresco (on an old OS as well, obviously), but the customer doesn’t want to upgrade or patch it, so it was left as is since its installation by another company that isn’t around anymore.
The error
When reviewing the Tomcat logs, the startup sequence looked normal until Alfresco attempted to initialize Hibernate and connect to its MySQL database. Here is the relevant part of the log with the error:
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFOS: Loaded APR based Apache Tomcat Native library 1.1.33 using APR version 1.4.6.
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFOS: APR capabilities: IPv6 [true], sendfile [true], accept filters [false], random [true].
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener initializeSSL
INFOS: OpenSSL successfully initialized (OpenSSL 0.9.8y 5 Feb 2013)
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-apr-8080"]
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["ajp-apr-8009"]
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8443"]
oct. 22, 2025 5:45:37 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFOS: Initialization processed in 995 ms
...
2025-10-22 05:46:15,118 INFO [alfresco.repo.admin] [localhost-startStop-1] Using database URL 'jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/alfresco?autoReconnect=true' with user 'alfresco'.
2025-10-22 05:46:15,491 INFO [alfresco.repo.admin] [localhost-startStop-1] Connected to database MySQL version 5.6.28-log
2025-10-22 05:46:21,836 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Starting 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default]
2025-10-22 05:46:21,863 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Startup of 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default] complete
2025-10-22 05:46:21,902 INFO [domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] [localhost-startStop-1] Ignoring script patch (post-Hibernate): patch.db-V4.2-metadata-query-indexes
2025-10-22 05:46:31,210 WARN [hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Could not obtain connection metadata
org.apache.commons.dbcp.SQLNestedException: Cannot create PoolableConnectionFactory (java.lang.NullPointerException)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1549)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createDataSource(BasicDataSource.java:1388)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.getConnection(BasicDataSource.java:1044)
at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalDataSourceConnectionProvider.getConnection(LocalDataSourceConnectionProvider.java:81)
at org.hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory.buildSettings(SettingsFactory.java:84)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSettings(Configuration.java:2079)
at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1304)
at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean.newSessionFactory(LocalSessionFactoryBean.java:860)
at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalSessionFactoryBean.buildSessionFactory(LocalSessionFactoryBean.java:779)
at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.AbstractSessionFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(AbstractSessionFactoryBean.java:211)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1477)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1417)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:563)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:425)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:276)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:197)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:47)
at org.alfresco.web.app.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:63)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:5068)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5584)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:147)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:899)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:875)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:652)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1092)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1984)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.sql.SQLException: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:1073)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:987)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:982)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:927)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.buildCollationMapping(ConnectionImpl.java:1023)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.initializePropsFromServer(ConnectionImpl.java:3451)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.connectOneTryOnly(ConnectionImpl.java:2443)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.createNewIO(ConnectionImpl.java:2213)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.<init>(ConnectionImpl.java:797)
at com.mysql.jdbc.JDBC4Connection.<init>(JDBC4Connection.java:47)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.handleNewInstance(Util.java:411)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.getInstance(ConnectionImpl.java:389)
at com.mysql.jdbc.NonRegisteringDriver.connect(NonRegisteringDriver.java:305)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.DriverConnectionFactory.createConnection(DriverConnectionFactory.java:38)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.PoolableConnectionFactory.makeObject(PoolableConnectionFactory.java:582)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.validateConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1556)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1545)
... 37 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.TreeMap.put(TreeMap.java:556)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.resultSetToMap(Util.java:506)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.buildCollationMapping(ConnectionImpl.java:964)
... 53 more
2025-10-22 05:46:31,597 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Stopping 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default]
2025-10-22 05:46:31,597 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Stopped 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default]
2025-10-22 05:46:31,607 ERROR [web.context.ContextLoader] [localhost-startStop-1] Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialectResourceLoader' defined in class path resource [alfresco/extension/context/typo3-context.xml]: Cannot create inner bean 'org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean#70397d85' of type [org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean] while setting bean property 'dialectClass'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean#70397d85' defined in class path resource [alfresco/extension/context/typo3-context.xml]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialect': FactoryBean threw exception on object creation; nested exception is org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Cannot open connection
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:281)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:120)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1325)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1086)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:517)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:580)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:425)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:276)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:197)
