Cannot get Jenkins to start and run properly - jenkins

Question

I am following the "Getting Started" guide from the Jenkins documentation; however, I have not been able to get Jenkins to run properly. When I run the command java -jar jenkins.war --httpPort=8080 I get a series of warnings/errors and Jenkins will not run as expected. I am not able to install any plugins or complete the very next step of the getting started guide.
The first warning I receive is for deleting a temp file. It appears to fail because there is no file at that location.
Jan 27, 2018 11:58:13 PM Main deleteWinstoneTempContents
WARNING: Failed to delete the temporary Winstone file
/var/folders/mg/r5m253mx4hz75sk1f_gn5xg80000gn/T/winstone/jenkins.war
The next warning I get is a Jetty warning. I have no idea what the issue is here, as I am not familiar with Jetty.
Jan 27, 2018 11:58:16 PM
org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler setContextPath
WARNING: Empty contextPath
The next warning is,
Jan 27, 2018 11:58:34 PM jenkins.slaves.DeprecatedAgentProtocolMonitor
initializerCheck
WARNING: This Jenkins instance uses deprecated Remoting protocols: CLI-
connect,CLI2-connect,JNLP-connect,JNLP2-connectIt may impact stability
of the instance. If newer protocol versions are supported by all system
components (agents, CLI and other clients), it is highly recommended to
disable the deprecated protocols.
And finally, I get a lengthy stacktrace regarding some type of Hudson or certification issue.
Jan 27, 2018 11:58:37 PM hudson.model.UpdateCenter updateDefaultSite
WARNING: Upgrading Jenkins. Failed to update the default Update Site
'default'. Plugin upgrades may fail.
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException:
sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to
find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Alerts.java:192)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.fatal(SSLSocketImpl.java:1949)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:302)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.fatalSE(Handshaker.java:296)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1509)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.processMessage(ClientHandshaker.java:216)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.processLoop(Handshaker.java:979)
at sun.security.ssl.Handshaker.process_record(Handshaker.java:914)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.readRecord(SSLSocketImpl.java:1062)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.performInitialHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1375)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1403)
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.startHandshake(SSLSocketImpl.java:1387)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.afterConnect(HttpsClient.java:559)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.java:185)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream0(HttpURLConnection.java:1513)
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(HttpURLConnection.java:1441)
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getInputStream(HttpsURLConnectionImpl.java:254)
at hudson.model.DownloadService.loadJSON(DownloadService.java:167)
at hudson.model.UpdateSite.updateDirectlyNow(UpdateSite.java:190)
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter.updateDefaultSite(UpdateCenter.java:2194)
at jenkins.install.SetupWizard.init(SetupWizard.java:184)
at jenkins.install.InstallState$3.initializeState(InstallState.java:105)
at jenkins.model.Jenkins.setInstallState(Jenkins.java:1037)
at jenkins.install.InstallUtil.proceedToNextStateFrom(InstallUtil.java:98)
at jenkins.model.Jenkins.<init>(Jenkins.java:927)
at hudson.model.Hudson.<init>(Hudson.java:86)
at hudson.model.Hudson.<init>(Hudson.java:82)
at hudson.WebAppMain$3.run(WebAppMain.java:233)
Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path
building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to
find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:387)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.engineValidate(PKIXValidator.java:292)
at sun.security.validator.Validator.validate(Validator.java:260)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.validate(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:324)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:229)
at sun.security.ssl.X509TrustManagerImpl.checkServerTrusted(X509TrustManagerImpl.java:124)
at sun.security.ssl.ClientHandshaker.serverCertificate(ClientHandshaker.java:1491)
... 23 more
Caused by: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException:
unable to find valid certification path to requested target
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.build(SunCertPathBuilder.java:146)
at sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilder.engineBuild(SunCertPathBuilder.java:131)
at java.security.cert.CertPathBuilder.build(CertPathBuilder.java:280)
at sun.security.validator.PKIXValidator.doBuild(PKIXValidator.java:382)
... 29 more
As I said, I am following their instructions word for word and they're very simple, but it just won't work. Any help that you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

It can depend on your exact setup and OS: this was seen for instance in a docker setup, with jenkinsci/docker issue 422, although this Dockerfile works.
The issue includes:
I was facing the same problem and I fixed it by removing option '--preferedClassLoader' in environment variable JENKINS_ARGS.
That being said, your local Jenkins instance might want to connect to https site (for instance to check for plugins update).
If that is the case, you would need to import the certificate of the remote site into your JDK keystore.