While trying to promote a subsite to a site collection using a managed path called: PSS I received the following error message in PowerShell:
I was not aware that PSS is a reserved word, not according to Microsoft KB article 2497533 or MSDN .
At the end we ended up removing the managed path PSS and using a different one.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
FAST Search Configuration: Error InstallULSCommonCore - An error occurred while executing binary msiexec. Return code is not 0.
I had to uninstall FAST Search 2010 on a server, then install FAST SP2 on the same machine, while ruinning the configuration wizard I got an error:
I did click on the link and found the following error message:
Error InstallULSCommonCore - An error occurred while executing binary msiexec. Return code is not 0.
I tried to install the ulscommoncore.msi file manually by going to the following location: D:\FASTSearch\installer\files (I did install FAST on D drive) and when I ran the install, I got the following message:
The good thing I had another machine that had the same version of FAST (I had TM FAST installed) that I managed o copy to the server, then ran the following command to uninstall ulscommoncore.msi
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759262(v=ws.10).aspx#BKMK_Uninstall
I ran the following command:
msiexec /x
I ran the FAST Configuration wizard and it did complete without errors.
I did click on the link and found the following error message:
Error InstallULSCommonCore - An error occurred while executing binary msiexec. Return code is not 0.
I tried to install the ulscommoncore.msi file manually by going to the following location: D:\FASTSearch\installer\files (I did install FAST on D drive) and when I ran the install, I got the following message:
The good thing I had another machine that had the same version of FAST (I had TM FAST installed) that I managed o copy to the server, then ran the following command to uninstall ulscommoncore.msi
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759262(v=ws.10).aspx#BKMK_Uninstall
I ran the following command:
msiexec /x
I ran the FAST Configuration wizard and it did complete without errors.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Cloud storage?
I was on a mission to see what is the best cloud storage for my personal use. Thus, I have tried the following solutions:
Dropbox
Box
SkyDrive
Gdrive
I am not going to delve into details, but I have found that Box is the best one from the list. It has a powerful interface and you can do a lot with it, plus it gives you the option to view offline files on my iPad (SkyDrive does not have this functionality). There are a lot of vendors out there that offer free cloud storage, but Box is the one that I use most.
Dropbox
Box
SkyDrive
Gdrive
I am not going to delve into details, but I have found that Box is the best one from the list. It has a powerful interface and you can do a lot with it, plus it gives you the option to view offline files on my iPad (SkyDrive does not have this functionality). There are a lot of vendors out there that offer free cloud storage, but Box is the one that I use most.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
IE 9 keeps on crashing
I had an issue with my IE 9 browser. Eveytime I try to download plug-ins or even open pdf documents it keeps on crashing.
I was able to resolve the issue by doing the following:
1. Open event viewer > application log and get the error event. In cmy case the event log was Event 1000:
Faulting application name: iexplore.exe, version: 9.0.8112.16421, time stamp: 0x4d76255d
Faulting module name: bhoclass.dll, version: 1.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4f79fd40
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000055e6
Faulting process id: 0x3dc
Faulting application start time: 0x01cd3c79c9855c17
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
Faulting module path: C:\ProgramData\Codecv\bhoclass.dll
Report Id: 076e16d1-a86d-11e1-9764-0024e83aa075
2. Focused on the Faulting module path: C:\ProgramData\Codecv\bhoclass.dll and made sure bhoclass.dll is not a melicious code (which was not).
3. Went to add/remove program and found Codecv installed. Removed Codecv and that fixed the issue.
I would also recommend to get a good malware applicaiton to scan the machine.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
ENOW Mailscape
We have deployed Exchange 2010 and wanted to use a tool that monitors our Exchange environment. We did deploy ENOW Mailscape and are happy with this tool for the following reasons:
1. Ease of deployment.
2. Simple and intuitive user interface.
3. Proactive monitoring.
Friday, July 1, 2011
CRM 2011 two warnings messages when launching Deployment Manager
We did a new install for CRM 2011 RTM on a machine that has Windows 2008 R2 Ent. and SQL 2008 R2 Ent. The installation went fine and we did not encounter any issues.However, when we launched Microsoft CRM Deployment Manager we got the two warning messages:
"Reporting is not enabled"
"One or more server roles are missing from this deployment"
We have tried to re-install the Reporting Extensions for SQL and rebooted the machine several times to no avail.