at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:47)
at org.alfresco.web.app.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:63)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:5068)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5584)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:147)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:899)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:875)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:652)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1092)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:1984)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:262)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean#70397d85' defined in class path resource [alfresco/extension/context/typo3-context.xml]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialect': FactoryBean threw exception on object creation; nested exception is org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Cannot open connection
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:527)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:270)
... 29 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialect': FactoryBean threw exception on object creation; nested exception is org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Cannot open connection
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.doGetObjectFromFactoryBean(FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.java:149)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.getObjectFromFactoryBean(FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.java:102)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getObjectForBeanInstance(AbstractBeanFactory.java:1429)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:245)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean.setBeanFactory(PropertyPathFactoryBean.java:186)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeAwareMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1439)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1408)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
... 31 more
Caused by: org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Cannot open connection
at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.handledNonSpecificException(SQLStateConverter.java:103)
at org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java:91)
at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:43)
at org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.java:29)
at org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.openConnection(ConnectionManager.java:426)
at org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.getConnection(ConnectionManager.java:144)
at org.hibernate.jdbc.BorrowedConnectionProxy.invoke(BorrowedConnectionProxy.java:150)
at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy5.setAutoCommit(Unknown Source)
at org.alfresco.hibernate.DialectFactoryBean.getObject(DialectFactoryBean.java:67)
at org.alfresco.hibernate.DialectFactoryBean.getObject(DialectFactoryBean.java:39)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.doGetObjectFromFactoryBean(FactoryBeanRegistrySupport.java:142)
... 39 more
Caused by: org.apache.commons.dbcp.SQLNestedException: Cannot create PoolableConnectionFactory (java.lang.NullPointerException)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1549)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createDataSource(BasicDataSource.java:1388)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.getConnection(BasicDataSource.java:1044)
at org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.LocalDataSourceConnectionProvider.getConnection(LocalDataSourceConnectionProvider.java:81)
at org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.openConnection(ConnectionManager.java:423)
... 45 more
Caused by: java.sql.SQLException: java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:1073)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:987)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:982)
at com.mysql.jdbc.SQLError.createSQLException(SQLError.java:927)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.buildCollationMapping(ConnectionImpl.java:1023)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.initializePropsFromServer(ConnectionImpl.java:3451)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.connectOneTryOnly(ConnectionImpl.java:2443)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.createNewIO(ConnectionImpl.java:2213)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.<init>(ConnectionImpl.java:797)
at com.mysql.jdbc.JDBC4Connection.<init>(JDBC4Connection.java:47)
at sun.reflect.GeneratedConstructorAccessor103.newInstance(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:526)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.handleNewInstance(Util.java:411)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.getInstance(ConnectionImpl.java:389)
at com.mysql.jdbc.NonRegisteringDriver.connect(NonRegisteringDriver.java:305)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.DriverConnectionFactory.createConnection(DriverConnectionFactory.java:38)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.PoolableConnectionFactory.makeObject(PoolableConnectionFactory.java:582)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.validateConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1556)
at org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSource.createPoolableConnectionFactory(BasicDataSource.java:1545)
... 49 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.util.TreeMap.put(TreeMap.java:556)
at com.mysql.jdbc.Util.resultSetToMap(Util.java:506)
at com.mysql.jdbc.ConnectionImpl.buildCollationMapping(ConnectionImpl.java:964)
... 64 more
oct. 22, 2025 5:46:31 AM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
GRAVE: Exception lors de l'envoi de l'évènement contexte initialisé (context initialized) à l'instance de classe d'écoute (listener) org.alfresco.web.app.ContextLoaderListener
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialectResourceLoader' defined in class path resource [alfresco/extension/context/typo3-context.xml]: Cannot create inner bean 'org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean#70397d85' of type [org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean] while setting bean property 'dialectClass'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean#70397d85' defined in class path resource [alfresco/extension/context/typo3-context.xml]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'extranetDialect': FactoryBean threw exception on object creation; nested exception is org.hibernate.exception.GenericJDBCException: Cannot open connection
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:281)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:120)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1325)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1086)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:517)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
...
The key clue here appears to be the NullPointerException from the buildCollationMapping(), which probably indicates a problem during the JDBC driver’s initialization of MySQL collation data.
