Unable to process the request . Wait a few minutes and try performing this operation again

Issue Description

Recently I came across this issue where some of the end users were getting an error message when they tried to open an Excel file in SharePoint in the browser.

Unable to process the request.

Wait a few minutes and try performing this operation again.

Cause

The Excel Services Application server computer is in a non-valid state and may need to be restarted.

Resolution

Most of the online articles were asking me to restart the Central Administration server.I did not want to do that and found a different fix.

Identify the application pool running the Excel Services service application (from IIS) and Recycle it.

1) Start –>Run –> inetmgr

2) Under the Sites click on SharePoint Web Services. This will list down the Services in SharePoint.

3) Click on each GUID –> Change the view from Features View to Content View

4) On finding ExcelService.asmx -> Right click that web service -> Manage Application -> Advanced Settings.

5) Identify the Application Pool (make a note of this).

6) Now in IIS –> Application Pools –> choose the Application Pool you noted down in previous step   -> Recycle (recycle the application pool).

Identify the Application Pool for a Service Application

1) Start –>Run –> inetmgr

2) Under the Sites click on SharePoint Web Services. This will list down the Services in SharePoint.

3) Click on each GUID –> Change the view from Features View to Content View

4) On finding SearchService.svc -> Right click that web service -> Manage Application -> Advanced Settings.

5) Identify the Application Pool (make a note of this).

6) Now in IIS –> Application Pools –> choose the Application Pool you noted down in previous step   -> Recycle (recycle the application pool).

Internal server error exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Error Description

Recently I came across this error with SharePoint Search. I was searching in a SharePoint list and got the below error.

Error

Internal server error exception:

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

On checking the ULS logs I found the below entries

01/28/2015 10:59:51.10         w3wp.exe (0x31D8)                0x2030    SharePoint Server Search      Query      fm9a        Unexpected                CoreResultsWebPart::OnInit: Exception initializing: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.SetPropertiesOnQueryReader()     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.OnInit(EventArgs e)               7001a8bf-b506-4096-b46b-003fbb5ec91b

01/28/2015 10:59:51.10         w3wp.exe (0x31D8)                0x2030    SharePoint Server Search      Query      g1j9         Exception                Internal server error exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.SetPropertiesOnQueryReader()     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.OnInit(EventArgs e) System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.SetPropertiesOnQueryReader()     at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.CoreResultsWebPart.OnInit(EventArgs e)               7001a8bf-b506-4096-b46b-003fbb5ec91b

01/28/2015 10:59:51.10         w3wp.exe (0x31D8)                0x2030    SharePoint Server  Unified Logging Service       c91s        Monitorable                Watson bucket parameters: SharePoint Server 2010, ULSException14, 06175311 "sharepoint server search", 0e001b67 "14.0.7015.0", 17853a8f "microsoft.office.server.search", 0e001bd1 "14.0.7121.0", 531f1826 "tue mar 11 10:05:26 2014", 000032a4 "000032a4", 0000002d "0000002d", 4a6d3421 "nullreferenceexception", 67316a39 "g1j9"    7001a8bf-b506-4096-b46b-003fbb5ec91b

Solution 1

If you go into Central Administration -> System Settings -> Manage Services on Server. Make sure the below services are started.

- SharePoint Server Search

- Search Query and Site Settings Service

Solution 2

Click through all the Search Administration pages in Central Admin.Click through all the Search Administration pages in Central Admin. Now perform the search again. The issue should have disappeared.

Solution 3

Identify the underlying application pool for search (Reference)

Perform an application pool recycle

SharePoint Crawled Properties and Managed Properties

Last year, when I had an interview, I was asked the difference between crawled property and managed property. Though I have come across this multiple times and even after working on Search Project, I could not give a satisfactory answer.(honestly ,even for me the answer was not satisfactory)

So what is Crawled Property and Managed Property in SharePoint ???

Crawled Properties and Managed Properties are very basic SharePoint concepts but they are building elements of SharePoint Search. Below is an example which might help you understand this in a better way.

SharePoint crawls data from different sources. The data in these various source systems have metadata which can have different names but it refers to the same information.

