Troubleshooting PeopleTools Version Mismatch

I got the following error message after installing the PeopleTools 8.52.10 patch:

PeopleTools release (8.52.10) for web server/ Application Designer ‘lxdevweb02.pugetsound.edu’ is not the same as Application Server PeopleTools release (8.52.02). Access denied.

CHECK APPSERVER LOGS. THE SITE BOOTED WITH INTERNAL DEFAULT SETTINGS, BECAUSE OF: bea.jolt.ApplicationException: TPESVCFAIL – application level service failure

To fix the problem, I just reconfigured the Application Server.

I found that I needed to change something to make it think that it needs to load the configuration.  So, I changed the WSL option.  After loading the configuration, I changed it back and loaded it a second time.

After booting the Application Server again, everything worked fine.  The instructions didn’t say anything about reconfiguring the Application Server, but I found that I had to do it.  I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, but I did change my PS_HOME environment variable as part of the patch installation.  The tools version  (patch number included) is in the path for my PS_HOME.

Now, on a side note, if you get just this message:

CHECK APPSERVER LOGS. THE SITE BOOTED WITH INTERNAL DEFAULT SETTINGS, BECAUSE OF: bea.jolt.ApplicationException: TPESVCFAIL – application level service failure

The problem is probably that the web server cannot talk to the application server.  Here are a few things to check:

• Is the application server started?  Use psadmin to check the application server status.
• Is the firewall blocking connections?  Use “sudo service iptables stop” to turn off the firewall.  If that fixes the problem, configure iptables to allow the JSL port.
• Are the application server and web server using the same port?  Check the psappsrv.cfg file to see what the JSL port is (or use psadmin).  Check the <ps cfg home>/webserv/<domain name>/applications/peoplesoft/PORTAL.war/WEB-INF/psftdocs/<site name>/configuration.properties file for the psserver port (or use psadmin)
• Is the app server hostname configured to localhost?  On the application server, ping the server name.  If it comes back with 127.0.0.1, you have a problem.  If your configuration is supposed to be listening on the hostname, it will be listening on localhost.  Either change /etc/hosts or put the actual IP address in the app server configuration file.
• Is the host name on the web server the actual hostname on the app server?  It’s pretty easy to accidentally just put the web server host name as the application server.

I hope those thoughts help more than just me.