DB & JDBC Connector Details
Given that the error appeared to be linked to the DB, I checked that it was properly running and responding, while also retrieving its version:
mysql> SELECT VERSION();
+------------+
| VERSION() |
+------------+
| 5.6.28-log |
+------------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)
Everything looked fine, and the collation list was consistent with no apparent missing data and no “null” values:
mysql> SHOW COLLATION;
+---------------------+----------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| Collation | Charset | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
+---------------------+----------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| big5_chinese_ci | big5 | 1 | Yes | Yes | 1 |
| big5_bin | big5 | 84 | | Yes | 1 |
| dec8_swedish_ci | dec8 | 3 | Yes | Yes | 1 |
| dec8_bin | dec8 | 69 | | Yes | 1 |
...
Another important thing to check is the JDBC Connector used by Tomcat to connect to the database (as it’s not using the mysql binaries to connect, as I did above):
[alfresco@alf01 ~]$ cd $CATALINA_HOME
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ ls -l lib/mysql-*
-rw-r--r--. 1 alfresco alfresco 802721 Jan 21 2015 lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.20-bin.jar
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
The MySQL JDBC Connector version 5.1.20 was released in May 2012. Looking into known MySQL Connector/J bugs, it looked like there were several problems affecting it, like long-running MySQL instances, some related to the buildCollationMapping, etc… The MySQL DB of the environment was running for the past 2.5 years without any restart. Therefore, the first thing we suggested was simply to restart the DB. Unfortunately, it didn’t help.
Patching the JDBC Connector
Since patching/upgrading Alfresco and the DB was out of the question, the only easy thing we could try, as a next step, was to patch the JDBC Connector. Looking at the MySQL download website for that component (c.f. here), the latest minor version available is 5.1.49, released in April 2020. Therefore, I tried to download and extract it and then I stopped the (not-really) running Tomcat process:
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ wget "https://cdn.mysql.com/archives/mysql-connector-java-5.1/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip"
--2025-10-22 09:43:47-- https://cdn.mysql.com/archives/mysql-connector-java-5.1/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip
Resolving cdn.mysql.com... 2.19.75.100, 2001:918:ffcb:1a6::1d68, 2001:918:ffcb:181::1d68
Connecting to cdn.mysql.com|2.19.75.100|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 3722067 (3.5M) [application/zip]
Saving to: “mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip”
100%[============================================================>] 3,722,067 19.1M/s in 0.2s
2025-10-22 09:43:48 (19.1 MB/s) - “mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip” saved [3722067/3722067]
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ unzip mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip
Archive: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip
creating: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/
creating: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/src/
creating: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/src/com/
...
inflating: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/src/testsuite/ssl-test-certs/server-cert.pem
inflating: mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/src/testsuite/ssl-test-certs/server-key.pem
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ ../alfresco.sh stop tomcat
**
** Alfresco has been stopped successfully
**
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
The final step was to backup the current and new versions of the JARs. Then I replaced the file in the Tomcat lib folder before restarting the process:
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ ls -l lib/mysql-*
-rw-r--r--. 1 alfresco alfresco 802721 Jan 21 2015 lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.20-bin.jar
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ mv lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.20-bin.jar ./
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ mv mysql-connector-java-5.1.49/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.jar ./
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ cp -p mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.jar lib/
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ rm -rf mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.zip mysql-connector-java-5.1.49
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ ls -l lib/mysql-*
-rw-r--r--. 1 alfresco alfresco 1006904 Apr 20 2020 lib/mysql-connector-java-5.1.49.jar
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$ ../alfresco.sh start tomcat
**
** Alfresco has been started
**
[alfresco@alf01 tomcat]$
Once done, the Tomcat logs looked much better, there were no errors related to database connection anymore. Alfresco was able to finish its startup and users were able to log in to Alfresco Share again:
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFOS: Loaded APR based Apache Tomcat Native library 1.1.33 using APR version 1.4.6.
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener lifecycleEvent
INFOS: APR capabilities: IPv6 [true], sendfile [true], accept filters [false], random [true].
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener initializeSSL
INFOS: OpenSSL successfully initialized (OpenSSL 0.9.8y 5 Feb 2013)
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-apr-8080"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["ajp-apr-8009"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol init
INFOS: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8443"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:27:35 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
INFOS: Initialization processed in 989 ms
...
2025-10-22 08:28:16,988 INFO [alfresco.repo.admin] [localhost-startStop-1] Using database URL 'jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/alfresco?autoReconnect=true' with user 'alfresco'.