So, I called MS support and the support engineer sent me CRM 2011 diagnostic tool (do search and you can download it from the net). After we had run the tool we found the following:
So, to resolve the issue is a simple as check for Widows Updates and you might see the following updates:
Go ahead and install the updates, then reboot the machine and that should fix the issue.
"Reporting is not enabled"
"One or more server roles are missing from this deployment"
We have tried to re-install the Reporting Extensions for SQL and rebooted the machine several times to no avail.
So, I called MS support and the support engineer sent me CRM 2011 diagnostic tool (do search and you can download it from the net). After we had run the tool we found the following:
================================================================================
SQL: Server Table Information [MSCRM_CONFIG]
================================================================================
>> CRM
[Id......................................]: a29ccb04-21a3-e011-af81-005056a10003
[Name....................................]: CRM
[PodId...................................]: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
[Roles...................................]: 86278415
[ScaleGroupId............................]: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
[State...................................]: 1
[UniqueifierId...........................]:
[Version.................................]: 5.0.9688.583
[IsDeleted...............................]: False
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSCRM[CRM_Server_Serviceability_Version]: 5.0.9688.596
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSCRM[CRM_SrsDataConnector_Serviceability_Version]: 5.0.9688.583
So, to resolve the issue is a simple as check for Widows Updates and you might see the following updates:
Go ahead and install the updates, then reboot the machine and that should fix the issue.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
DCOM 10016 errors on SharePoint 2010 Servers
We used to get DCOM error 10016 on all SharePoint 2010 servers:
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 4/2/2011 12:51:29 AM
Event ID: 10016
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: MyDomain\sp_farm_svc
Computer: spapp.MyDomain.org
Description:
The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}
to the user MyDomain\sp_farm_svc SID (S-1-5-21-1055929112-3131468103-4168165710-1893) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
After searching for a solution, I found this Blog and we did implement the suggested method instead of using the account that shows in the error message (in my case sp_farm_svc ) we have added WSS_WPG and WSS_ADMIN_WPG as shown below:

Our issued was resolved, but we still get DCOM error 10016 for a different class:
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 4/6/2011 12:51:31 AM
Event ID: 10016
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: MyDomain\SP_Farm_svc
Computer: spapp.MyDomain.org
Description:
The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{000C101C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
to the user MyDomain\SP_Farm_svc SID (S-1-5-21-1055929112-3131468103-4168165710-1893) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
At this point we are still working on the issue, and will post an update once we resolve it.
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 4/2/2011 12:51:29 AM
Event ID: 10016
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: MyDomain\sp_farm_svc
Computer: spapp.MyDomain.org
Description:
The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}
to the user MyDomain\sp_farm_svc SID (S-1-5-21-1055929112-3131468103-4168165710-1893) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
After searching for a solution, I found this Blog and we did implement the suggested method instead of using the account that shows in the error message (in my case sp_farm_svc ) we have added WSS_WPG and WSS_ADMIN_WPG as shown below:
Our issued was resolved, but we still get DCOM error 10016 for a different class:
Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-DistributedCOM
Date: 4/6/2011 12:51:31 AM
Event ID: 10016
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: MyDomain\SP_Farm_svc
Computer: spapp.MyDomain.org
Description:
The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{000C101C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
to the user MyDomain\SP_Farm_svc SID (S-1-5-21-1055929112-3131468103-4168165710-1893) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
At this point we are still working on the issue, and will post an update once we resolve it.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Creating SharePoint Sites using Web Databases template
I was trying to provision a site under Web Databases categories (Assets Web Database, Charitable Contribution Web, Contacts Web Database, Issue Web Database, and Project Database) and every time I got the following message:
Preparing Site ...
Someone has recently made changes to this site and the site is being updates. If the site remains offline for an extended period if time, contact a site owner.
Wait a moment and refresh your browser.
I have tried the steps provided in the following Blog and it kinda worked, however, when I provisioned the site I got the following error in the middle of the newly provisioned site:
"Access Service is unable to process the request. click here to try again"
In my scenario I used the manual way to provision the Access Services using a dedicated application pool. I have tried different account and even used farm service account to no avail. Finally, I got it to work by using the configuration wizard.
