"Search Service Host Controller" struck in "Starting" state

Errors:

Log Name:      Application
Source:        Application Error
Date:          12/30/2013 3:16:15 PM
Event ID:      1000
Task Category: (100)
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Description:
Faulting application name: hostcontrollerservice.exe, version: 15.0.4420.1017, time stamp: 0x50672c2d
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17965, time stamp: 0x506dcae6
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x000000000000bccd
Faulting process id: 0x1e2c
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf0543f8ebade4
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Search\HostController\hostcontrollerservice.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 38fba41d-7137-11e3-bb81-005056a04313
Event Xml:

 
    hostcontrollerservice.exe
    15.0.4420.1017
    50672c2d
    KERNELBASE.dll
    6.1.7601.17965
    506dcae6
    e0434352
    000000000000bccd
    1e2c
    01cf0543f8ebade4
    C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Search\HostController\hostcontrollerservice.exe
    C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll
    38fba41d-7137-11e3-bb81-005056a04313
 

(Or)

Log Name:      Application
Source:        .NET Runtime
Date:          12/30/2013 3:16:15 PM
Event ID:      1026
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Description:
Application: hostcontrollerservice.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException
Stack:
   at Microsoft.Ceres.HostController.WcfServer.WcfService.StartService()
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()


 
    Application: hostcontrollerservice.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException
Stack:
   at Microsoft.Ceres.HostController.WcfServer.WcfService.StartService()
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()


(Or)

"Search Service Host Controller" struck in "Starting" state

Reason:
You will get this error when you are trying to start the "Search Service Host Controller" or Your Search may not be started due to this service.

Solution:
This issue killed me a lot.. :(
After a long research I have found that this "Search Host Controller" will work only if some of the supporting services are running.
So make sure that the below services are up and running in the "Services.msc" console.

1. Net. Tcp Port Sharing Service
2. Net. Tcp Listener Adapter
3. Remote Registry
4. Appfabric Caching Service

Also I have changed the user name in the "C:\program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\DistributedCacheService.exe.config". See the screenshot below.

Previously the "account" attribute had "Local Service" and I changed to the "farm Administrator" account.
I am not sure the last step also helped me to resolve the issue.

But now the "Search Service Host Controller" is working fine and the Search crawler is started the "Full crawl"

Thats it...

Failed to connect to hosts in the cluster

Issue:

Use-CacheCluster : ErrorCode:SubStatus:Failed to connect to hosts in the cluster At line:1 char:1
+ Use-CacheCluster
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Use-CacheCluster], DataCacheException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheException,Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Commands.UseCacheClusterCommand

Reason:

You will get this error when you are running the " Use-CacheCluster" command in powershell. The reason is the "Remote Registry" service might not be running.

Solution:
1. Go to "Run" window and type "Services.msc"
2. If the "Remote Registry" service is stopped, then make it as "Automatic" and "Start" the service.

Thats it...

Cannot connect to the SharePoint site: http://MachineName:5000/sites/xyz/. Make sure that the Site URL is valid and that the current user has the necessary permissions to access the site.

Errors:

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
SharePoint Connection Error

Cannot connect to the SharePoint site: http://MachineName:5000/sites/dev/. Make sure that the Site URL is valid and that the current user has the necessary permissions to access the site.

Additional information:

"The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error."


(Or)

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
SharePoint Connection Error

Cannot connect to the SharePoint site: http://MachineName:5000/sites/dev/. Make sure that the Site URL is valid and that the current user has the necessary permissions to access the site.

Additional information:

"Cannot contact site at the specified URL http://MachineName:5000/sites/dev/."


Reason:
You might have provided entry to that SharePoint server in your "hosts" file. The "hosts" file will be under "c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc".

Solution:
1. Go to that folder and edit the "hosts" file in Notepad and remove the "mapping" for that server.
2. Reset the IIS.
3. Close and re-open the Visual Studio 2012.
4. Now create the Solution in Visual Studio and you will not see this error.

That't it....

"403 forbidden" Error when editing "Content Sources" in SharePoint 2013 to Configure the Search.

Errors:

"403 forbidden" Error when editing "Content Sources" in SharePoint 2013 to Configure the Search.

(Or)

"403 forbidden" error when adding "New Content Source" in SharePoint 2013 to Configure the Search.

(Or)

Faulting application name: hostcontrollerservice.exe, version: 15.0.4420.1017, time stamp: 0x50672c2d
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17965, time stamp: 0x506dcae6
Exception code: 0xe0434352
Fault offset: 0x000000000000bccd
Faulting process id: 0xeb0
Faulting application start time: 0x01ceefdd94d681b1
Faulting application path: D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Search\HostController\hostcontrollerservice.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll

(Or)

Application: hostcontrollerservice.exe

Framework Version: v4.0.30319

Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.

