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Posts Tagged ‘sharepoint 2007’:


Clear the SharePoint Configuration (Timer) Cache

Published by in Sharepoint, Windows on September 14th, 2011 | No Comments »

The config cache is where we cache configuration information (stored in the config database) on each server in the farm.  Caching the data on each server prevents us from having to make SQL calls to pull this information from the configuration database. It is full of XML files containing configuration objects.  The SharePoint configuration cache is where configuration information from the SharePoint configuration database is stored on each server in the farm.  Caching the data from the config database as XML files on the web front ends and application servers prevents multiple calls to SQL Server thus improving performance.  This is a feature in WSS & MOSS 2007 as well as SharePoint 2010.

Sometimes this cache can become corrupted. This issue can come up when developing timer job definitions . These definitions use this cache, so everytime you deploy new versions of the assemblies, you’ll have to clear the cache.  Also, when the cached data becomes out of sync with what’s in the configuration database, timer jobs may start failing.  This will occur if the contents of the file system cache on the front-end servers are newer than the contents of the configuration database, so after you perform a system recovery you may have to manually clear the file system cache on a server as well.  Another of the reasons your cache could be out of sync is if the Timer service on your servers was stopped or failed unexpectedly.

If you are experiencing issues with WSS/MOSS/SharePoint timer jobs failing to complete or you are receiving errors trying to run psconfig, clearing the configuration cache on the farm or a problem server is a possible method for resolving the issue.

To clear the configuration cache, Follow these steps:

First, stop the timer service on the server.

Next, navigate to: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config

You will see 2 folders in this directory.  Both are named with GUIDs.  Open them up and be sure NOT to touch the one with the PERSITEDFILEs.  Find the one that is filled with XML files.

In the directory with the XML config files, delete everything except cache.ini.  Then, edit the cache.ini file so that it just contains one line with a “1″.

Now, restart the Timer service on the server and watch for the folder to start repopulating the folder.

If this is a single-server farm, or if there is only one problem server, this may be all you need but I recommend doing it on all the web front ends and the application servers in the farm.

Once you are done, go into Central Admin and check your timer job status.  You should see a timer job for “Config Refresh”.  Verify that this job shows a status of succeeded.

Now you’re good to go.

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SharePoint 2007 Calendar Sync with Outlook Only Updating Certain Fields

Published by in Sharepoint, Windows on August 17th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

So I ran into an interesting issue recently.  We had a SharePoint 2007 installation with a calendar list.  The end users sync the calendar to their Outlook as a shared calendar.  All of the client computers running a variety of Windows XP, Vista, and 7 with Outlook 2003 & 2007.

NOTE 9/14: This process can help to resolve several sync issues between Outlook and SharePoint Calendars.  If you are receiving Failed to copy one of more items because some are not compatible with SharePoint error or somethign different, this may still be something to check out.

The issue we ran into was when a user would update an event, whether they did it via Outlook or SharePoint, not all of the fields would update.  The new description, title, modified by, modified date/time, and event date/time would show correctly in the SharePoint calendar, but the user’s Outlook would not have the proper modified by & modified date/time.  This may not seem like a big deal at first glance, but the root cause of this issue can cause other sync issues as well, in case you’re hunting some down.

There were no error codes during the Outlook send/receive, no errors in SharePoint, and nothing in the sync issues folder in Outlook so it definitely took me a while to find anything on this.  I finally got to the point where I decided to open the SharePoint list in Access.  By doing this, you can look for corruptions in the list or just anomolies.

In order to view the list in Access, you need to be viewing the list from a machine that has Access installed on it.  Then, make sure your view is showing all list content and click Actions> Open in Microsoft Access.  You will want to create an  active link so you can edit the list from Access.  Once you have it open, look for anything that looks improperly formatted.  I did not find anything that looked corrupt, but I did notice that there were several items that did not have a title.  I went back and checked the list’s required fields.  Start Date, End Date, and Title were all set to required.

So, how did this happen?  It was most likely just a user error, but the problem is that when users create an appointmentin the calendar via Outlook, Outlook does not enforce the rules you put on the SharePoint list.  So, to resolve, all I had to do was remove those items that didn’t meet the rules for required fields (or you can simply modify them to meet your rules, if you’d prefer).  Then, just have users do another send/receive and it should resolve.  Although there were a couple users who were still having issues.  The only thing you need to do if they still have issues is remove the calendar from their Outlook and have them recreate the connection.