Not sure why by running the configuration wizard resolved the issue, but I will need to investigate the issue further once I have the time.
Preparing Site ...
Someone has recently made changes to this site and the site is being updates. If the site remains offline for an extended period if time, contact a site owner.
Wait a moment and refresh your browser.
I have tried the steps provided in the following Blog and it kinda worked, however, when I provisioned the site I got the following error in the middle of the newly provisioned site:
"Access Service is unable to process the request. click here to try again"
In my scenario I used the manual way to provision the Access Services using a dedicated application pool. I have tried different account and even used farm service account to no avail. Finally, I got it to work by using the configuration wizard.
Not sure why by running the configuration wizard resolved the issue, but I will need to investigate the issue further once I have the time.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
"Add document" link is missing after migrating document libraries from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010
After we had migrated from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 we noticed that some document libraries didn't have the Add document" link and the small tick box. The following screen shots show comparison between a working and non-working document library:
Working Document Library:
Non-working Document Library:
At this point, the quick fox was to create a new standard view and make it as the default view. I will try to investigate the issue and update the post.
Working Document Library:
Non-working Document Library:
At this point, the quick fox was to create a new standard view and make it as the default view. I will try to investigate the issue and update the post.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A single user gets "Access Denied" on SharePoint Site
I came across permission issue, were only a single user gets "Access Denied" on SharePoint site. The user was able to access the site (his was added to the Visitors group) for one day, then all of a sudden he cannot access the site. I checked his permission and I could not see any reason for this user to get the error. I even tried to give him full control and that didn't work. I have created a new site collection and added him as a Visitor and he could access the newly created site collection. Since troubleshooting permission issues are difficult, I did download third party tool (i got the 14 days trial version) and installed it on a development machine, then moved the site to the development farm and the user still got the access denied error. I ran the tool and could not see any special permissions. So after further trials and errors, I came to the following resolution:
1. Added the user to the Site Collection Administrator (SCA) group, and now the user is able to access the site without issues.
2. Removed the user from the SCA group and that removed all his permissions, and he got the access denied error.
3. Added the user back to the Visitors group and now he could access without issues.
Not sure why the above steps fixed the issue, but I suspect by adding him to the SCA group and removing him, which remove the user's permissions from all SharePoint objects, and by adding the user again is like adding him for the first time. I guess at this point we will have to wait and see if the user runs into this issue again.
1. Added the user to the Site Collection Administrator (SCA) group, and now the user is able to access the site without issues.
2. Removed the user from the SCA group and that removed all his permissions, and he got the access denied error.
3. Added the user back to the Visitors group and now he could access without issues.
Not sure why the above steps fixed the issue, but I suspect by adding him to the SCA group and removing him, which remove the user's permissions from all SharePoint objects, and by adding the user again is like adding him for the first time. I guess at this point we will have to wait and see if the user runs into this issue again.
Outlook Issues after upgrading to Exchange 2010
After we had upgraded to Exchange 2010, two users could not open Outlook since it kept on crashing every time whether they were using Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010. Checking the application log after the crash reveled the following error:
HelloEvent Type: Error
Event Source: Microsoft Office 12
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 8/13/2010
Time: 8:53:47 AM
User: N/A
Computer: Computer Name
Description:
Faulting application outlook.exe, version 12.0.4518.1014, stamp 4542840f, faulting module emsmdb32.dll, version 12.0.4518.1014, stamp 45428079, debug? 0, fault address 0x000524b7.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
HelloEvent Type: Error
Event Source: Microsoft Office 12
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1000
Date: 8/13/2010
Time: 8:53:47 AM
User: N/A
Computer: Computer Name
Description:
Faulting application outlook.exe, version 12.0.4518.1014, stamp 4542840f, faulting module emsmdb32.dll, version 12.0.4518.1014, stamp 45428079, debug? 0, fault address 0x000524b7.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Searched the net and found Matt Parkinson's Blog, that describes the fix for the issue. However, even after we checked for msExchQueryBaseDN, users still had the issue, so all we did to remedy the issue is to remove the Outlook profile and re-created using the following steps (this was done on Windows 7 machine, but the steps are the same for other Windows OS like Vista and XP):
1. Go to Control Panel and look for the Mail icon and double click on it.
2. Click on Show Profiles
3. Highlight the profile and select Remove, then click on Apply
4. Once the profile removed, click on Add and type in the profile name, then click on OK
5. Launch Outlook and it should open without crashing.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Desktop Authority and Firewall issues
We have installed ScriptLogic Desktop Authority on a server and needed to install a short cut on our workstation so that we don't have to log in to the server each time we need to work on the application. After we create the shot cut and tried to launch the Desktop Authority Console we got the following message:
"The Desktop Authority Manager requires that the 'Desktop Authority OpsMaster Service' is running."
