WAS, How to fix: Application already exists in the configuration repository

Application already exists in the configuration repository

If you are getting this error it means that you have screwed you Websphere Application Server application to a very good extend that now you cannot deploy or un-deploy that particular application.

In order to fix this issue we need to do a manual process of deleting the application

Steps:

1. Stop the Websphere Application Server
2. Do a search for your ear file in the file system and delete all the occurrences of the XXX.ear folder
3. Once we deleted these entire XXX.ear folders, delete all the contents of temp and wstemp folder.
4. Now go to WAS_INSTALL_DIR\profiles\<profileName>\default\config\cells\<cellName>\nodes\<nodeName>\
5. Edit the file serverindex.xml for an entry for our application within the tag
   <deployedApplications>xxx.ear</deployedApplications>
6. Restart the Websphere Application Server
7. Redeploy the application to the Websphere Application Server