Oracle EBS R12.2 Workflow Notification Mailer Stuck in Starting – Troubleshooting and RCA Guide

In Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2, the Workflow Notification Mailer is responsible for sending and receiving workflow email notifications.

A common issue is that the mailer remains in:

Starting

instead of moving to:

Running

If the status remains in Starting for several minutes, the mailer has usually encountered an initialization problem.

This article provides a generic troubleshooting approach to identify the root cause before making configuration changes.

---

1. Check Workflow Mailer Status

Navigate to:

Oracle Applications Manager
   ↓
Workflow Manager
   ↓
Service Components

Filter using:

Type (Internal) = WF_MAILER

Check the status of:

Workflow Notification Mailer

Typical statuses include:

Running
Stopped
Starting
Stopping
Error

If the mailer remains in Starting, continue with the following checks.

---

2. Check View Log

Select:

Workflow Notification Mailer

and click:

View Log

Look at the log entries corresponding to the exact time when the mailer was started.

Search for errors such as:

ERROR
Exception
Failed
Authentication
Connection
Timeout
SSL
PKIX
UnknownHost
OutOfMemory

The first exception generated during startup is usually more useful for RCA than the final generic error.

---

3. Check View Event History

From the same Service Components page, select the Workflow Notification Mailer and click:

View Event History

Review events such as:

Start requested
Component starting
Component stopped
Component error
Unexpected termination

Event history helps determine whether the component:

• never started

• started and immediately failed

• repeatedly restarted

• was manually stopped

• was terminated by the service container

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4. Locate Workflow Mailer Log Files

Source the Oracle EBS RUN filesystem environment.

For example:

. EBSapps.env run

Check the log location:

echo $APPLCSF
echo $APPLLOG

Workflow Java/GSM component logs commonly appear as:

$APPLCSF/$APPLLOG/FNDCPGSC*.txt

List the latest files:

ls -ltr $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG/FNDCPGSC*.txt | tail

Check the latest log:

tail -300 <latest_FNDCPGSC_file>

Search for errors:

egrep -i "error|exception|failed|authentication|ssl|connect|timeout|unknownhost|outofmemory|pkix" \
<latest_FNDCPGSC_file>

---

5. Check Workflow Mailer Component Status from Database

Connect as the APPS user.

set lines 200

col component_name format a40
col component_status format a20
col startup_mode format a15

select component_id,
       component_name,
       component_status,
       startup_mode
from fnd_svc_components
where component_type = 'WF_MAILER';

Example:

COMPONENT_ID   COMPONENT_NAME                  COMPONENT_STATUS
------------   ------------------------------  ----------------
10006          Workflow Notification Mailer    STARTING

Record the:

COMPONENT_ID

for additional investigation.

---

6. Check Mailer Configuration

Review the mailer configuration from:

Workflow Manager
   ↓
Service Components
   ↓
Workflow Notification Mailer
   ↓
Edit

Verify parameters related to:

SMTP Server
SMTP Port
IMAP Server
IMAP Port
Mailbox Username
Reply-To Address
Inbound Processing
Outbound Processing
SSL/TLS configuration

Be particularly careful after:

Clone
Refresh
Migration
DR activation
Environment build
Network migration
Mail-server migration

A cloned environment may still contain configuration inherited from another environment.

---

7. Verify Non-Encrypted Parameters from Database

The following query can be used to review component parameters that are not encrypted.

Replace the component ID with the value obtained earlier.

set lines 220

col parameter_name format a40
col parameter_display_name format a45
col parameter_value format a60

select p.parameter_name,
       v.parameter_display_name,
       v.parameter_value
from fnd_svc_comp_param_vals v,
     fnd_svc_comp_params_b p
where v.parameter_id = p.parameter_id
and v.component_id = <COMPONENT_ID>
and nvl(p.encrypted_flag,'N') = 'N'
order by p.parameter_name;

Check whether the configuration matches the intended environment.

---

8. Verify Concurrent Processing and GSM

Workflow Notification Mailer is managed through Oracle EBS Generic Service Management.

Check the relevant operating-system processes:

ps -ef | grep FNDLIBR | grep -v grep

Check Service Manager:

ps -ef | grep FNDSM | grep -v grep

The following components should also be verified from Oracle EBS:

Internal Concurrent Manager
Service Manager
Workflow Mailer Service
Workflow Agent Listener Service

Navigate to:

System Administrator
   ↓
Concurrent
   ↓
Manager
   ↓
Administer

If the Service Manager or GSM infrastructure is unavailable, the Workflow Mailer may not start correctly.