As an example different systems can store the information about the Author in various systems with the name as :

Author

Created By

Writer

Owner

and in case of emails it is stored in field From.

But all these fields represent the same information which represent who has created this.

Now when SharePoint crawl these various systems , all these properties become Crawled Properties.

In SharePoint we can group all these Crawled Properties under one Managed Properties.

The below image is a pictorial representation of what I said above.

Note

One crawled property can be part of multiple Managed Properties.

Managed property can be used in scopes, refiners..etc.

Cascading Drop-Down List in a SharePoint 2010 List

Cascading Drop-Down List in a SharePoint 2010 List

This post explains how to implement a Cascading Drop-Down List in a SharePoint 2010 List using jQuery and SPServices. To implement a Cascading Drop-Down List in a SharePoint 2010 List using jQuery and SPServices follow the below steps.

Steps

1. Create a Country custom list

Country List

2. Create a State Custom list with a Country lookup column.

Look up Column Settings

State List

3. Download the following jquery files and upload in your Sharepoint site in site Assets library in a folder named JSLibrary(Create the folder if is not present).

jquery-1.4.2.min.js

jquery.SPServices-0.5.7.min.js

4. Create a CascadeDropDownList with Country and State lookup columns.

5. Select the Default New Form under the List tab of the newly created List CascadeDropDownList.

6. Add a HTML Form Web Part and select Edit HTML Source under the Format Text Tab.

7. Copy and Paste the following code in the HTML Editor:

<script language="javascript" src="/SiteAssets/JSLibrary/jquery-1.4.2.min.js" type="text/javascript"> 

</script> <script language="javascript" src="/SiteAssets/JSLibrary/jquery.SPServices-0.5.7.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> 

<script type="text/javascript"> 

  $(document).ready(function() { 

            $().SPServices.SPCascadeDropdowns({ 

                relationshipList: "State", 

                relationshipListParentColumn: "Country", 

                relationshipListChildColumn: "Title", 

                relationshipListSortColumn: "ID", 

                parentColumn: "Country", 

                childColumn: "State", 

                promptText: "Choose State...", 

                debug: true 

            }); 

}); 

</script>

SharePoint 2010 Error Message : The current page has been customized from its template. Revert to template

Error Description

Recently I noticed that there was message like this on a SharePoint site Home Page.

The current page has been customized from its template. Revert to template

The below steps hides this message and is not a fix

1. Edit the page in browser and then click on Add webpart, from media and content webpart select Content Editor webpart.

2. Then in the content editor web part Click on "Click here to add new content" to edit the contents of the web part.

3. In the Ribbon, go to the Format Text section, select HTML in the Markup group, and choose HTML Source.

4. Now paste the below code and save the page.

<style type="text/css">

    body #pageStatusBar{height:0px; font-size:0px; padding:0px; border-style:none;}

</style>

How to create a SharePoint State Service application through PowerShell

If you configure the SharePoint service applications manually and not run the configuration wizard, you will miss creating the State Service Application as it is not listed down as a service application option in Central Administration -> Manage Service applications page. ( This Service Application is not available for creation in the New dialog in Central Administration, Manage Service Application)

So it should be created through PowerShell. Below are the commands to create one :

$serviceApp = New-SPStateServiceApplication -Name "State Service Application"

New-SPStateServiceDatabase -Name "SharePoint_Service_State" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp

New-SPStateServiceApplicationProxy -Name "State Service Application Proxy" -ServiceApplication $serviceApp -DefaultProxyGroup

Related Post

SharePoint Search Service Application Creation through PowerShell

Search service Application can be created and configured through Central Administration and PowerShell as well. The below commands creates the Search Service Application and the associated databases.Further configuration can be done from Central Administration. The main purpose of doing this is to create search related databases without GUID’s.

