Some content databases are growing too large!

Many of us has surely came across this exception but today while monitoring the health analyzer, this error has caught my attention-

Some content databases are growing too large

Explanation:

The following content databases have grown larger than 100 GB.  Large content databases can be difficult to backup and restore.  They are also more likely to cause application hangs when operations that affect entire databases are performed.

Remedy:

Prevent new sites from being added to these databases by clicking the repair button or by going to http://CentralAdministrationURL/_admin/cntdbadm.aspx .  Then, move some site collections to smaller databases. For more information about this rule, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=142693.

Microsoft has already published an article on this with proper recommendations: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh685079%28v=office.15%29.aspx

I would like to know your views on this error message?

Note: If you find a different solution, please report it as a comment to this post. Be sure to double-verify it: undo your solution and verify that the problem comes back, then redo it and verify that the problem goes away.

My Suggestions:

1.   Before doing anything, I would suggest you to login to your SQL Server & check the exact file size of your web application’s content database and the logs files associated with it. Especially the log file!

2.   If your database is within the recommended size then you can safely ignore this alert.

3.   If log file size is the problem then you can definitely shrink it but I would suggest don’t shrink the content database too often as it’s not recommended.  

4.   If your database has already hit the 100GB size then I would suggest you to create a new database and move some site collections to new database and ensure the first database (for which you got the alert) should be within 100GB size.

5.   Additionally you have the option of “Repair Automatically” – which will run the timer job and remove this alert.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Product applies to:-

1.   SharePoint Server 2010

2.   SharePoint Foundation 2010

References:-

Storage and SQL server capacity planning:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298801.aspx

Merge content databases:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262923.aspx

Deploy by using DBA created databases:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262869.aspx

Proxy creation failed. Unable to get the application proxy.

I have publishing the external content type via SharePoint Designer and it’s been successfully displayed in the Central Administration too but while adding the list on the site; it’s throwing an error as follows

Error Message:

Unable to display this Web Part. To troubleshoot the problem, open this Web page in a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation-compatible HTML editor such as Microsoft SharePoint Designer. If the problem persists, contact your Web server administrator.

I checked the logs and found the following traces:

Proxy creation failed. Unable to get the application proxy

Error while executing web part: Microsoft.BusinessData.Infrastructure.BdcException: The shim execution failed unexpectedly - Unable to obtain the application proxy for the context.. ---> Microsoft.Office.SecureStoreService.Server.SecureStoreServiceException: Unable to obtain the application proxy for the context.     at Microsoft.Office.SecureStoreService.Server.SecureStoreProvider.get_Proxy()     at Microsoft.Office.SecureStoreService.Server.SecureStoreProvider.GetRestrictedCredentials(String appId)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SystemSpecific.Db.DbConnectionManager.GetConnection()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SystemSpecific.Db.DbSystemUtility.ExecuteStatic(IMethodInstance methodInstance, ILobSystemInstance lobSystemInstance, Object[] args, IExecutionContext context...     c8cfe618-7d0b-4dd0-bb87-55fe239f183b

There are most probably two possible reasons for this issue as:

1.   Service connection proxy

2.   Displaying number of records in a list as there is default value: 2000

Let’s try to see the resolutions for both the reasons!

Resolution#1: (for Service connection proxy)

1.   Open the central administration

2.   Application management

3.   Service Applications

4.   Configure service application associations

5.   Check the web application in which your site exist

6.   Check the “application proxy group” column

7.   Make sure the BDC and secure store service applications check boxes are mark,

8.   If they are not then please tick the check box and click OK

Resolution#2: (for displaying number of records)

1.   Open the SharePoint 2010 management PowerShell console

2.   Type the following command: Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy

3.   You will get the list of service application along with their GUID’s

4.   Copy the BCS service application GUID and paste it in notepad

5.   Now check the existing values by using this command:

Get-SPBusinessDataCatalogThrottleConfig-Scope ThrottleType Items Database-GUID-ServiceApplicationProxy

6.   Once you know the values then you will come to know that the default value is 2000 and we need to change that! How? See below-

Get-SPBusinessDataCatalogThrottleConfig –Scope Database –ThrottleType Items –ServiceApplicationProxy $contosoServAppProxy | Set-SPBusinessDataCatalogThrottleConfig –Maximum 1000000000 –Default 500000

Reference:

a)   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607904%28v=office.15%29.aspx

b)   http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bcs/archive/2010/02/16/bcs-powershell-introduction-and-throttle-management.aspx

That’s it- You are done. Check your results now and the error shouldn’t be there now!

Note:

If you find a different solution, please report it as a comment to this post. Be sure to double-verify it: undo your solution and verify that the problem comes back, then redo it and verify that the problem goes away.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Product Applies To:

SharePoint Server 2010