Error starting grails app on new server (Error creating bean with name 'sessionFactory')

Question

I had a server crash and am trying to re-deploy a grails web-app onto a new server. I've installed Tomcat7 and Java and deployed the war file but I the app won't start.

The following is from the stacktrace.log:

2021-10-21 10:22:10,925 [localhost-startStop-1] ERROR StackTrace  - Full Stack Trace:
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManagerPostProcessor': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManager': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'sessionFactory' while setting bean property 'sessionFactory'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'sessionFactory': Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:547)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:475)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:228)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:298)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:198)
    at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.registerBeanPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:199)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.registerBeanPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:620)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:467)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.DefaultRuntimeSpringConfiguration.getApplicationContext(DefaultRuntimeSpringConfiguration.java:156)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.initializeContext(GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.java:188)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.configure(GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.java:168)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.commons.spring.GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.configure(GrailsRuntimeConfigurator.java:127)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.web.context.GrailsConfigUtils.configureWebApplicationContext(GrailsConfigUtils.java:126)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.web.context.GrailsContextLoaderListener.initWebApplicationContext(GrailsContextLoaderListener.java:109)
    at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:106)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:5197)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5720)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:183)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:1016)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:992)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:639)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:1127)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig$DeployWar.run(HostConfig.java:2020)
    at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511)
    at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'transactionManager': Cannot resolve reference to bean 'sessionFactory' while setting bean property 'sessionFactory'; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'sessionFactory': Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:336)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:108)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1457)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1198)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:537)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:475)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:228)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:298)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:198)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.support.TransactionManagerPostProcessor.initialize(TransactionManagerPostProcessor.java:74)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.support.TransactionManagerPostProcessor.setBeanFactory(TransactionManagerPostProcessor.java:52)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeAwareMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1573)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1541)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:539)
    ... 28 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'sessionFactory': Invocation of init method failed; nested exception is java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1554)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:539)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:475)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:302)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:228)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:298)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:328)
    ... 42 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.hibernate.engine.jdbc.internal.JdbcServicesImpl.configure(JdbcServicesImpl.java:244)
    at org.hibernate.boot.registry.internal.StandardServiceRegistryImpl.configureService(StandardServiceRegistryImpl.java:111)
    at org.hibernate.service.internal.AbstractServiceRegistryImpl.initializeService(AbstractServiceRegistryImpl.java:234)
    at org.hibernate.service.internal.AbstractServiceRegistryImpl.getService(AbstractServiceRegistryImpl.java:206)
    at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildTypeRegistrations(Configuration.java:1885)
    at org.hibernate.cfg.Configuration.buildSessionFactory(Configuration.java:1843)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.hibernate.cfg.GrailsAnnotationConfiguration.buildSessionFactory(GrailsAnnotationConfiguration.java:372)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.hibernate.ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.doBuildSessionFactory(ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.java:479)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.hibernate.ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.buildSessionFactory(ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.java:473)
    at org.codehaus.groovy.grails.orm.hibernate.ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.afterPropertiesSet(ConfigurableLocalSessionFactoryBean.java:387)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1613)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1550)
    ... 49 more

Though the old system won't boot I do have the hard drive available and I've checked that the spring jar files on both systems are the same version and from what I can tell the tomcat configuration though not identical is essentially the same (mainly different catalina home and base directories). The old system was Ubuntu 14 I believe and the new system is Ubuntu 20.04

The original developer is no longer with us and I'm pretty much just a sysadmin when it comes to java/grails etc so any input suitable for a newbie would be appreciated.

Answer 1

It say it can't find the database... kinda. Check that first.