$SSADB = "SearchDB”

$SSAName = "Search Service Application"

$SVCAcct = "Domain\UserName"

$SSI = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -local

1. Start Services search services for SSI

Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $SSI

2. Create an Application Pool.

$AppPool = New-SPServiceApplicationPool -Name $SSAName" AppPool" -account $SVCAcct

3. Create the SearchApplication and set it to a variable

$SearchApp = New-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication -Name $SSAName -Applicationpool $AppPool -DatabaseName $SSADB

4. Create search service application proxy

$SSAProxy = New-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplicationProxy -Name $SSAName" ApplicationProxy" -Uri $SearchApp.Uri.AbsoluteURI

5. Provision Search Admin Component.

Set-SPEnterpriseSearchAdministrationComponent -SearchApplication $SearchApp -SearchServiceInstance $SSI

The database names would be as below by running the above PowerShell.

Administration Database: SearchDB

Crawl Database: SearchDB_CrawlStore

Property Database: SearchDB_PropertyStore

"Your local machine time zone does not match your current SharePoint regional setting" warning message in an Access web database in a SharePoint site

Error Description

When you open a Microsoft Access web database in a SharePoint site, you receive the following warning message: “Your local machine time zone does not match your current SharePoint regional setting. Operations involving dates will not work correctly”

Cause

This problem occurs because a different time zone is used in the regional settings of Windows and the SharePoint server.

Fix

To resolve this problem, follow these steps.

1. Identify the time zone setting in the SharePoint site to which the Access web database is published. To do this, follow these steps:

a. At the top of the SharePoint site, click the arrow next to Welcome <User name>, and then click My Settings.

b. On the User Information page, click My Regional Settings.

c. In the Follow Web Settings section of the Regional Settings page, make sure that the Always follow web settings check box is selected.

d. Check the Time Zone setting.

2. Set Windows and the SharePoint server to the same time zone. To do this, follow these steps:

a. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then open the Date and Time item.

b. In the Date and Time item, click Change time zone, and then select the time zone that is used by the SharePoint site.

Reference

How to create a SharePoint Usage and Health Data Collection Service Application through PowerShell

Usage and Health Data Collection Service Application collects Data about Usage and Health of your farm. This information is used for Health Monitoring and this is also required for running the Web Analytics Service. If you do not have a Usage and Health Data Collection Service Application or your Usage and Health Data Collection Proxy is stopped, you will not see any data in the Web Analytics Report.

You cannot create Usage and Health Data Collection Service Application from Central Admnistration.

You have to use PowerShell for this :

New-SPUsageApplication -Name “UsageAppName” -DatabaseServer “DBServerName” -DatabaseName “DBName”

$Usage = Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy | where {$_.TypeName -eq “Usage and Health Data Collection Proxy”}

$Usage.provision()

More information

SharePoint Service Accounts Required for a Mid-Size Farm

Below is a table which lists down the service accounts and their roles in a mid-size SharePoint farm.

This is just my personal recommendations based on my experience and the requirements my farm had. Based on the SharePoint features you use, you can have additional service accounts. You can run a farm with one service account also. But that would not be a Microsoft recommended practice.

Account Name	Role	Permissions needed
SP_SETUP	Setup Account. This account will be used to install SharePoint binaries	SharePoint Server : Local administrator on all SharePoint servers SQL Server : dbcreator and securityadmin
SP_FARM	Farm account. This account will be used for Windows Timer Service, Central Admin etc.	SharePoint Server : Local administrator on all SharePoint servers
SP_WEB	This account will be used Application pool ID for  web applications
SP_APP	This account will be used  Application pool ID for  service applications
SP_SRCH	This account will be used  Application pool ID for  Search Service application
SP_CRWL	This account will be used as  Search Crawl account
SP_SUSR	This account will be used SharePoint Portal Super User account	Web application Policy : Full Control
SP_SRDR	This account will be used  SharePoint Portal Super Reader account	Web application Policy : Full read
SP_UPS	This account will be used as User Profile services account	Must have Replicating Directory Changes permissions to AD

SharePoint 2010: Event 7043 "Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed"

Error Description

You install Microsoft SharePoint 2010 RTM on Windows 2008 R2, you receive the following error message multiple times in the application event log:

Event Type: Error

Event Source: SharePoint Foundation

Event Category: None

Event ID: 7043

Computer: SERVERNAME

Description: Load control template file /_controltemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx failed: Could not load type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TaxonomyPicker' from assembly 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c'.