Checked the service on the server and it was running and we were able to launch the application on the server, so we turned-off Windows Firewall on the server and launched the application without any issues. So, we used TCPView tool to find which port we need to open on the firewall. The output from the tool showed the following:
It shows the remote port 8017 on the server is blocked. So, we went back to the server and created an exception for port 8017 and enabled the firewall again, and we were able to launch Desktop Authority from the workstation.
"The Desktop Authority Manager requires that the 'Desktop Authority OpsMaster Service' is running."
Checked the service on the server and it was running and we were able to launch the application on the server, so we turned-off Windows Firewall on the server and launched the application without any issues. So, we used TCPView tool to find which port we need to open on the firewall. The output from the tool showed the following:
It shows the remote port 8017 on the server is blocked. So, we went back to the server and created an exception for port 8017 and enabled the firewall again, and we were able to launch Desktop Authority from the workstation.
ScriptLogic "A connection to the database could not be created. would you like to select s different database?"
I was assigned a task to install and configure ScriptLogic Enterprise Security Reporter 3. Everything seemed to go well until we launched the Discovery Console from the start menu. Every time we launch the console we get the following dialog box:
If we click on Yes then a new dialog box open for us to select the database in order to connect to it:
This becomes annoying, and it seems that something is blocking the connection. So, in the process of troubleshooting, we disabled the firewall on the SQL box and everything worked fine and we no longer got the dialog box that we need to connect manually to the database. However, disabling firewall is not recommended and we determined to find which port needs to be opened on the SQL machine, so we downloaded Sysinternal Suite from Microsoft site and used TCPView and got the following output:
As we see from the previous screen shot that we need to open port 50972 on SQL firewall, and once we did that everything worked fine and we no longer get the dialog box.
Here is a good TCPView output:
You gotta love Systinternals Suite
That's all
If we click on Yes then a new dialog box open for us to select the database in order to connect to it:
This becomes annoying, and it seems that something is blocking the connection. So, in the process of troubleshooting, we disabled the firewall on the SQL box and everything worked fine and we no longer got the dialog box that we need to connect manually to the database. However, disabling firewall is not recommended and we determined to find which port needs to be opened on the SQL machine, so we downloaded Sysinternal Suite from Microsoft site and used TCPView and got the following output:
As we see from the previous screen shot that we need to open port 50972 on SQL firewall, and once we did that everything worked fine and we no longer get the dialog box.
Here is a good TCPView output:
You gotta love Systinternals Suite
That's all
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
PDF documents won't open in web browser even after changing Browser File Handling to permissive in SharePoint 2010 Central Admin
Today I have opened a case with Microsoft SharePoint Support Team in regard to an issue where clicking on a PDF document would not open in a web browser instead it will give the following options:
Before calling Microsoft, I have tried iisreset, rebooted the servers, ran the configuration wizard, and dismounted and re-mounted the database to no avail.
To make the long story short the support technician informed me that since the document libraries got created via a template my only option is to re-create the document libraries. Also, he informed me that there might be a fix either via Service Pack or SharePoint updates.
Before calling Microsoft, I have tried iisreset, rebooted the servers, ran the configuration wizard, and dismounted and re-mounted the database to no avail.
To make the long story short the support technician informed me that since the document libraries got created via a template my only option is to re-create the document libraries. Also, he informed me that there might be a fix either via Service Pack or SharePoint updates.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
404 Error after detaching and reattaching database content in SharePoint 2010
I was troubleshooting view pdf document via a web browser, and one of the steps I took to troubleshoot the issue was to detach and reattach the content database. I did this via the UI from central administration page and when I tried to open SharePoint site, I got 404 error.... So, I went to Central Admin site and verified that it show the correct number of sites, I even created a new site and the number of sites increased, but I could not browse to the newly created site (Note: the content is about 5 GB, which is fairly small).