To do that, in Outlook, go to Tools > Account Settings >SharePoint Lists tab > then remove the calendar.  Then, have them go to the calendar in SharePoint and click Actions > Connect to Outlook.  They should be good to go.

Hopefully this helps resolve some sync issues for you all.  Feel free to comment if you have any other sync issues or questions.

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SharePoint 2007 Site Collection Issues After Patching

Published by in Sharepoint, Windows on June 27th, 2011 | No Comments »

In one of the environments I work in, we have a SharePoint 2007 server on Server 2003.  Recently we applied our June Windows patches and the April cumulative update (CU) packs for WSS 3.0 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2512783) & SharePoint 2007 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2512782).  As a note, if you aren’t patching your SharePoint with the CUs as per this site, I would highly recommend a change.  Check out the site and decide for yourself.  Anyway, after patching I had users complaing of certain menu items disappearing.  Namely, the “Settings” options for just about everything.  I went in to check it out and noticed the “Site Settings” was gone from the site menu even though I am the site collection administrator.  I was able to get to it via the direct url (<site url>/_layouts/settings.aspx), but things were not quite right.  I also noticed I could not modify permissions for the site collection.

Everything seemed to be functioning as far as the site would display for users, noone was denied access, they just weren’t able to modify workflows or lists or anything.  I also found it strange that it was only affecting 1 site collection of 1 web application on the server.  I ended up discovering that the site was set in readonly mode.  The content DBs are locked during patching and backups, sometimes if the process is interupted they can remain locked afterwards.  The way to check whether there are any locks on any of your sites is via this command (remember to change your prompt to the 12-hive, C:\Program Files\common files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN):

 

stsadm -o getsitelock -url http://server_name

 

If it returns anything other than “none”, something is locked. Now, remember, if you are during backup/patching timeframe, someone else may be doing something that requires a db lock.  In order to release all locks on your server and return to normalcy, run this command:

 

stsadm -o setsitelock -url http://server_name -lock none

 

Now, you should be good to go. If you notice lingering issues, or anything different, let me know. I’d be glad to help look into it.

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Installing SharePoint 2007 on Server 2008 R2

Published by in Sharepoint, Windows on March 13th, 2011 | No Comments »

This process is really simple, but when I was doing it, I kept running into issues and all the how-to’s I found had something missing.  Here is my process for installing SharePoint 2007 on Server 2008 R2.

First off, MOSS 2007 will not install on Server 2008 R2 without SharePoint service pack 1.  For me, we were moving over an install that did not have SP2 installed yet, so I only slipped in SP1, but for a fresh install, I would recommend slipping in SP2 instead. This guide uses SP1 and we assume you already have a SQL server and AD configured.  A note, the account you use when you run the products & technologies configureation wizard after install must have dbcreator & securityadmin rights in SQL Server.

To start, take all of the files from your install disc and copy them to a local directory on the server.  For Argument, we will use C:\MOSS2007Install.

Next, download WSS 3.0 SP1 and OSS 2007 SP1.  You will extract them both to the C:\MOSS2007Install\updates folder.  Make sure you extract WSS 3.0 SP1 first.  Use the following command:

<path\filename of servicepack.exe> /extract

It will prompt you to browse to a directory where you want to extract the files.  Choose the updates folder mentioned before.

Once both service packs have been extracted to the updates folder, you will want to delete the file C:\MOSS2007Install\updates\wsssetup.dll.  This is very important, I tried the install several times without doing this and the install would not complete, it will just hang and timeout.

Next, you will install the .NET 3.0 framework to your server.  Open server manager and go to Features, then “Add Features”.  You will select the .NET 3.0 Framework and continue through that installation.

Now you are ready to run the setup.exe file in the MOSS2007Install folder.

Once MOSS install finishes, goto Roles, then “Add Roles”.  You will add the “Web Server(IIS)” role.  You will also want to add whatever authentication you plan to use (basic, windows, etc.).

After the install finishes, reboot and run the Products & Technologies configurations wizard.  You should be good to go.

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