[chef] Chef Server Webui fails after VM restart

[< >]

After restarting/rebooting the Ubuntu Server 12.04 (x86_64) VM with the chef
server 11.0.11-1
(https://opscode-omnibus-packages.s3.amazonaws.com/ubuntu/12.04/x86_64/chef-server_11.0.11-1.ubuntu.12.04_amd64.deb)
installed, the chef-server-webui cannot start successfully anymore. All chef
related services (i.e. erchef, ngnix, ...) worked as expected and the
chef-server-webui was accessible via web browser before restarting the VM.
However after rebooting the VirtualBox (4.3.10) VM (in the VHD format) the
chef-server-webui was not accessible anymore and the log (sudo chef-server-ctl
tail chef-server-webui) repeatedly shows the following error message:

################################################################## BEGIN sudo
chef-server-ctl tail chef-server-webui
##################################################################
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37368
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/tilt-1.4.1/lib/tilt.rb:169:in
`<module:Tilt>': uninitialized constant Tilt::MarkabyTemplate (NameError)
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37396       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/tilt-1.4.1/lib/tilt.rb:1:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37432       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/sprockets-2.2.2/lib/sprockets/eco_template.rb:1:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37451       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/sprockets-2.2.2/lib/sprockets/engines.rb:1:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37463       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/sprockets-2.2.2/lib/sprockets.rb:42:in
`<module:Sprockets>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37488       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/sprockets-2.2.2/lib/sprockets.rb:3:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37506       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/actionpack-3.2.15/lib/sprockets/railtie.rb:21:in
`block in <class:Railtie>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37521       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in
`instance_exec'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37533       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in
`run'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37547       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in
`block in run_initializers'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37561       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in
`each'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37575       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in
`run_initializers'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37589       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/application.rb:136:in
`initialize!'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37606       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.2.15/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in
`method_missing'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37623       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/chef-server-webui/config/environment.rb:5:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37636       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/chef-server-webui/config.ru:3:in `require'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37654       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/chef-server-webui/config.ru:3:in `block in
<main>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37667       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.4.5/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in
`instance_eval'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37686       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/rack-1.4.5/lib/rack/builder.rb:51:in
`initialize'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37697       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/chef-server-webui/config.ru:1:in `new'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37711       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/chef-server-webui/config.ru:1:in `<main>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37727       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn.rb:30:in
`eval'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37741       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn.rb:30:in
`block in builder'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37757       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:675:in
`call'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37770       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:675:in
`build_app!'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37787       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:542:in
`init_worker_process'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37805       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:557:in
`worker_loop'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37817       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:473:in
`block (2 levels) in spawn_missing_workers'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37829       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:470:in
`fork'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37844       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:470:in
`block in spawn_missing_workers'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37857       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:466:in
`each'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37871       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:466:in
`spawn_missing_workers'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37884       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:480:in
`maintain_worker_count'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37896       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn/http_server.rb:299:in
`join'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37910       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/lib/unicorn.rb:13:in
`run'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37925       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/gems/unicorn-2.0.1/bin/unicorn:120:in
`<top (required)>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37929       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/bin/unicorn:23:in `load'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.37931       from
/opt/chef-server/embedded/service/gem/ruby/1.9.1/bin/unicorn:23:in `<main>'
2014-04-01_17:33:33.40220 E, [2014-04-01T19:33:33.402119 #16997] ERROR -- :
reaped #<Process::Status: pid 20579 exit 1> worker=0
2014-04-01_17:33:33.40271 I, [2014-04-01T19:33:33.402679 #16997]  INFO -- :
worker=0 spawning...
2014-04-01_17:33:33.40380 I, [2014-04-01T19:33:33.403694 #20585]  INFO -- :
worker=0 spawned pid=20585
2014-04-01_17:33:33.40410 I, [2014-04-01T19:33:33.404061 #20585]  INFO -- :
Refreshing Gem list
################################################################## END sudo
chef-server-ctl tail chef-server-webui
####################################################################

Note that the other chef related services work as expected (e.g. "knife node
list" successfully lists all nodes managed by chef). The problem occurs
reproducible after the Chef server VM (fresh Chef installation) has been
restarted.

The following approaches to solve the problem have been tried but were not
successful:
 * Stop/Start/Restart all chef services or just the chef-server-webui (Before
restarting the VM it was possible )
 * Adjust the number of unicorn worker threads via
/etc/chef-server/chef-server.rb
 * Revert the only custom setting applied to chef-server.rb: nginx['ssl_port']
= 8443 (since VirtualBox cannot forward port 443 on Mac OS X hosts).
 * sudo chef-server-ctl reconfigure


What do you suggest to solve this problem? I gladly provide further 
information
if required.


Thanks in advance,
Joe