What I did to fix the issue was to run PowerShell command to detach and reattach the content database as describe im MS technet article:
To detach content database:
To attach content database:
I am not sure why doing this action from Central Administration page created the issue in the first place, but from now on, I will start using PowerShell to administer SharePoint 2010.
What I did to fix the issue was to run PowerShell command to detach and reattach the content database as describe im MS technet article:
To detach content database:
Dismount-SPContentDatabase ""
To attach content database:
Mount-SPContentDatabase "" -DatabaseServer " " -WebApplication http://SiteName
I am not sure why doing this action from Central Administration page created the issue in the first place, but from now on, I will start using PowerShell to administer SharePoint 2010.
Labels:
404 error,
attaching Content DB,
PowerShell,
SharePoint 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
HTTP 404 Not Found when opening a file that has "+" in its name in Internet Explorer from SharePoint Document Library
A user came to me complaining that she is getting HTTP 404 Not Found in Internet Explorer when clicking a pdf document in a SharePoint Document Library to view it, as shown below:
Note: SharePoint won't allow you to upload any documents that have the following special characters as shown in the screen shot below:
After further investigation and testing, I came to the following conclusion. Although you can upload a document to a SharePoint Document Library that has "+" sign in its name (ex. filename+). However, when you try to view or open the document in a web browser we get the HTTP 404 error. I believe this is "By Design" and the workaround would be to rename the file by removing the "+" sign and users would be able to view the document in a web browser.
Note: SharePoint won't allow you to upload any documents that have the following special characters as shown in the screen shot below:
After further investigation and testing, I came to the following conclusion. Although you can upload a document to a SharePoint Document Library that has "+" sign in its name (ex. filename+). However, when you try to view or open the document in a web browser we get the HTTP 404 error. I believe this is "By Design" and the workaround would be to rename the file by removing the "+" sign and users would be able to view the document in a web browser.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Deleting site collection from User Interface (UI) in SharePoint 2010
I was doing some tests concerning backup/restore a site collection and came across this issue. But before showing the issue, I did the following steps:
1. Took a backup of the site collection using stsadm command
2. Deleted the site collection from Central Administration site.
When I tried to restore the site collection using stsadm command (MS is trying to deprecate stsadm) I got the following message:

Trired the same thing using Powershell command:
Note that when you try to delete the site collection either from Central Admin or the site's site action menu you get the following message:
So, it looks like by deleting the site via the UI it uses the gradualdelete parameter. So, if we you stsadm command without the gradual delete option
Or Powershell command:
The site collection will be deleted instantly without waiting for the timer job (Technet has a good article describing the gradual deleting timer job) to gradually deleting the site.
In my scenario it took a lot of time for the timer job to delete the site (deleting the site from the UI) in my case it took hours for OOTB site restoration (i left the site overnight and I was able to restore the site the next morning)
In short, if you are trying to delete the site from the UI and restore it again to the same farm and same content database, it will take a lot of time since UI by default will use the gradualdelete parameter or you could create/add a new content database and restore the site to the newly created/added database (Note: make sure to take the database offline before restoring the site to the newly created/added database).
1. Took a backup of the site collection using stsadm command
:stsadm -o backup -URL -filename
2. Deleted the site collection from Central Administration site.
When I tried to restore the site collection using stsadm command (MS is trying to deprecate stsadm)
stsadm -o backup -URL -filename 
Trired the same thing using Powershell command:
Restore-SPSite -Identity -Path Note that when you try to delete the site collection either from Central Admin or the site's site action menu you get the following message:
So, it looks like by deleting the site via the UI it uses the gradualdelete parameter. So, if we you stsadm command without the gradual delete option
stsadm -o deletesite -URL Or Powershell command:
Remove-SPSite -Identity
The site collection will be deleted instantly without waiting for the timer job (Technet has a good article describing the gradual deleting timer job) to gradually deleting the site.
