Install Elasticsearch in Cpanel – CentOS / java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.sun.jna.Native

If you are trying to install the Elasticsearch 7.* in CentOS and Cpanel, you are probably seeing your Elasticsearch is installed, but not starting with an error like the following:

java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.sun.jna.Native
        at org.elasticsearch.systemd.Libsystemd.lambda$static$0(Libsystemd.java:23) ~[?:?]
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:318) ~[?:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.systemd.Libsystemd.<clinit>(Libsystemd.java:22) ~[?:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.systemd.SystemdPlugin.sd_notify(SystemdPlugin.java:115) ~[?:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.systemd.SystemdPlugin.onNodeStarted(SystemdPlugin.java:126) ~[?:?]
        at java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511) ~[?:?]
        at org.elasticsearch.node.Node.start(Node.java:998) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:313) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Bootstrap.init(Bootstrap.java:408) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.init(Elasticsearch.java:167) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.execute(Elasticsearch.java:158) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.cli.EnvironmentAwareCommand.execute(EnvironmentAwareCommand.java:75) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.mainWithoutErrorHandling(Command.java:114) ~[elasticsearch-cli-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.cli.Command.main(Command.java:79) ~[elasticsearch-cli-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:123) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]
        at org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch.main(Elasticsearch.java:81) ~[elasticsearch-7.15.1.jar:7.15.1]

The error appears if your tmp directory is not writable and executable by Elasticsearch. You need to make two changes, to make Elasticsearch start for you.

First, edit the elasticsearch sysconfig file:

nano /etc/sysconfig/elasticsearch

and add the following line:

ES_TMPDIR=/tmp

Next, you need to mount /tmp with exec permission, which is normally mounted with noexec permission in Cpanel:

mount -o remount,exec /tmp

You should be done now, you may start your Elasticsearch:

service elasticsearch start

Please also remember, Elasticsearch needs at least 3GB of RAM to start. If you have lower RAM than that, you are probably hitting OOM killer of the system.