This item could not be crawled because the repository did not respond within the specified timeout period - SharePoint Search Error

Problem:

Environment: WSS 3.0, Microsoft Search Server Express 2008

The Search server is crawling the contents properly and the search is working as expected. Suddenly, search crawling stopped and the error in the Search log is

"This item could not be crawled because the repository did not respond within the specified timeout period. Try to crawl the repository at a later time, or increase the timeout value on the Proxy and Timeout page in search administration. You might also want to crawl this repository during off-peak usage times".

Solution:

I understood that the error is due to the Proxy and checked the Proxy and Time Out settings in Search Server Administration and it is 120 Seconds.

Then, removed the Proxy Settings configured in the IE. Followed by an incremental crawl fixed this issue and I didn’t see any errors after that.

Also, uncheck the option in the IE “Automatically Detect Settings” (if it is checked).

Here is the link which gave the complete solution for this issue:

http://sharepointmadeeasy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/search-crawl-time-out-or-proxy-issue.html

Happy Sharing!

Read More

Databases must be empty before they can be used. Delete all of the tables, stored procedures and other objects or use a different database.

Problem:

I got this error when I tried to stop and start the Windows SharePoint Services Search service by the following:

Central Administration ->Operations ->Services on server->Windows SharePoint Services Search->Stop

Central Administration->Operations->Services on server->Windows SharePoint Services Search->Start

The below is the step by step solution to fix this issue.

Solution:

1. We have to delete some log files of database in the SQL Server by following the path:

Stop the SQL Server Express Service: Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> SQL Server -> Right click Stop

2. Now delete the following file in the below locations:

WINDIR%\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSL.2005\MSSQL\DATA\WSS_Search_ Servername.mdf

WINDIR%\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSL.2005\MSSQL\DATA\WSS_Search_ Servername_log.LDF

Or in this path WINDIR%\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data\

3. Restart the SQL Server Express Service by following the path:

 Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services -> SQL Server -> Right click Start

4. Now restart the Windows SharePoint Services Search by following the path:

Restart the Windows SharePoint Services Search: Central Administration->Operations->Services on server->Windows SharePoint Services Search->Start

5. In the Configure Windows SharePoint Services Search Service Settings page, in the Search DB section, give a new DB name in the Database Name field. Click Start.

6. If you give the old DB name you will get the error. Hence try giving the new DB name.

Please free to comment and share this post if it helps you!

Read More

The specified database has an incorrect collation. Rebuild the database with the Latin1_General_CI_AS_KS_WS collation or create a new database

Problem:

 I have faced this error when I created a DB in the SQL server and then tried to create the Search Server DB name in the Search Server Configuration Page while configuring the Microsoft Search Server Express 2008.

Solution:

1. The problem is the database created has incorrect collation.

2. We have to change the collation to Latin1_General_CI_AS_KS_WS collation which is specified while configuring the web applications or search server DB in SharePoint.

3.  Connect to the SQL server -> Select the Database created.

4. Right Click on the Database -> Properties -> Select Options page -> Change the collation as shown below:

5. Now try to configure the Search or Web Application in SharePoint, it will work as expected.

Read More

Error: Your Search cannot be complete because of service error

In this article, we will know a solution for the Search Server Issue in the SharePoint portal.

The Search server was working as expected and the results are shown properly. But suddenly the Search is not showing the results and it is showing the following error:

Your Search cannot be complete because of service error. Try you search again or contact your administrator for more information.

When I check the event viewer, following are the log description:

Event ID: 10040 & 10041
The last query machine has been taken out of rotation.  Check previous event logs to determine cause.  Propagation may be necessary.

Event ID: 10038
Not enough storage is available to complete this operation

Solution:

Initially the following were following steps are performed but no results from the search:

 Ø  Restarting the Index Service

   Ø  Resetting the content index

 Ø  Restarting the application pool

 Ø  Restarting the SSP

   Finally, the following actions are performed.

 Ø  Restarting the index server manually

 Ø  Then, restarted the Index Content

 Ø  Finally, resetting the crawler and a complete crawling is run

  This helped in fixing this issue and the search is showing the results as expected.

  Happy Sharing!

  Please free to share your comments and share this post if it helps you.

  Always your comments help me to write more!

Read More

The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled.

Problem:

This is the error you find in the Microsoft Search Server logs when the size of the file being uploaded is greater than 50 MB. This is because the default size is 50 MB for crawling. Hence when the size of the file being uploaded exceeds the allowable limit then the crawler will not be able to crawl the file and throws this error. In this article, we will see how to fix this issue.