---

9. Check DNS Resolution

From the application server where the mailer is running, verify that the mail servers resolve correctly.

host <smtp_server>

and:

host <imap_server>

Alternatively:

nslookup <smtp_server>

nslookup <imap_server>

If the hostname cannot be resolved, investigate:

DNS
/etc/hosts
Network configuration
Incorrect mail server hostname

---

10. Test SMTP Connectivity

For traditional SMTP:

telnet <smtp_server> 25

For SMTP using STARTTLS:

openssl s_client -starttls smtp \
-connect <smtp_server>:587 \
-servername <smtp_server>

A successful connection indicates that the application server can reach the SMTP service.

---

11. Test IMAP Connectivity

For IMAPS:

openssl s_client \
-connect <imap_server>:993 \
-servername <imap_server>

For standard IMAP:

telnet <imap_server> 143

If the connection times out, investigate the network before changing Workflow Mailer configuration.

---

12. Understand Common Errors

Authentication Failure

Example:

AuthenticationFailedException

or:

535 Authentication failed

Possible causes:

Incorrect mailbox password
Password expired
Mailbox account locked
SMTP authentication disabled
Authentication policy changed

---

Connection Timeout

Example:

Connection timed out

Possible causes:

Firewall blocking the port
Network routing issue
Incorrect hostname
Incorrect port
Mail server unreachable

---

Connection Refused

Example:

Connection refused

Possible causes:

Incorrect port
SMTP/IMAP service stopped
Mail server not listening on the configured port
Load balancer issue

---

Unknown Host

Example:

UnknownHostException

Possible causes:

DNS resolution failure
Incorrect hostname
Missing DNS entry
Incorrect /etc/hosts entry

---

SSL Handshake Failure

Example:

SSLHandshakeException

Possible causes:

Certificate problem
Unsupported TLS protocol
Cipher mismatch
Expired certificate
Missing certificate chain

---

PKIX Error

Example:

PKIX path building failed

This normally indicates that Java cannot establish trust with the certificate presented by the mail server.

Check:

Mail server certificate
Intermediate certificates
Root certificate
Java trust store
Oracle EBS certificate configuration

---

JVM Memory Problem

Example:

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError

Investigate:

Mailer JVM memory
Large email attachments
Very large notification messages
Abnormal mail queue
JVM configuration

---

13. Check Workflow Agent Listener

The Workflow Agent Listener should also be checked because Workflow Mailer processing depends on Workflow event processing.

Query service components:

set lines 200

select component_id,
       component_name,
       component_status,
       startup_mode
from fnd_svc_components
order by component_name;

Look for components related to:

Workflow Mailer
Workflow Agent Listener

Verify that required Workflow services are operational.

---

14. Check Workflow Queues

Check whether Workflow queues are accumulating messages.

Example:

select count(*)
from wf_deferred;

Check notification status:

select status,
       mail_status,
       count(*)
from wf_notifications
group by status,
         mail_status
order by status,
         mail_status;

A large number of pending notifications can help identify whether the problem is:

Mailer startup
Outbound email processing
Workflow queue processing
SMTP delivery

---

15. Check Pending Notifications

For a more detailed view:

select notification_id,
       message_type,
       message_name,
       recipient_role,
       status,
       mail_status,
       begin_date
from wf_notifications
where mail_status = 'MAIL'
order by begin_date;

Avoid changing Workflow notification data directly unless instructed by Oracle Support or supported documentation.

---

16. Restart Only After Identifying the Error

Repeatedly restarting the Workflow Mailer without checking the logs normally does not resolve the underlying issue.

Use the supported Workflow Manager interface:

Workflow Manager
   ↓
Service Components
   ↓
Workflow Notification Mailer

Perform:

Stop

Wait until the component reaches:

Stopped

Then:

Start

Monitor:

View Log
View Event History
FNDCPGSC log

---

17. Do Not Force the Status from Database

Avoid directly updating tables such as:

FND_SVC_COMPONENTS

to artificially change:

STARTING

to:

RUNNING

Changing the database status does not start the underlying Java component and can make troubleshooting more difficult.

Use supported Workflow Service Component controls.

