Changing Derby to SQL Server causes error when starting Administrator

[Coooz]

Hi,

I'm replacing the Derby database by a SQL Server database, closely following the manual: https://docs.nextgen.com/bundle/Mirth_User_Guide_4_3_0/page/connect/connect/topics/c_Changing_the_Database_Type_mirth_connect_ug.html
I've backed up the server configuration.
In the Change Database Settings section, I clicked Editing The Properties File Directly. Here I learned that I only needed to change two lines:

database = sqlserver
#database = derby

and

database.url = jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433;databaseName=MirthConnect
#database.url = jdbc:derby:${dir.appdata}/mirthdb;create=true;upgrade=true

Next section: Restart the Mirth Connect Server. I was able to do that.
But then to Restore the Server Configuration, I needed to start Administrator. And that won't happen. Instead I get this error:

Unable to retrieve payload from HTTP request. URI: https://localhost:8443
java.lang.Exception: Unable to retrieve payload from HTTP request. URI: https://localhost:8443
at com.mirth.connect.client.launcher.f.a(SourceFile:788)
at com.mirth.connect.client.launcher.f.a(SourceFile:668)
at com.mirth.connect.client.launcher.f.a(SourceFile:168)
at com.mirth.connect.client.launcher.MirthClientLauncher.run(SourceFile:1286)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connect to localhost:8443 [localhost/127.0.0.1, localhost/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1] failed: Connection refused: connect
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:156)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.BasicHttpClientConnectionManager.connect(BasicHttpClientConnectionManager.java:313)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.establishRoute(MainClientExec.java:393)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.MainClientExec.execute(MainClientExec.java:236)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.ProtocolExec.execute(ProtocolExec.java:186)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RetryExec.execute(RetryExec.java:89)
at org.apache.http.impl.execchain.RedirectExec.execute(RedirectExec.java:110)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.InternalHttpClient.doExecute(InternalHttpClient.java:185)
at org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient.execute(CloseableHttpClient.java:83)
at com.mirth.connect.client.launcher.f.a(SourceFile:772)
... 4 more
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.waitForConnect(Native Method)
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.http.conn.ssl.SSLConnectionSocketFactory.connectSocket(SSLConnectionSocketFactory.java:368)
at org.apache.http.impl.conn.DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.connect(DefaultHttpClientConnectionOperator.java:142)
... 13 more

IMHO I couldn't have done much wrong. Perhaps, I thought, the 1433 is not applicable on my machine - but that isn't even mentioned in the error. I'm using Mirth Connect 4.3.0.

Anyone any ideas?

[pacmano1]

What is in mirth.log? You need to make sure the engine starts cleanly before you try to connect with the admin tool.

[rjkroll]

This doesn't look like an issue with the database, it looks like an issue connecting to localhost on your machine.

What happens when you try launching using this: http://localhost:8080/webstart

[Coooz]

@pacmano1 @rjkroll
It's been a while - the project with which the issue pops up has been put on hold for the time being.
Thank you for contributing.

[Bugzy-can]

When I have seen this error, it is usually because the SQL password is not what I think it is. If you try to Launch Administrator, and it fails, check services and you will probably find Mirth Connect Service has died. If you start it, it will just keep dying.
Go into management studio and reset the login password you are using, then go into Mirth Manager and set the same login name and password. You will need to restart SQL Server service and then start up Mirth service, and it should stay connected.

[Coooz]

Hi @Bugzy-can,
That is indeed the underlying cause. There already needs to be a database present of which the user with the credentials stored in mirth.properties is dbowner. Which more or less amounts to the same imho. Thank you for replying.

[pacmano1]

To be clear, the original error message is generic in the sense that a non-running instance of mirth simply doesn't reply.

This means you almost always need to start with looking at the server start up log (in mirth.log) - where there would reside a database connection error.

So while the underlying cause in this case was the database did not exist where the mirth user was attempting to connect to and subsequently create its schema, it isn't the "correct" answer for all instances of this error.