Symptom

Sites running on WebSphere 6.02 or 6.1 may see an exception in the log early in the Process Commander startup process:

[3/28/08 15:34:05:084 EDT] 00000023 PRBootstrap I com.pega.pegarules.internal.bootstrap.PRBootstrap PRBaseLoader jar path entry = C:\Program%20Files%20(x86)\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer61\profiles\ruledev
\installedApps\wolsokv64Node02Cell\prj2ee.ear\APP-INF\lib\base
[3/28/08 15:34:05:090 EDT] 00000023 PRBootstrap E com.pega.pegarules.internal.bootstrap.PRBootstrap Error initializing PRAppLoader
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.pega.pegarules.bootstrap.loader.PRAppLoader
at java.lang.Class.forNameImpl(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:163)
at com.pega.pegarules.internal.bootstrap.PRBootstrap.checkForStartup(PRBootstrap.java:504)
at com.pega.pegarules.internal.bootstrap.PRBootstrap.
invokeMethodPropagatingThrowable(PRBootstrap.java:289)
at com.pega.pegarules.internal.bootstrap.PRBootstrap.
invokeMethod(PRBootstrap.java:341)
at com.pega.pegarules.internal.web.servlet.WebAppLifeCycleListenerBoot.
contextInitialized(WebAppLifeCycleListenerBoot.java:69)

After this error, Process Commander will not start.

Solution

Explanation

Two WebSphere FixPacks contain a correction for an IBM issue (APAR PK57900):

• FixPack 15 for WebSphere 6.1.0.15, released March 10, 2008
• FixPack 27 for WebSphere 6.0.2.27, released April 14, 2008

This correction impacts Process Commander v5.4 if the path in which WebSphere is installed contains a space character.  Since the default location to which WebSphere is installed on Windows is "C:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer" (containing a space between "Program" and "Files"), any WebSphere installation on Windows that uses the default installation location is affected.

Workaround

Pegasystems recommends that sites that have installed WebSphere on a path that contains a space character not upgrade to the FixPacks listed above, until after they upgrade to a version of Process Commander that handles WebSphere’s new configuration.

Resolution

Update: The new WebSphere configuration is handled in Version 5.4 SP1+.