In my scenario it took a lot of time for the timer job to delete the site (deleting the site from the UI) in my case it took hours for OOTB site restoration (i left the site overnight and I was able to restore the site the next morning)
In short, if you are trying to delete the site from the UI and restore it again to the same farm and same content database, it will take a lot of time since UI by default will use the gradualdelete parameter or you could create/add a new content database and restore the site to the newly created/added database (Note: make sure to take the database offline before restoring the site to the newly created/added database).
Labels:
Gradual Site Deletion,
SharePoint 2010,
Timer Job
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Error 7043 on SharePoint 2010 RTM "Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed"
So, I am getting this error on my SharePoint servers (Running Windows 2008 SP2).
After doing some search I did find Blogs ( Blog 1, and Blog 2) that describe "fix" by doing the following:
1. Navigate to /14/ControlTemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx user control
2. Open the user control in a text editor and locate the first line
3. Find the character string , and replace with a comma ‘,’ (without quotes).
4. Save the user control and you have completed fixing this bug
I am not sure I want to do this at this point, since this action seems a hack to me and Microsoft my release an update to fix the issue.
In short, I can live with this error till Microsoft release either a KB article or an update for this issue.
After doing some search I did find Blogs ( Blog 1, and Blog 2) that describe "fix" by doing the following:
1. Navigate to /14/ControlTemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx user control
2. Open the user control in a text editor and locate the first line
3. Find the character string , and replace with a comma ‘,’ (without quotes).
4. Save the user control and you have completed fixing this bug
I am not sure I want to do this at this point, since this action seems a hack to me and Microsoft my release an update to fix the issue.
In short, I can live with this error till Microsoft release either a KB article or an update for this issue.
Monday, May 24, 2010
SharePoint 2010 installation and adding the farm account to the local administrator group
I was watching on demand web called by Dan Holme titled "SharePoint 2010 installation and administration jump start" and one of the thing that stood up was adding the SharePoint Farm Account to the local Administrator group. Now, this is not mentioned in any MS technet articles. I would like to point out that Dan Holme did a great job documenting it in SharePointPro Blog and his article is much better than MS technet article Administrative and service account required for initial deployment.
I would strongly recommend reading Dan Holme's Blog for Least Privilege Service Accounts mentioned above.
I would strongly recommend reading Dan Holme's Blog for Least Privilege Service Accounts mentioned above.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
SharePoint 2010 RTM User Profile Synchronization
I have been struggling with starting the User Profile Synchronization Service on SharePoint 2010 RTM build. I am using a virtual machines for my test:
- Server 1: AD and SQL 2008 role on Windows 2008 R2
- Server 2: IIS and SharePoint 2010 on Windows 2008 R2
The first test was to run the configuration wizard to configure all services and see if I can start the User Profile Synchronization Service. To my surprise I managed to start the service successfully. I have used a Farm Account to provision all services. So, to double check I went and clicked on User Profile Service Application under Managed Service Applications
and I got the following error:
Checking the application log found errors related to Forefront Identity Manager Service indicating it cannot connect to SQL:
Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft.ResourceManagement.ServiceHealthSource
Date: 5/11/2010 10:12:31 AM
Event ID: 22
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The Forefront Identity Manager Service cannot connect to the SQL Database Server.
The SQL Server could not be contacted. The connection failure may be due to a network failure, firewall configuration error, or other connection issue. Additionally, the SQL Server connection information could be configured incorrectly.
Verify that the SQL Server is reachable from the Forefront Identity Manager Service computer. Ensure that SQL Server is running, that the network connection is active, and that the firewall is configured properly. Last, verify the connection information has been configured properly. This configuration is stored in the Windows Registry.
But this was not the only error related to Forefront Manger I got other errors:
Log Name: Application
Source: Forefront Identity Manager
Date: 5/11/2010 10:13:03 AM
Event ID: 3
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
.Net SqlClient Data Provider: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Transaction count after EXECUTE indicates a mismatching number of BEGIN and COMMIT statements. Previous count = 1, current count = 2.
