Element type Connector must be followed by either attribute specifications

Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.

Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.

*Except Fisheye and Crucible

Problem

After making changes to server.xml your Atlassian application fails to start and the following message appears in catalina.out:

1 06-Jul-2016 09:44:47.930 WARNING [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.load Catalina.start using /var/atlassian/application-data/bitbucket/shared/server.xml: Element type "Connector" must be followed by either attribute specifications, ">" or "/>".

Cause

The syntax for the Connector element in server.xml is invalid. This can be caused by incorrect use of spaces, using tabs, or other syntax errors.

Resolution

Verify that no tabs are used in the Connector block an all attributes are syntactically correct. After finding the offending character, correct it and restart the application.

Updated on April 17, 2025

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