Starting OHS 12c via startComponent takes several minutes on a Linux Virtual Machine - SOLVED

I recently started working with Oracle HTTP server on a Linux VM. On trying to start the OHS using the startComponent script I was surprised to observe the startup duration was over 8 minutes! The same took seconds in 11g version of the same software. After few research on metalink I could solve the issue. I am providing the solution below.

Issue Applies To

The issue described and solution offered applied to below Oracle FMW Components.

Oracle HTTP Server 12.2.1 Installed on RHEL 6 Virtual Machine. The same issue/solution applies to OHS 12.1. and later.

Issue Description

Starting from OHS 12C, the OHSservices are monitored/managed by Node Manager. Once the Node manager is started ,the OHS service is started using startComponent script.While trying to do the script gets stuck  for minutes (8 Minutes in my case!)

$DOMAIN_HOME/bin/startComponent.sh ohs1

    Starting system Component ohs1 ...

    Initializing WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) ...

    Welcome to WebLogic Server Administration Scripting Shell

    Type help() for help on available commands

    Reading domain from
     Here it just sits for several minutes 
     
    Connecting to Node Manager ...
    Successfully Connected to Node Manager.
    Starting server ohs1 ...

Cause 

The problem is due to random number generation (entropy) on the Linux VM. More on the entropy issues can be found in Metalink note NOTE:1574979.1.The vm was running out of entropy. After changing where Java got its random numbers from, the startup time came down manifold!

Solution 

1) Stop OHS
stopComponent.sh ohs1

2) Backup and edit java.security
$ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/jdk/jre/lib/security/java.security

3) Change securerandom.source
From:
securerandom.source=file:/dev/urandom
(In 12.2.1 this is securerandom.source=file:/dev/random)
To:
securerandom.source=file:/dev/./urandom

4) Start OHS
startComponent.sh ohs1

Observation

Hurray! The startup time for OHS now takes close to 25 seconds compared to 8 minutes earlier!

References

NOTE:2006106.1 - Starting OHS 12c via startComponent takes several minutes on a Virtual Machine

NOTE:1574979.1 - How to Diagnose a Linux Entropy Issue on WebLogic Server Instances