Thanks - I now have debug logging working. Unfortunately that gives no hint of what is wrong - the logs look fine as I start, stop and restart openhab2, although I would think I’d see log entries as items change and there don’t seem to be any:
2016-12-11 12:01:36.330 [INFO ] [core.karaf.internal.FeatureInstaller] - Installed 'openhab-persistence-mapdb'
2016-12-11 12:05:51.691 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading model 'mapdb.persist'
2016-12-11 12:05:55.394 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STARTING - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:05:55.396 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STARTED - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:05:55.411 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - mapdb persistence service is being activated
2016-12-11 12:05:55.702 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - Scheduled Commit-Job with interval 5sec.
2016-12-11 12:05:55.703 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - mapdb persistence service is now activated
2016-12-11 12:05:55.709 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - ServiceEvent REGISTERED - {org.openhab.core.persistence.PersistenceService}={service.pid=org.openhab.mapdb, commitinterval=5, component.name=org.openhab.persistence.mapdb, component.id=189, commitsamestate=false, service.id=304, service.bundleid=185, service.scope=bundle} - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:27.795 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STOPPING - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:27.804 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - ServiceEvent UNREGISTERING - {org.openhab.core.persistence.PersistenceService}={service.pid=org.openhab.mapdb, commitinterval=5, component.name=org.openhab.persistence.mapdb, component.id=189, commitsamestate=false, service.id=304, service.bundleid=185, service.scope=bundle} - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:27.804 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - mapdb persistence service deactivated
2016-12-11 12:08:27.812 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - Found 1 MapDB-Jobs to delete from DefaulScheduler (keys=[MapDB_SchedulerGroup.Commit_Transaction])
2016-12-11 12:08:27.814 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STOPPED - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:52.375 [INFO ] [el.core.internal.ModelRepositoryImpl] - Loading model 'mapdb.persist'
2016-12-11 12:08:56.358 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STARTING - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:56.360 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - BundleEvent STARTED - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:56.362 [DEBUG] [org.openhab.persistence.mapdb ] - ServiceEvent REGISTERED - {org.openhab.core.persistence.PersistenceService}={service.pid=org.openhab.mapdb, commitinterval=5, component.name=org.openhab.persistence.mapdb, component.id=189, commitsamestate=false, service.id=304, service.bundleid=185, service.scope=bundle} - org.openhab.persistence.mapdb
2016-12-11 12:08:56.376 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - mapdb persistence service is being activated
2016-12-11 12:08:56.603 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - Scheduled Commit-Job with interval 5sec.
2016-12-11 12:08:56.603 [DEBUG] [pdb.internal.MapDBPersistenceService] - mapdb persistence service is now activated
Any help gratefully received - having been very comfortable with openhab 1.8 I’m rapidly feeling out of my depth here…