DocumentationExperience Cloud KCS

Secondary node fails to start in AEM Forms cluster due to deployment error

Last update: July 23, 2026

In Adobe Experience Manager Forms clustered environments, the secondary node fails to start and shows repeated EAR deployment and deserialization protection errors. This issue occurs due to cache and diff-cache corruption on cluster nodes. To fix this, remove the cache and diff-cache directories and restart the nodes in the correct sequence.

Description description

Environment

  • Product: Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms
  • Version: 6.5 (Service Pack 24)
  • Deployment: Clustered (primary and secondary nodes)
  • Operating system: Windows Server 2022
  • Database: SQL Server 2022
  • Application server: JBoss 7.4.10

Issue/Symptoms

  • The secondary node does not start properly in the clustered AEM Forms environment.

  • The server.logon the secondary node repeatedly shows errors such as:

    • WFLYCTL0216: Management resource '[ (“deployment” => “adobe-livecycle-cq-author.ear”)] ’ not found
    • Warnings indicating that AEM author EAR deployment is in progress, deserialization protection not active yet.

  • Access to adminui remains available, but access to /lc returns a 504 Gateway Timeout.

  • The issue persists until the secondary node process is killed, and a normal restart does not resolve it.

Resolution resolution

To fix the secondary node startup failure, perform the following steps:

  1. Stop AEM services on both primary and secondary nodes.
  2. Navigate to the crx-repository directory on each node.
  3. Delete the contents of the cache and diff-cache directories located under crx-repository/repository/.
  4. Start the primary node and allow it to start completely.
  5. After confirming the primary node runs without errors, start the secondary node.
  6. Monitor the server.log on both nodes during startup.
  7. Verify that both nodes start successfully and all services are operational.

Notes:

  • Include cache and diff-cache cleanup in standard restart procedures to prevent recurrence.
  • This fix does not modify application data or configuration files.
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