---

18. Run Workflow Mailer Diagnostic Tests

Oracle EBS provides Workflow diagnostic utilities.

Run the relevant Workflow Mailer diagnostic and validate:

Mailer configuration
SMTP configuration
IMAP configuration
Service component configuration
Workflow services

Diagnostics are particularly useful when the configuration looks correct but the component still fails during initialization.

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19. Send a Test Notification

Once the mailer reaches:

Running

send a test notification.

From Workflow Manager use the available mailer test functionality.

Validate:

Notification generated
Notification dequeued
SMTP connection established
Mail delivered
Recipient received email

For inbound processing, also reply to the notification and validate the inbound mail path.

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Recommended Troubleshooting Sequence

The following sequence normally provides the fastest RCA:

1. Check Mailer status
        ↓
2. View Log
        ↓
3. View Event History
        ↓
4. Find latest FNDCPGSC log
        ↓
5. Identify first Java exception
        ↓
6. Check GSM / Service Manager
        ↓
7. Verify SMTP/IMAP configuration
        ↓
8. Verify DNS
        ↓
9. Test SMTP/IMAP connectivity
        ↓
10. Check SSL/TLS certificates
        ↓
11. Check authentication
        ↓
12. Check Workflow queues
        ↓
13. Correct root cause
        ↓
14. Restart Workflow Mailer
        ↓
15. Send test notification

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Quick RCA Matrix

Symptom / Error	Likely Root Cause	Area to Check
Mailer remains Starting	Initialization failure	FNDCPGSC log
AuthenticationFailedException	Invalid mailbox credentials	Mail account
535 Authentication Failed	SMTP authentication	SMTP server/account
Connection timed out	Firewall/network	Network
Connection refused	Service/port unavailable	Mail server
UnknownHostException	DNS problem	DNS
SSLHandshakeException	TLS/certificate issue	Certificates
PKIX path building failed	Certificate not trusted	Java trust store
OutOfMemoryError	Mailer JVM memory	JVM
No mailer Java process	GSM/Service Manager	Concurrent Processing
Mailer Running but no emails	Queue/SMTP issue	WF queues/SMTP
Outbound works, inbound fails	IMAP configuration	IMAP/mailbox
Problem starts after clone	Source configuration retained	Post-clone configuration

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Useful Commands

Check latest GSM logs

ls -ltr $APPLCSF/$APPLLOG/FNDCPGSC*.txt | tail

Check errors

egrep -i "error|exception|failed|authentication|ssl|connect|timeout|unknownhost|outofmemory|pkix" \
$APPLCSF/$APPLLOG/FNDCPGSC*.txt | tail -100

Check FNDLIBR

ps -ef | grep FNDLIBR | grep -v grep

Check Service Manager

ps -ef | grep FNDSM | grep -v grep

Check SMTP

openssl s_client -starttls smtp \
-connect <smtp_server>:587 \
-servername <smtp_server>

Check IMAPS

openssl s_client \
-connect <imap_server>:993 \
-servername <imap_server>

---

RCA Example

A proper RCA should identify the complete failure chain.

For example:

Issue:
Workflow Notification Mailer remained in STARTING status.

Observation:
FNDCPGSC log reported connection timeout while establishing
connection to the configured SMTP server.

Root Cause:
The application server was unable to establish connectivity to
the SMTP server on the configured port because the network
firewall rule was missing.

Resolution:
The required network connectivity was enabled between the
Oracle EBS application server and SMTP server.

Validation:
SMTP connectivity was successfully tested from the application
server. Workflow Notification Mailer was restarted and changed
to RUNNING status. A test notification was successfully delivered.

Preventive Action:
SMTP and IMAP connectivity checks were added to the
post-clone/environment validation checklist.

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Conclusion

When an Oracle EBS Workflow Notification Mailer is stuck in Starting, avoid immediately restarting services or modifying component tables.

The most effective troubleshooting approach is:

FNDCPGSC log
        ↓
First exception
        ↓
GSM status
        ↓
SMTP/IMAP configuration
        ↓
Network/DNS
        ↓
Authentication
        ↓
SSL/TLS
        ↓
Workflow queues

In most cases, the first meaningful exception in the Workflow Mailer log provides the direction for the RCA.

This method can be used across Oracle E-Business Suite R12.2 environments including Development, Test, UAT, Production, DR and post-clone environments.