The error log screen is shown below:

Solution:

To allow the files that is larger in size and to be crawled and fully indexed we have to add the MaxDownloadSize dword value to the 50 MB or more.

Go to Run -> Type regedit  -> Navigate to the following path and change the value.

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\12.0\Search\Global\Gathering Manager"

Change the following value "MaxDownloadSize"=dword:00000032

 Note: Hexadecimal 32 = Decimal 50.

Try restarting the index server and now initiate a full crawl then the files of large size will be shown in the Search Results.

Referred Links:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointsearch/thread/170bb0a3-1367-46d8-a4d9-36fca2457f69

This helped in fixing this issue and the search is showing the results as expected.

Happy Sharing!

Please free to share your comments and share this post if it helps you.

Always your comments help me to write more!

Read More

The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled

Scenario:

When the users are trying to upload large size files in the portal, they are getting the following error and they are unable to upload large size files to the SharePoint site.

 The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled

Also, the Search results are not showing some of the files in the search results.

Solution:

I read an interesting post which helps in fixing this issue. Below is the link.

http://www.imason.com/imason_Blogs/b/suleman_ibrahim/archive/2009/05/25/uploading-and-indexing-large-files-in-a-moss-site.aspx

Happy Sharing!

Read More

The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct

This is one of the common issues in the Microsoft Search Server 2008. In the Search Server logs in the Search Server Administration, the following errors are logged:

The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct

Also the search is not showing the results of some office documents which are having embedded links in it.

Solution:

Installing the Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs will fix this problem. This package will add the DLL’s to the machine.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17062

Usage of this Package:

IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (SharePoint, SQL, Exchange, and Windows Search).

Happy Sharing!

Read More

The Search Service is currently offline

Problem:

The search service is currently offline. Visit the services on server page in SharePoint central administration to verify whether the service is enabled. This might also be because an indexer move is in progress

You will get the below screen when you navigate to the default content access account, crawl log or default content access account in the Search Server Administration.

Resolution:

Following are the steps to fix this issue.

1. Open central administration
2. Goto Operations -> Topology and Services -> Services on Server
3. Select Search Indexing -> On “Office SharePoint Server Search” click “Stop”. This will reconfigure the service
4. Now click “start”
5. Navigate to the indexer log file location which is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office Server\Applications” for me. Here you will find a folder with Guid name. At the end of that folder add “_old”. Refresh the SSP page and wait for some time and now the indexer will recreate the guid folder.
6. This will fix this issue.

If this doesn't work out, then check the service account which is running the search service (default content access account for crawling the content). If there are any changes in the account, then this might also be the problem for the search service to go offline.

Please free to comment. Hope this helps you!

Read More

Configuring Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010

Hi All,

Read the useful arcticle which explains about Configuring the Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010. A step by step explanation with screens is explained in this artcile.

Configuring Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010 

Read More

The Parameter is incorrect crawl error Search Server

In this article, we are going to discuss about a strange issue with Microsoft Search Server.

Scenario:

Usually with the SharePoint, we will install Microsoft Search Server for providing the users a search function.

We will configure the content source in Search Server Admin page and crawler indexes the contents and will display the results in the search depending upon the user query.

The below figure shows the Search Server Overview:

Content Sources – The link where the SharePoint site is configured for crawling

Crawl Log – The logs of the crawler

Sometimes we will get the “The Parameter is incorrect” in the crawl log and then onwards, the search server stops crawling the new contents and no results will be displayed in the search result.

Root Cause:

This is due to a limit that a SharePoint user group cannot have more than 1000 users in a single SharePoint group.

Resolution:

The only way is to either decrease the number of users in the group which has exceeded the 1000 users or to split the user groups (Check the reference article below).

The reason behind is

During the indexing process, the system stores the ACE of each user who was added to a SharePoint group instead of the ACE of the SharePoint group itself. This process supports approximately 1000 users per access control list (ACL), after which the "Parameter is incorrect" error causes crawling to fail.

Reference Article:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc850696.aspx

Thanks for reading. Share your feedback!

Read More

Implementing Federated Search Result (Twitter) in SharePoint 2010

In the previous article, we have discussed about the basics of Federated Search Results in SharePoint
In this article, we will discuss how to implement the Federated Search results in SharePoint 2010.
Steps
Go to Central Administration of the SharePoint Server -> Application Management -> Manage service applications

You will see a list of services. In that Select Search Service Application

Clicking on this, you will be re-directed to the Search Server Administration page. In the left navigation, you will see some menus as shown below. Select Federated Results in the left navigation menu.