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.ConsumeMetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, DbAsyncResult result)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader()
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Data.DataAccess.UpdateRequest(RequestType request, IEnumerable`1 updates)
So, I went ahead and disabled the Windows Firewall (just in case) and rebooted my server (I don't think I reboot is required, but you never know). After the server had rebooted, I opened the Central Administration page and clicked on User Profile Service and viola it worked, I was able to get to the page:
I clicked on Configure Synchronization Connections to create a new connection and that worked fine and I was able to configure the server. In order to complete the test I had to Start Profile Synchronization and I got the following error in the application log:
Log Name: Application
Source: FIMSynchronizationService
Date: 5/11/2010 12:10:02 PM
Event ID: 6050
Task Category: Management Agent Run Profile
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The management agent "MOSSAD-ADAccount" failed on run profile "DS_FULLIMPORT" because of connectivity issues.
Additional Information
Discovery Errors : "0"
Synchronization Errors : "0"
Metaverse Retry Errors : "0"
Export Errors : "0"
Warnings : "0"
Ok, I went ahead and disabled firewall on my domain controller, since I am not sure if it's a firewall or something had to do with the account I am using (I am using my farm service account). Also, I had to stop the sync process and started a full .profile sync and that failed. So, I tried a different account (Administrator account) and that worked by clicking on the Synchronization link:
I did get a great deal of useful information from this Blog, I would highly recommend reading this Blog, it does contain a great information. I have used the previously mentioned Blog to configure my SharePoint account to run the User Profile Synchronization and that worked fine. Note that I got the following warning in my applicattion log:
Log Name: Application
Source: FIMSynchronizationService
Date: 5/11/2010 12:28:10 PM
Event ID: 6126
Task Category: Management Agent Run Profile
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The management agent "MOSS-5d867c01-cc0d-40cb-be0d-37b4739c97aa" completed run profile "MOSS_DELTAIMPORT_469b85e3-5b1a-4015-82b9-a438c1ca4aed" with a delta import or delta synchronization step type. The rules configuration has changed since the last full import or full synchronization.
User Action
To ensure the updated rules are applied to all objects, a run with step type of full import and full synchronization should be completed.
However, the real test is to use the manual configuration method where we can use the Microsoft best practices on using the least privilege administration. So, I uninstalled SharePoint 2010 RTM and re-installed it again, but this time the plan is to use Least Privileged Administration method instead of using a single account.
Here are the steps I took to install and configure the farm:
I had to stop the service by using PowerShell Command:
Now, I am thinking it could be the account. I had used a different account to manually provision User Profile Service Application. So, the next logical path was to stop the User Profile Synchronization Service and delete User Profile Service Application and then use the farm service account to create User Profile Service Application and then see if we can start User Profile Synchronization Service
That's it for now.
- Server 1: AD and SQL 2008 role on Windows 2008 R2
- Server 2: IIS and SharePoint 2010 on Windows 2008 R2
The first test was to run the configuration wizard to configure all services and see if I can start the User Profile Synchronization Service. To my surprise I managed to start the service successfully. I have used a Farm Account to provision all services. So, to double check I went and clicked on User Profile Service Application under Managed Service Applications
and I got the following error:
Checking the application log found errors related to Forefront Identity Manager Service indicating it cannot connect to SQL:
Log Name: Application
Source: Microsoft.ResourceManagement.ServiceHealthSource
Date: 5/11/2010 10:12:31 AM
Event ID: 22
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The Forefront Identity Manager Service cannot connect to the SQL Database Server.
The SQL Server could not be contacted. The connection failure may be due to a network failure, firewall configuration error, or other connection issue. Additionally, the SQL Server connection information could be configured incorrectly.
Verify that the SQL Server is reachable from the Forefront Identity Manager Service computer. Ensure that SQL Server is running, that the network connection is active, and that the firewall is configured properly. Last, verify the connection information has been configured properly. This configuration is stored in the Windows Registry.
But this was not the only error related to Forefront Manger I got other errors:
Log Name: Application
Source: Forefront Identity Manager
Date: 5/11/2010 10:13:03 AM
Event ID: 3
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
.Net SqlClient Data Provider: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Transaction count after EXECUTE indicates a mismatching number of BEGIN and COMMIT statements. Previous count = 1, current count = 2.
