When attempting to start LISTSERV, the following error is thrown and LISTSERV terminates.


6 Apr 2017 16:47:06 LISTSERV(R) for Windows version 16.0 starting...

6 Apr 2017 16:47:06  Copyright Eric Thomas 1986-2017

6 Apr 2017 16:47:06 Build date: 28 Feb 2017

6 Apr 2017 16:47:06

6 Apr 2017 16:47:06 NJE interface failed to initialize - aborting.


What does this mean?


The short answer is that you have set NODE= to a value that isn't recognized by LISTSERV as a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN).


Unless you are running an IBM VM mainframe that still uses an NJE connection (highly unlikely), you must imperatively set NODE= to the full DNS FQDN that points to your machine. Using a non-qualified name for NODE= tells LISTSERV to attempt to activate legacy code for its BITNET-NJE interface, which is still available under VM. Since this code is not available at all in the unix and Windows versions, this initialization attempt fails and LISTSERV shuts down.