In https://github.com/jboss-openshift/openshift-ping/blob/main/server/src/main/java/org/openshift/ping/server/Utils.java there is no connection timeout used. In case the DNS name can be resolved but the target service IP can't be reached, this was failing the JBoss startup.
More details about this is available under: https://access.redhat.com/support/cases/#/case/01473052.