ODCF8005E - The P2P layer was unable to bind to a UDP port in WebSphere 8.5

While starting JVM in WebSphere 8.5, you may encounter following error.

[7/1/13 0:21:33:113 SGT] 00000001 P2PBase              E   ODCF8005E: There was an unexpected exception while initializing the SON overlay; the exception is java.io.IOException: The P2P layer was unable to bind to a UDP port.
           at com.ibm.son.mesh.RawUDPImpl.<init>(RawUDPImpl.java:89)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.UDPFactory.getUDP(UDPFactory.java:31)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.Peer.<init>(Peer.java:468)
            at com.ibm.son.mesh.Peer.<init>(Peer.java:411)
            at com.ibm.ws.p2p.P2POverlayHelper.getPeer(P2POverlayHelper.java:147)
            at com.ibm.ws.p2p.P2PBase.getPeer(P2PBase.java:31)
            at com.ibm.ws.bbson.BBFactoryImpl.<init>(BBFactoryImpl.java:632)
            at java.lang.J9VMInternals.newInstanceImpl(Native Method)
            at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:1564)

This issue happens when OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS is conflict or doesn’t exist. You can fix this by verifying and ensuring it exists without conflict.

1. Start DMGR
2. Stop if any JVM’s running under problematic node
3. Stop Nodeagent
4. Login into Admin Console and navigate to

System Administration >> nodeagents >> nodeagent >> ports

Do you see OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS andOVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS here? Make a note of port number of these if you see.

If you don’t see, create them by following instructions:

1. Click on New
2. Check user-defined port
3. Port name - OVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
4. Host name – localhost
5. Port – 21001 (give any unused port number on server)

1. Click on New
2. Check user-defined port
3. Port name - OVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
4. Host name – localhost
5. Port – 21002 (give any unused port number on server)

Now, let’s verify port number between nodeagent and problematic JVM

Go to Servers >> server types >> Websphere application servers >> server01 >> ports

Do you see OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS andOVERLAY_UDP_LISTENER_ADDRESS here? If yes verify to ensure it doesn’t conflict with your nodeagent port. If you don’t see them, then create new port by following instructions.

1. Click on New
2. Check user-defined port
3. Port name - OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
4. Host name – localhost
5. Port – 21003 (give any unused port number on server)

1. Click on New
2. Check user-defined port
3. Port name - OVERLAY_TCP_LISTENER_ADDRESS
4. Host name – localhost
5. Port – 21004 (give any unused port number on server)

Save the configuration

Sync the node

./syncNode.sh localhost <soap port number>

Start the nodeagent

Start JVM