3060929 - Stopsap command ends with error "stop of Instance failed"

A "stopsap" script execution ends with the following error:

myServer:<sid>adm 01> stopsap r3
Checking <SID> Database
Database is running
-------------------------------------------
stopping the SAP instance D01
Shutdown-Log is written to /home/<SID>adm/stopsap_D01.log
-------------------------------------------
/usr/sap/<SID>/D01/exe/sapcontrol -prot NI_HTTP -nr 01 -function Stop
stop of Instance failed
 See /home/<SID>adm/stopsap_D01.log for details
---------------
Detail error:
---------

-------------------------------------------
07:10:01
stop of Instance failed


By checking "/home/<SID>adm/stopsap_D01.log" file, the following additional evidence can be found:


(...)
07:09:59
/usr/sap/<SID>/D01/exe/sapcontrol -prot NI_HTTP -nr 01 -function Stop

19.05.2021 07:09:59
Stop
FAIL: NIECONN_REFUSED (Connection refused), NiRawConnect failed in plugin_fopen()
(...)


It is confirmed that there is no sapstartsrv running for the affected instance, this can be check by using the following command:

ps -ef| grep sapstartsrv

• SAP Netweaver, release independent.
• Startup services

stopsap, script, NIECONN_REFUSED, stop of Instance failed , KBA , BC-CST-STS , Startup Service , Problem