2724436 - "ModuleException" and "NullPointerException" in Axis scenario

SOAP Sender / Receiver communication channel with Axis Protocol is used in the business scenario. After configuring the channel(s) correctly, the scenario fails with the following "ModuleException" which ends in a "NullPointerException":

[EXCEPTION]
javax.ejb.EJBException: (Failed in component: sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app, BC-XI-CON-AFW-TAD) Exception raised from invocation of public com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleData com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.modules.AFAdapterBean.process(com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleContext,com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleData) throws com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleException method on bean instance com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.modules.AFAdapterBean@48608f37 for bean sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app*xml|com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.ejb.jar*xml|AFAdapterBean in application sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app.; nested exception is: java.lang.NullPointerException: while trying to invoke the method com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.SModule.process(com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleContext, com.sap.aii.af.lib.mp.module.ModuleData) of a null object loaded from field com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.modules.AFAdapterBean.core of an object loaded from local variable 'this'

After collecting detailed Axis adapter trace, the following errors can be seen in the traces:

Catching java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/axis/AxisEngine
at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forNameFW(Class.java:256)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:166)

...

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.axis.AxisEngine
------------------------- Loader Info -------------------------
ClassLoader name: [sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app]
Living status: alive
Direct parent loaders:
[system:Frame]
[service:servlet_jsp]
[service:ejb]
[library:com.sap.aii.af.lib]
[library:com.sap.aii.af.axis.lib]
[service:com.sap.aii.af.svc]
[service:com.sap.aii.adapter.xi.svc]
[sap.com/com.sap.aii.adapter.axis]
Resources:
/usr/sap/<SID>/<Instance>/j2ee/cluster/apps/sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app/EJBContainer/applicationjars/com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.ejb.jar
/usr/sap/<SID>/<Instance>/j2ee/cluster/apps/sap.com/com.sap.aii.axis.app/servlet_jsp/XIAxisAdapter/root/WEB-INF/lib/com.sap.aii.adapter.axis.web_api.jar
---------------------------------------------------------------
at com.sap.engine.boot.loader.MultiParentClassLoader.loadClass(MultiParentClassLoader.java:274)
at com.sap.engine.boot.loader.MultiParentClassLoader.loadClass(MultiParentClassLoader.java:243)
... 98 more

• SAP NetWeaver
• SAP Process Integration

Process Integration, PI, Process Orchestration, PO, NetWeaver, XI, AEX, ModuleException, NullPointerException, NoClassDefFoundError, Axis, ClassNotFoundException, required component missing, looking for org.apache , KBA , BC-XI-CON-AXS , Axis Extention for SOAP Adapter , BC-XI-CON-SOP , SOAP Adapter , Problem