SAP Mobile Server Fails to Start

Explanation: The SAP Mobile Server service manages multiple child processes, and its running status does not indicate that the actual system is fully functional. Among these child processes, the most important are OBMO.exe and mlsrv12.exe. If none of these are continuously running or multiple instances are running, it will signify a problem. The most common cause is an environment issue (for example, missing files, cannot connect to CDB or Messaging DB) that prevents these processes from starting.

Solution 1: First check the Event Viewer application log to see if any errors are reported by SAP Mobile Server. Address any reported issues and restart the service. If this does not solve the problem, check the mlsrv_err.log under the logs directory. This log reports issues with the mlsrv process during startup. There are additional log files in the logs\OBServiceManager folder that may have information on the SAP Mobile Server startup issues.

If the problem involves having multiple instances of child processes running, the best way to recover is by restarting the computer.

If for any reason, a forced stop of the SAP Mobile Server is needed, you must terminate the entire process tree under the process "OBServiceManager."

Solution 2: Check for a JVM creation fails error message in the mlsrv_err.log. This message typically indicates that the JVM maximum heap size is too large for the hardware that hosts SAP Mobile Server. Use SAP Control Center to change the current value to one that is smaller and restart the host node in question. For details, see Configuring SAP Mobile Server Performance Properties. If you need guidance on choosing an appropriate value, see SAP Mobile Server Replication Tuning Reference in System Administration.