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.ConsumeMetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader.get_MetaData()
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, DbAsyncResult result)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior behavior, String method)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteReader()
at Microsoft.ResourceManagement.Data.DataAccess.UpdateRequest(RequestType request, IEnumerable`1 updates)
So, I went ahead and disabled the Windows Firewall (just in case) and rebooted my server (I don't think I reboot is required, but you never know). After the server had rebooted, I opened the Central Administration page and clicked on User Profile Service and viola it worked, I was able to get to the page:
I clicked on Configure Synchronization Connections to create a new connection and that worked fine and I was able to configure the server. In order to complete the test I had to Start Profile Synchronization and I got the following error in the application log:
Log Name: Application
Source: FIMSynchronizationService
Date: 5/11/2010 12:10:02 PM
Event ID: 6050
Task Category: Management Agent Run Profile
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The management agent "MOSSAD-ADAccount" failed on run profile "DS_FULLIMPORT" because of connectivity issues.
Additional Information
Discovery Errors : "0"
Synchronization Errors : "0"
Metaverse Retry Errors : "0"
Export Errors : "0"
Warnings : "0"
Ok, I went ahead and disabled firewall on my domain controller, since I am not sure if it's a firewall or something had to do with the account I am using (I am using my farm service account). Also, I had to stop the sync process and started a full .profile sync and that failed. So, I tried a different account (Administrator account) and that worked by clicking on the Synchronization link:
I did get a great deal of useful information from this Blog, I would highly recommend reading this Blog, it does contain a great information. I have used the previously mentioned Blog to configure my SharePoint account to run the User Profile Synchronization and that worked fine. Note that I got the following warning in my applicattion log:
Log Name: Application
Source: FIMSynchronizationService
Date: 5/11/2010 12:28:10 PM
Event ID: 6126
Task Category: Management Agent Run Profile
Level: Warning
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: sp2010.domain.local
Description:
The management agent "MOSS-5d867c01-cc0d-40cb-be0d-37b4739c97aa" completed run profile "MOSS_DELTAIMPORT_469b85e3-5b1a-4015-82b9-a438c1ca4aed" with a delta import or delta synchronization step type. The rules configuration has changed since the last full import or full synchronization.
User Action
To ensure the updated rules are applied to all objects, a run with step type of full import and full synchronization should be completed.
However, the real test is to use the manual configuration method where we can use the Microsoft best practices on using the least privilege administration. So, I uninstalled SharePoint 2010 RTM and re-installed it again, but this time the plan is to use Least Privileged Administration method instead of using a single account.
Here are the steps I took to install and configure the farm:
- Installed and ran SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.
- Manually provisioned search.
- Created a new web application and create a site collection based on Team Template.
- Started Managed Metadata Web Service and created Managed Metadata Service Application.
- Defined an explicit inclusion managed path for My Site and site collection that used My Site Host template.
- Create User Profile Service Application and started User Profile Service.
- Tried to start the User Profile Synchronization Service and it remained on Starting
I had to stop the service by using PowerShell Command:
- Launched SharePoint Management Shell
- Typed the Get-SPServiceInstance to get the Id of User Profile Synchronization
- Typed Stop-SPServiceInstance to unprovision the service.
Now, I am thinking it could be the account. I had used a different account to manually provision User Profile Service Application. So, the next logical path was to stop the User Profile Synchronization Service and delete User Profile Service Application and then use the farm service account to create User Profile Service Application and then see if we can start User Profile Synchronization Service
- Stopped User Profile Synchronization Service.
- Deleted User Profile Service Application.
- Manually created User Profile Synchronization Service using Farm Service Account (Note: this account is used by default for User Profile Synchronization Service).
- Started User Profile Synchronization Service and it worked.
- Uninstalled SharePoint 2010 and rebooted the machine.
- Deleted all SharePoint databases from SQL 2008.
- Deleted unused site (SITE_2) from IIS.
- Installed SharePoint 2010 RTM
- Added the service account that is used for User Profile to the local Administrators group (in my case I created SPUserProfile_svc account)
- Manually provisioned: search, managed metadata, and create site collection for My Sites and Team site.
- Manually provisioned User Profile Service Application (Note: used a different account from the farm service account as mentioned in step 5).
- Started User Profile Service. (Note: you might need to restart the SharePoint Timer service to get to the User Profile page)
- Started the User Profile Synchronization Service this time it worked.
- Clicked on Configured Synchronization Connection to create a new connection. (Note: if you get any errors, restart the SharePoint Timer Service)
- Started a full profile synchronization and it worked.
That's it for now.
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