2552188 - Portal Runtime Error: (NullPointerException) of a null object loaded from local variable 'conn'

•  After a system upgrade you are now receiving a Portal Runtime error when you logon to the Portal
• The Top Level Navigation (TLN) and/or content in the Portal Content Area are showing a Runtime error
• The issue can also occur when editing a role in Content Administration
• Checking the Developer/Default Trace files you observe the following error:
  "[EXCEPTION]
  com.sapportals.portal.prt.component.PortalComponentException: Error in service call of Portal Component
  User : <user_id>
  at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.handlePortalComponentException(PortalRequestManager.java:776)
  ...
  Caused by: com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManagerException: PortalRuntimeException
  at com.sap.portal.prt.core.PortalRequestManager.dispatchRequest(PortalRequestManager.java:102)
  ...
  Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method com.sapportals.portal.navigation.INavigationConnector.getInitialNodes(java.util.Hashtable) of a null object loaded from local variable 'conn'
  at com.sapportals.portal.navigation.NavigationService.getExternalNodeChildrenNA(NavigationService.java:2828)"

• SAP NetWeaver Application Server for Java 7.3x and higher releases
• Enterprise Portal

Enterprise Portal 7.0, EP 7.0, Enterprise Portal 7.01, EP 7.01, Enterprise Portal 7.02, EP 7.02, Enterprise Portal 7.03, EP 7.03, Enterprise Portal 7.1, EP 7.1, Enterprise Portal 7.2, EP 7.2, Enterprise Portal 7.30, EP 7.30, Enterprise Portal 7.31, EP 7.31, Enterprise Portal 7.40, EP 7.4, Enterprise Portal 7.50, EP 7.5, com.sapportals.portal.navigation.INavigationConnector.getInitialNodes, conn, com.sapportals.portal.navigation.NavigationService.getExternalNodeChildrenNA, runtime, error, run, time, blank, tln, navigation, missing, empty, broken, update, roles, role, masthead, header, menu, menubar, content, area, portal runtime error, exception, km, wpc, webpage, composer, web, page, 1.0, 2.0, knowledge, management , KBA , EP-PIN-NAV , Navigation , EP-PIN-AI , Application Integration , EP-PIN-PRT , Portal Runtime , EP-KM-WPC , Web Page Composer , Problem