Error Cause

The ULS log is created in a code path where all control templates are loaded into the web application. This is a one-time process which happens just before showing any UI to the user after an IISReset.The source of the problem looks like a stale control template in the control templates folder while the control itself has been removed from the code base.

Fix

This is not causing any issues except for a wrong ULS log message a single time in a web application process life time, the exception is caught and that template file is skipped. This message should be treated as log noise and can be ignored.

1. Navigate to /14/TEMPLATE/ControlTemplates/TaxonomyPicker.ascx user control

2. Open the user control in a text editor and locate the first line

3. Find the character string &#44; and replace with a comma ‘,’ (without quotes).

4. Save the user control

Reference

How to create a new content database for a web application

New-SPContentDatabase

The New-SPContentDatabase cmdlet creates a new content database and attaches it to the specified Web application.

New-SPContentDatabase [-Name] <String> [-WebApplication] <SPWebApplicationPipeBind> [-AssignmentCollection <SPAssignmentCollection>] [-AssignNewDatabaseId <SwitchParameter>] [-ChangeSyncKnowledge <SwitchParameter>] [-ClearChangeLog <SwitchParameter>] [-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]] [-DatabaseCredentials <PSCredential>] [-DatabaseServer <String>] [-MaxSiteCount <Int32>] [-WarningSiteCount <Int32>] [-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]]

Example

New-SPContentDatabase "MyDatabase" -DatabaseServer "MyServer" -WebApplication http://sitename

Additional details

Cache settings operations in SharePoint Server

SharePoint Server provides four types of caches that help improve the speed at which web pages load in the browser:

1. BLOB cache

2. Page output cache

3. Object cache

4. Anonymous search results cache

The BLOB cache is enabled and configured in the Web.config file in the web application to which you want to apply the cache. The page output cache and object cache are usually configured in the user interface at the site collection level. Certain settings for these caches can also be configured at the web application level. The changes that you make to the Web.config file will be applied to all site collections and sites within the web application, and will supersede any configuration made at the site collection level or below.

Note : To use the page output cache or the object cache, you must be using the Publishing feature on your site.

BLOB cache

SharePoint Server provides a disk-based cache that stores files that are used by web pages to help them load quickly in the browser, and reduces the load on the database server when it uses those files. These files are known as binary large objects (BLOBs), and the cache is known as the BLOB cache. The BLOB cache is stored directly on the hard disk drive of a front-end web server computer. The first time that a web page is called, these files are copied from the database to the cache on the server hard disk drive, and all subsequent requests for those files are then served from the hard disk drive cache of the server. By default, the BLOB cache is off and must be enabled to use the functionality it provides. When you enable the BLOB cache on your front-end web server, you reduce the load on the SharePoint Server database server created by read requests from web browsers.

Page output cache profiles

The page output cache stores the rendered output of a page. It also stores different versions of the cached page, based on the permissions of the users who are requesting the page. Page output cache settings can be configured at the site collection level, at the site level, and for page layouts. By default, the page output cache is turned off. The page output cache uses cache profiles that specify how long items should be held in the cache. You can specify different cache profiles to be used for anonymous and authenticated users, which optimizes the use of the cache based on the authentication methods that are allowed on the site. You can configure cache profile settings for a web application by editing the Web.config file on the application server. The cache profile settings that you configure at the web application level will be used for all cache profiles in the site collections for that web application.

Object cache

The object cache reduces the amount of traffic between the web server and the SQL database by storing objects - such as lists and libraries, site settings, and page layouts - in memory on the front-end web server computer. As a result, the pages that require these items can be rendered quickly, increasing the speed with which pages are delivered to the client browser. Object cache settings can be configured at the web application level, and at the site collection level. By default, the object cache is on at the site collection level. You can optimize the object cache for a web application by specifying the size of the object cache. Specifying a larger number can enhance performance for some large sites at the cost of memory on each front-end web server. You can configure other settings for the object cache at site collection level.

Anonymous search results cache

The anonymous search results cache is primarily used by publishing sites that allow access to anonymous users. It saves search results from anonymous users and reuses them for later queries that are the same as the original query. This improves performance on site pages that use the Content Search Web Part.