Unable to start application after migrating to Websphere 9 - java-8

Question

I am trying to migrate my applications to websphere 9 from wensphere 8.5.5.x. My application was developed on Java 7. I changed the JRE to 1.8 and created a maven build on JDK 1.8 as WAS 9 supports java 8. After I deployed my application EAR to WAS 9 and tried to start the application I started getting ClassNotFoundException for com.sun.faces.taglib.jsf_core package.
I saw some suggestions that I need to add this dependency in my project. I added the dependency in pom.xml. After adding this dependency, when I start the application, it just hangs trying to start and after 40-45 minutes I get below exception.
Dependency that I added to add com.sun.faces.taglib.jsf_core package.
<dependency>
<groupId>com.sun.faces</groupId>
<artifactId>jsf-impl</artifactId>
<version>2.2.20</version>
</dependency>
Stack trace:
[8/20/19 15:49:31:732 EDT] 000000a9 webapp E com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp notifyServletContextDestroyed SRVE0285E: Exception caught while destroying context: {0}
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.jboss.weld.servlet.WeldInitialListener.contextDestroyed(WeldInitialListener.java:134)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.managedobject.ManagedObjectListenerWrapper.contextDestroyed(ManagedObjectListenerWrapper.java:138)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.notifyServletContextDestroyed(WebApp.java:1867)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.destroy(WebApp.java:3288)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.destroy(WebAppImpl.java:1561)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroupImpl.addWebApplication(WebGroupImpl.java:97)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.VirtualHostImpl.addWebApplication(VirtualHostImpl.java:170)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApp(WSWebContainer.java:904)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.addWebApplication(WSWebContainer.java:789)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.install(WebContainerImpl.java:427)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.component.WebContainerImpl.start(WebContainerImpl.java:719)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1219)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.fireDeployedObjectStart(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:1514)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedModuleImpl.start(DeployedModuleImpl.java:704)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.DeployedApplicationImpl.start(DeployedApplicationImpl.java:1096)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:786)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplicationDynamically(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1421)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.start(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:2232)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:436)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitImpl.start(CompositionUnitImpl.java:123)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.start(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:379)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.access$500(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:127)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl$1.run(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:654)
at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAs(ContextManagerImpl.java:5488)
at com.ibm.ws.security.auth.ContextManagerImpl.runAsSystem(ContextManagerImpl.java:5614)
at com.ibm.ws.security.core.SecurityContext.runAsSystem(SecurityContext.java:255)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:668)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.CompositionUnitMgrImpl.startCompositionUnit(CompositionUnitMgrImpl.java:612)
at com.ibm.ws.runtime.component.ApplicationMgrImpl.startApplication(ApplicationMgrImpl.java:1311)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:90)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:55)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:508)
at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:83)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:90)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:55)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:508)
at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:287)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean$4.run(RequiredModelMBean.java:1263)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:666)
at java.security.ProtectionDomain$JavaSecurityAccessImpl.doIntersectionPrivilege(ProtectionDomain.java:85)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invokeMethod(RequiredModelMBean.java:1257)
at javax.management.modelmbean.RequiredModelMBean.invoke(RequiredModelMBean.java:1096)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:831)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:813)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl$1.run(AdminServiceImpl.java:1350)
at com.ibm.ws.security.util.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:118)
at com.ibm.ws.management.AdminServiceImpl.invoke(AdminServiceImpl.java:1243)
at com.ibm.ws.management.commands.AdminServiceCommands$InvokeCmd.execute(AdminServiceCommands.java:251)
at com.ibm.ws.console.core.mbean.MBeanHelper.invoke(MBeanHelper.java:246)
at com.ibm.ws.console.appdeployment.ApplicationDeploymentCollectionAction.execute(ApplicationDeploymentCollectionAction.java:608)
at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processActionPerform(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(Unknown Source)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:707)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:790)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1239)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:778)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:477)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:143)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:78)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:969)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1109)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.dispatch(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:1386)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppRequestDispatcher.forward(WebAppRequestDispatcher.java:195)
at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.doForward(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.doForward(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doPost(Unknown Source)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:707)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:790)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.service(ServletWrapper.java:1239)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:778)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.handleRequest(ServletWrapper.java:477)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapperImpl.handleRequest(ServletWrapperImpl.java:178)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.invokeTarget(WebAppFilterChain.java:143)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:96)
at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.setUpCommandAssistance(WSCUrlFilter.java:970)
at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.continueStoringTaskState(WSCUrlFilter.java:517)
at com.ibm.ws.console.core.servlet.WSCUrlFilter.doFilter(WSCUrlFilter.java:338)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.FilterInstanceWrapper.doFilter(FilterInstanceWrapper.java:197)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterChain.doFilter(WebAppFilterChain.java:90)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.doFilter(WebAppFilterManager.java:969)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.filter.WebAppFilterManager.invokeFilters(WebAppFilterManager.java:1109)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebApp.handleRequest(WebApp.java:4112)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppImpl.handleRequest(WebAppImpl.java:2171)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebGroup.handleRequest(WebGroup.java:304)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WebContainer.handleRequest(WebContainer.java:1028)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.WSWebContainer.handleRequest(WSWebContainer.java:1817)
at com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.channel.WCChannelLink.ready(WCChannelLink.java:294)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleDiscrimination(HttpInboundLink.java:465)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.handleNewRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:532)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpInboundLink.processRequest(HttpInboundLink.java:318)
at com.ibm.ws.http.channel.inbound.impl.HttpICLReadCallback.complete(HttpICLReadCallback.java:88)
at com.ibm.ws.ssl.channel.impl.SSLReadServiceContext$SSLReadCompletedCallback.complete(SSLReadServiceContext.java:1820)
at com.ibm.ws.tcp.channel.impl.AioReadCompletionListener.futureCompleted(AioReadCompletionListener.java:175)
at com.ibm.io.async.AbstractAsyncFuture.invokeCallback(AbstractAsyncFuture.java:217)
at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncChannelFuture.fireCompletionActions(AsyncChannelFuture.java:161)
at com.ibm.io.async.AsyncFuture.completed(AsyncFuture.java:138)
at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.complete(ResultHandler.java:204)
at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler.runEventProcessingLoop(ResultHandler.java:775)
at com.ibm.io.async.ResultHandler$2.run(ResultHandler.java:905)
at com.ibm.ws.util.ThreadPool$Worker.run(ThreadPool.java:1892)

Answer 1

The JSF SunRI engine was removed in WebSphere traditional V9.0. You can either use the MyFaces implementation included in WebSphere traditional V9.0 or package your own JSF engine with your application. Here is a documentation page talking about the features that were removed in WebSphere traditional V9.0 (including JSF SunRI) and how to resolve them: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSAW57_9.0.5/com.ibm.websphere.nd.multiplatform.doc/ae/rmig_remfeat.html
As mentioned in the comments, I would suggest running the Migration Toolkit for Application Binaries (https://developer.ibm.com/wasdev/downloads/#asset/tools-Migration_Toolkit_for_Application_Binaries) against your application. It will help you find these kinds of issues and tell you how to resolve them. It includes information about the JSF SunRI removal.