You will see a page, where you will find options for creating a New Location for Federated search or you can import the FLD file through Import Location option.

Clicking on the New Location option you will see the following page, where we will configure your Federated Location as shown below

That’s it. I have added the FLD file at the end of the article, for download so that you can download and import the file and work on it.

Now, we have configured the New Location and hence we will use the created Federated Location in the Search Center.

I have created a Search Center as shown below. First give a search query and in the results page, we will add the Twitter Results federated location.

In the search result page, edit the page and you will see options for adding the web part as shown below

After adding the Federated Results webpart, configure the results as shown below.

That’s it. We are done. Save the webpart and give a search keyword and test. You will be able to see the results from the intranet and from the internet search results (here Twitter).

You can download the Twitter FLD file from here.

Enjoy SharePoint using!

Read More

Federated Search Results in SharePoint

In this article, we are going to discuss about another interesting topic called Federated Search which came up with the MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server), when Microsoft updated the Infrastructure in SharePoint.

What is Federated Search?

Federate - Characterized by unity or being or joined into a single entity
Federation allows users to send the same query (search keyword) to multiple independent repositories, and display the results from each in its own region on a results page.

Advantages
1. It is helpful, when the search data is stored in the multiple repositories or to display results from various locations
2. We can bring the results from various social networking sites (Twitter, YouTube, Flickr etc.,) and search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.,) easily in our search results page
3. Displaying the results from various sites and search engines allows the user to view the results from different source in a single page
4. We can display different types of results like Sites, Images, Videos, etc., This allows the users to interact with the site more easily.

Disadvantages

1.If we are using this federated search results in a corporate intranet, then there will be security issue. This is because, all the search queries/keyword (which may be confidential to a company) will be sent to the search engines. This search engines will store the data for some time, even after querying the results.

2. We cannot crawl the results from the other sources (Search Servers) and store the index

Hope this helps you!


Also, read about Configuring a Federated Results for Twitter in SharePoint 2010 and using it in this article.

Read More

Programmatically Creating Site Backup in SharePoint

In the previous article, we have discussed about creating and restoring the SharePoint site using stsadm command.

In this article, we will see how to take the backup of the site using SharePoint Object Model.The below is the code that will create the backup of the site and log the information in a log file.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;

namespace SiteBackUp
{
    public class SiteBackup
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
         siteBackup("http://servername:portnumber","SharePointSiteBackup");   
        }
        public static void siteBackup(string siteURL,string fileName)
        {
            try 
            {
                SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
                {
                    using(SPSite objSite=new SPSite(siteURL))
                    {
                        using(SPWeb objWeb=objSite.OpenWeb())
                        {
                            bool currentSiteStatus=objSite.AllowUnsafeUpdates;
                            objSite.AllowUnsafeUpdates=true;
                            bool currentWebStatus=objWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates;
                            objWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates=true;
                            string comment = objWeb.Title+"- Creating Backup is completed";
                            SPSiteCollection siteCollection=objSite.WebApplication.Sites;
                            objSite.ReadOnly=true;
                            string time=DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");
                            string backupName= "D:\\SiteBackup\\Backup" + fileName+"_"+time+".bak";
                            siteCollection.Backup(siteURL,backupName,false);
                            objSite.AllowUnsafeUpdates=currentSiteStatus;
                            objWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates=currentWebStatus;
                            if(objSite.ReadOnly==true)
                            {
                               objSite.ReadOnly=false;
                               siteBackupLog(comment);
                            }                        
                         }
                    }
                });
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                SPSite site = new SPSite(siteURL);
                if (site.ReadOnly == true)
                    site.ReadOnly = false;
                siteBackupLog(ex.Message);
            }
        }
        public static void siteBackupLog(string message)
        {
            string PathName = "C:\\SiteBackup logs\\";
            PathName = PathName + "Backuplog-" + DateTime.Now.ToString("dd-MM-yyyy") + ".log";
            StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(PathName, true);
            sw.WriteLine(message + " - " + DateTime.Now);
            sw.Flush();
            sw.Close();
        }
    }
}

Hence, we can automate creating backup of the SharePoint site using code. Also, the whole code created in visual studio can be downloaded here.

Happy Coding!

Read More