Running 7.9 on a Windows 10 PC for a small proof-of-concept machine. Both the client and gateway are installed on this CPU, along with a MySQL database.
Software was running successfully for several months, but recently failed to start after being idle for a few weeks. Troubleshooting eventually revealed that the Java runtime environment was not installed. After I reinstalled Java and restarted the gateway, everything is back to normal.
Is there any reason this might have occurred? The PC is not locked down, but it is extremely unlikely that anyone uninstalled Java, intentionally or otherwise.
The PC is not connected to the internet or any wifi network, so there were no automatic Windows patches. It does connect to a Rockwell PLC via wired ethernet.
Does Ignition need to “phone home” periodically for any reason? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Nope.
If it wasn't connected to the internet I'm at a loss for ideas as well. Can't imagine it was anything but somebody uninstalling Java or something else strange happening during the idle period.
Thanks Kevin. We did have some end users doing process development activities on the machine during the preceding weeks, so it is possible that someone inadvertently uninstalled Java, but it is hard to imagine how.
The production version of this machine will connect to a gateway server that is fully secured, so it should not be a problem going forward, but I was just curious how this could happen.
Some kind of patch management or vulnerability detection software that removed it instead of replacing it? (Or attempted a replacement but only made it to removal?) Other than that, I’d guess some do-gooder who saw an older version of Java and had to remove it for safety.
If this is Windows, you should be able to hit up the event logs and search them for the uninstallation event, or just all things Java. It might not lead you directly to the culprit, but it might give you an idea.
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