Let's say the following is in the HPEL or SystemOut log when attempting to start your WebSphere network deployment manager (dmgr), node, or application server. Notice in this example that the target file is /opt/WebSphere/AppServer85/properties/systemlaunch/base/null.systemlaunch.properties. The important observation here is that the file name begins with null, but should being with a Java version, such as 1.8_64.

ADML3000E: The tool is unable to locate the systemlaunch.properties file: java.io.IOException: Cannot locate systemlaunch.properties at path: /opt/WebSphere/AppServer85/properties/systemlaunch/base/null.systemlaunch.properties

Use the managesdk.sh (Linux) or managesdk.bat (Windows) command to ensure the expected version of Java is being used.

${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/bin/managesdk.sh -listEnabledProfileAll

CWSDK1004I: Profile Profile01 :
CWSDK1006I: PROFILE_COMMAND_SDK = 1.7_32
CWSDK1008I: Node Node01 SDK name: 1.7_32
CWSDK1009I: Server Server01 SDK name: 1.8_32
CWSDK1009I: Server Server02 SDK name: 1.8_32
CWSDK1001I: Successfully performed the requested managesdk task.

The managesdk.sh command can also be used to update the profiles to use a certain version of Java.

${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/bin/managesdk.sh -enableProfileAll -sdkname 1.8_64 -user your_username -password your_password

Use the syncNode command to ensure the nodes are synchronized with the deployment manager. You will invoke the syncNode script from the server that contains the node that you want to sync to the deployment manager. Only user account that have the Administrator or Configurator role are permitted to run the syncNode command. In this example, "example.com" is the hostname of the deployment manager and 8879 is the SOAP port of the deployment manager.

${WAS_INSTALL_ROOT}/profiles/node001/bin/syncNode.sh example.com 8879

If you still cannot start the node and the systemlaunch.properties file still has "null", check the deployment managers variable.xml files to see if the correct version of Java is listed. If not, update the file with the correct version of Java.

~]$ grep JAVA_HOME /opt/WebSphere/AppServer85/profiles/dmgr_profile/config/cells/cell01/nodes/node01/variables.xml    

<entries xmi:id="VariableSubstitutionEntry_1443809524643" symbolicName="JAVA_HOME" value="${JAVA_LOCATION_1.8_64_bundled}" description="The filesystem path to the Java Virtual Machine installation directory."/>