IBM Support

SSL Exceptions Occur On Start-Up Or No Connections

Troubleshooting


Problem

SSL exceptions occur on start-up or no connections

Follow these steps to troubleshoot SSL connections when exceptions occur on start-up, or no connections to the database can be established.

JVM Debugging

To enable debugging, add the following option to JVM options, then restart:
-Djavax.net.debug=ssl

Detail startup and connection messages are printed to STDOUT, including SSL handshake errors. See Debugging SSL/TLS Connections for message details.

NOTE: DSE package installation STDOUT written to /var/log/cassandra/output.log.

Cassandra Logs

Verify SSL encryption messages in /var/log/cassandra/system.log.

SSL starts properly

For client-to-server connections:
INFO  [DSE main thread] 2023-12-22 21:05:58,084  Server.java:208 - Enabling encrypted CQL connections between client and server
INFO  [DSE main thread] 2023-12-22 21:05:58,145  Server.java:226 - Starting listening for CQL clients on /0.0.0.0:9042 (encrypted)...
For node-to-node messaging:
INFO  [DSE main thread] 2023-12-22 21:05:18,563  NettyFactory.java:138 - Starting Messaging Service on /10.166.74.82:7001  (ens3), encryption: enabled (jdk)

SSL fails to start

Truststore or keystore file not found:
Caused by: org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException: Failed to initialize SSL
...
Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: /home/automaton/ctool_security/ctool_truststore_1 (No such file or directory)
Truststore or keystore password is invalid:
Caused by: org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException: Failed to initialize SSL
...
Caused by: java.security.UnrecoverableKeyException: Password verification failed

 

Document Location

Worldwide

[{"Type":"MASTER","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB76","label":"Data Platform"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU048","label":"IBM Software"},"Product":{"code":"SSCR56","label":"IBM DataStax Enterprise"},"ARM Category":[{"code":"","label":""}],"ARM Case Number":"","Platform":[{"code":"PF025","label":"Platform Independent"}],"Version":"All Version(s)"}]

Historical Number

ka0Ui0000000OQXIA2

Document Information

Modified date:
30 January 2026

UID

ibm17258586