Exception Info: System.ServiceModel.CommunicationException

Stack:

   at Microsoft.Ceres.HostController.WcfServer.WcfService.StartService()

   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)

   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)

   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)

   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

Reason:

Microsoft only knows the actual reason. :) But the "Tasks" folder in the server does not have "Read" & "Write" access for the WSS_WPG account.

Solution:

You need to provide the Read & Write access permission to the "WSS_WPG" user in  "C:\Windows\Tasks" folder.

Procedure or function proc_SecGetIndividualUrlSecurityCheckEventReceivers expects parameter @MinLevel, which was not supplied.

Issues:

Unknown SQL Exception 201 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.


Procedure or function 'proc_SecGetIndividualUrlSecurityCheckEventReceivers' expects parameter '@MinLevel', which was not supplied.

(Or)

Unable to delete the File or Folder or Library or List from SharePoint 2010 portal.

(Or)

Unknown SQL Exception 208 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

Invalid object name 'TVF_Sites_NoLock_Id'.

(Or)

Unknown SQL Exception 208 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

Invalid object name 'TVF_Docs_NoLock_Url'.
Invalid object name 'TVF_Docs_Url'.

(Or)

Unknown SQL Exception 208 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

Invalid object name 'TVF_EventCache_UpdLock_GTId'.
Transaction count after EXECUTE indicates a mismatching number of BEGIN and COMMIT statements. Previous count = 0, current count = 1.

Reason:
The reason for these errors are you might have attached the SharePoint content database in the destination SQL Server and may trying to create a Web application based on this restored database.

(Or)

You might have updated / changed the "Versions" table value in SharePoint Content Database after restoring the destination SQL Server.

Solution:
You need to update or install the Latest SharePoint Server 2010 Cumulative Update (CU). In most of the cases, the installation of "SharePoint 2010 Oct 2011 CU" will solve the problem.

But make sure that you have restarted your server twice to take effect the fix.

Related Link: http://sensoft2000-sharepoint.blogspot.in/2013/09/this-content-database-has-schema.html

This content database has a schema version which is not supported in this farm.

Error:
This content database has a schema version which is not supported in this farm.

Reason:
Once you have taken the backup from SharePoint 2010 content database, usually you will restore the database in the target SQL server.

After restoring the database, you will try to create new "Web Application" using the restored content database. In this stage, you will get the above error message.

Solution:
Your source SQL server schema and the destination SQL server schema might not be matched. So you need to update the "Versions" table values in the "Restored Database".

1. Open "Versions" table from any of the existing "Content database"  from the Target SQL Server machine in "Select" mode.












2. Now open the "Versions" table values of "Restored Content Database" in "Edit" mode  as mentioned below.

3. Replace the "Version" field value in "Restored Content Database" by "Existing Content Database" values from "Target SQL Server" machine.

4. Now you will be able to create new "Web Application".

Thats it...

Update (14-October-2013)
The actual reason for the above issue is the "Version Mismatch" of the SharePoint server. You need to apply the latest cumulative update (CU) of the SharePoint server in the destination SharePoint server.

In my case, I have updated the "SharePoint 2010 Oct 2011 CU" and then Restarted the Server twice. The application is started to work without any issue.

Unable to connect to the Synchronization Service.

Error:

----------------------------------
Synchronization Service Manager
-----------------------------------
Unable to connect to the Synchronization Service.

Some possible reasons are:
1) The service is not started.
2) Your account is not a member of a required security group.

See the Synchronization Service documentation for details.

Reason:
The Forefront synchronization service user does not have access rights in the required permission groups.

Solution:
1. Open the "Server Manager"
2. Go to the Groups Folder
3. Select the "FIMSyncBrowse" group  and double click on it.
4. Add the respective user and Click "OK" button.
5. Do the same steps to add the same user for "FIMSyncJoiners", "FIMSyncOperators", "FIMSyncPasswordSet" groups.
6. Logoff your server and Login again.
7. Now you can see that if you click on miiclient.exe file, it will be displayed without showing error.

For More information, see the below screenshot:

That's it...

Getting error message in Central Administration after changing the IP address of SharePoint Server.

Issue:
You will get error message in Central administration after changing the IP address of SharePoint Server.

Solution:

Solution is very simple. Just follow the below mentioned steps.

1. Go to the "hosts" file folder (file path: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc").

     (Pic. 1)

2. Open the "hosts" file in "Administrator" privilege as mentioned below in Pic 2 & Pic 3.

    (Pic 2)

    (Pic. 3)

3. Update your machine name and IP Address as mentioned below.

    (Pic 4)

4. Clear all temporary internet files
5. Close all Browsers windows
6. Restart "IIS Admin Service" in "Services.msc" console.