2025-10-22 08:28:17,300 INFO [alfresco.repo.admin] [localhost-startStop-1] Connected to database MySQL version 5.6.28-log
2025-10-22 08:28:23,797 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Starting 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default]
2025-10-22 08:28:23,822 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Startup of 'sysAdmin' subsystem, ID: [sysAdmin, default] complete
2025-10-22 08:28:23,859 INFO [domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] [localhost-startStop-1] Ignoring script patch (post-Hibernate): patch.db-V4.2-metadata-query-indexes
Wed Oct 22 08:28:33 CEST 2025 WARN: Establishing SSL connection without server's identity verification is not recommended. According to MySQL 5.5.45+, 5.6.26+ and 5.7.6+ requirements SSL connection must be established by default if explicit option isn't set. For compliance with existing applications not using SSL the verifyServerCertificate property is set to 'false'. You need either to explicitly disable SSL by setting useSSL=false, or set useSSL=true and provide truststore for server certificate verification.
Wed Oct 22 08:28:33 CEST 2025 WARN: Establishing SSL connection without server's identity verification is not recommended. According to MySQL 5.5.45+, 5.6.26+ and 5.7.6+ requirements SSL connection must be established by default if explicit option isn't set. For compliance with existing applications not using SSL the verifyServerCertificate property is set to 'false'. You need either to explicitly disable SSL by setting useSSL=false, or set useSSL=true and provide truststore for server certificate verification.
SETTING APPLICATION CONTEXT
2025-10-22 08:28:33,976 INFO [extensions.webscripts.TemplateProcessorRegistry] [localhost-startStop-1] Registered template processor Repository Template Processor for extension ftl
2025-10-22 08:28:33,982 INFO [extensions.webscripts.ScriptProcessorRegistry] [localhost-startStop-1] Registered script processor Repository Script Processor for extension js
2025-10-22 08:28:40,396 INFO [domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] [localhost-startStop-1] Connecting to database: jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/alfresco?autoReconnect=true, UserName=alfresco@localhost, MySQL Connector Java
2025-10-22 08:28:40,396 INFO [domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] [localhost-startStop-1] Schema managed by database dialect org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLInnoDBDialect.
2025-10-22 08:28:41,104 INFO [domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] [localhost-startStop-1] No changes were made to the schema.
2025-10-22 08:28:42,093 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Starting 'Authentication' subsystem, ID: [Authentication, managed, alfinst]
2025-10-22 08:28:42,545 INFO [management.subsystems.ChildApplicationContextFactory] [localhost-startStop-1] Startup of 'Authentication' subsystem, ID: [Authentication, managed, alfinst] complete
...
oct. 22, 2025 8:30:09 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFOS: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-apr-8080"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:30:09 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFOS: Starting ProtocolHandler ["ajp-apr-8009"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:30:09 AM org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start
INFOS: Starting ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8443"]
oct. 22, 2025 8:30:09 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
INFOS: Server startup in 153447 ms
2025-10-22 08:30:10,121 INFO [web.site.EditionInterceptor] [ajp-apr-8009-exec-7] Successfully retrieved license information from Alfresco.
2025-10-22 08:30:39,780 INFO [web.scripts.ImapServerStatus] [ajp-apr-8009-exec-3] Successfully retrieved IMAP server status from Alfresco: disabled
2025-10-22 08:30:40,107 INFO [web.scripts.SyncModeConfig] [ajp-apr-8009-exec-3] Successfully retrieved Sync Mode configuration from Alfresco: ON_PREMISE
This issue was pretty interesting, as it shows that even if you do not change anything on a system running for more than 10 years (same DB/Alfresco/Tomcat/Java/JDBC Connector versions), and that restarts daily, you can still face bugs at any time… I can’t check all details of the bugs while I’m writing this blog as the MySQL bugs website is horribly slow and crashing today, but clearly this shows that even if you’re maintaining old platforms that can’t be upgraded, it’s still worth keeping small components like JDBC connectors up to date.
![Thumbnail [60x60]](https://www.dbi-services.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/MOP_web-min-scaled.jpg)
![Thumbnail [90x90]](https://www.dbi-services.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/STH_web-min-scaled.jpg)
![Thumbnail [90x90]](https://www.dbi-services.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/GME_web-min-scaled.jpg)