     (Pic 5) 

7. Restart "SharePoint 2010 Administration" service.

    (Pic 6)

8. Now,  Open the browser and browse the Central admin url or your SharePoint application URL. You will be able to see the working version of SharePoint.

That's it...

How to Install and Configure SharePoint 2013 Environment in Windows 8 through VHD?

Scenario:

SharePoint 2013 cannot be installed in Windows 8. So you need separate machine with Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2012. Or you need to install the Dual Operating system in your machine. 

If you are going to install the dual  Operating system in your laptop, your warranty may be void. If you are going to use the VHD file inside the Windows 8 (open and use the SP 2013 environment within the Windows 8 environment itself using the third party VHD file handling software.), the VHD file will consume only the partial RAM of the machine, so that the performance will be very slow. For example, in the available of 8GB RAM, you might be able to allocate only 4 GB and this might not be enough to work in SharePoint 2013 development.

So what is the solution to manage the warranty, using the 100% of the RAM that is available in the machine?

You need to Download the Windows server 2012 VHD and mount it as a separate drive and then add the entry in the boot file. In future, if you do not want to continue with Windows 2012, then you can detach the VHD file from the windows 8 machine easily. 

See the below approach for detailed installation procedure.

Approach:

Before Installing and configuring the SharePoint 2013 development environment (using 90 days trial versions), the machine should meet the following requirements.

1. Hyper-v Enabled Machine

2. Windows 8

3. Minimum of 4GB RAM

4. Separate drive (ex: F:\) to copy the VHD file (for the safer side)

Checking the Hyper-V

You may have doubt that whether your machine will support the Hyper-V or not. To check this, first you need to download the “Coreinfo” command line tool which will help you to find all the required information about your machine. The tool can be downloaded from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/cc835722.

Once the tool is downloaded, you need to run the tool in the “Administrator” privilege as mentioned below. 

As displayed in the screenshot, the “Hypervisor” should be present and the “64-bit mode” also to be supported.

Enable through Bios

If this is disabled, then you need to enable in the BIOS settings. 

If Hyper-V Turned Off

If the Hyper-V is not installed in your Windows 8 machine, then you can install by Navigating to 

Control Panel -->  Programs --> Programs and Features and select Turn Windows features on or off.

On the Windows Features dialog select Hyper-V from the list of available options and this will install the Hyper-V Management Tools and Hyper-V Platform in your Windows 8 machine.

Attach the Windows Server 2012 VHD

Once the Hyper-V is enabled, then you need to download the “Windows server 2012” VHD file from the Microsoft site and this OS is valid for 180 days.

Link to Download: 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx

While downloading the Server OS, you need to select the VHD option. This will ask you to login with your live id.

Once downloaded the VHD file, you need to attach that VHD in the “Disk Management”.  To do this, just follow the below steps:

1. Right click on the “My Computer” and select the “Manage” option.

2. Select the drive which you want to attach the VHD file.

3. Right click on the “Disk Management” and select the “Attach VHD” option.

4. Click the “Browse” and then select the VHD file.

Once the VHD is attached, separate drive name will be allocated. In this article, we will consider it as “F:” drive. Then you need to add this information to the “Boot” configuration. To do this, you need to run the below command in “Administrator” privilege.

Command: bcdboot F:\windows (“F:\” is taken as example in this article.)

Now you are ready to boot with Dual operating system. Simple isn't it.. :)

When you are rebooting your machine, the system will ask you to select the operating system. You need to select the “Windows Server 2012” option.

During the first booting with windows server 2012, the server will ask you setup the time zone information, administrator and login user details. Fill all the details and you can able to see the “Windows 2012” environment.

    

Now you need to add the roles and features. For example, here we need to add the Web Server (IIS), Volume Activation services, Active Directory Domain services and Web browsing features.

Install SharePoint 2013:

To install the SharePoint 2013, you need to download the SharePoint 2013  software from the Microsoft website and this is 180 days trial version.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-in/evalcenter/hh973397.aspx

This will download the file called “SharePointServer_x64_en-us.img”. Just right click on the file to “Mount” the image file as a CD Drive. You can install the SharePoint Server 2013 from there.

Install Visual Studio 2012:

You can download and install the Visual Studio 2012 from http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads

When selecting the download option, instead of selecting the “Install Now” option, please select the “Download Now” option as shown below to download the files in your local machine.

This will download a file called “vs_ultimate_download.exe” to your local machine and from there you can install the Visual Studio 1012.

Install SharePoint Designer 2013:

To Install SharePoint designer 2013, you need to download the software from http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=35491

This will ask you whether to download the 32 bit designer or 64 bit designer. You please select the 64 bit software.

Final step

Once you have downloaded and installed all the above mentioned software then you need to configure the central admin in order to create the SP 2013 web applications.

That’s it…