Expired sessions are not being deleted, Health Analyzer Error in SharePoint 2010

Today we are going to discuss one of the errors that we have noticed in SharePoint Health Analyzer. as per that exception, here is the reflected information.

Exact Exception: Expired sessions are not being deleted from the ASP.NET Session State database.

Mentioned explanation: If expired sessions are not deleted, the server that hosts the ASP.NET Session State database may run out of disk space and the SharePoint farm may cease to function.

Remedy reflected: Connect to the server that hosts the ASP.NET Session State database, start the SQL Server Agent service, and verify that a DeleteExpiredSessions job is registered for the database. If you are using SQL Server Express, the SQL Server Agent service is not available. For more information about this rule, http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ff805085.aspx

Troubleshooting done:

Checked the timer job status named ‘State Service Delete Expired Sessions’

How we have checked this:

-Open SharePoint 2010 central administration

-Monitoring

-Timer Jobs

-Review Job definitions

-Check the job ‘State Service Delete Expired Sessions’

-By default it runs on hourly basis, so we have executed ‘Run now’ but that didn’t result any output.

Checked the stored procedure named ‘DeleteExpiredSessions’ is exist or not.

How we have checked this:

-Login to the SQL SERVER BOX by using farm account

-expand the list of databases

-look out for Session State database

-Expand the same database

-expand programmability

-expand stored procedures and you will find that above mentioned stored procedure name in that list.

-if it’s not listed there then we need to create that stored procedure.

Once you find that stored procedure then simply right click on it and execute it.

After this, simply go to the central administration-health analyser- click on that warning and select ‘reanalyse now’ option. That’s it.

Issue Resolved.

If you have any inputs regarding the above mentioned information then please share so that it would be useful for the whole SharePoint community.

In case of any queries/questions 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

SharePoint Foundation 2010

Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ff805085.aspx

The specified file is larger than the maximum supported file size, Error while trying to upload a file in SharePoint 2010 site

Here we go with one more error message along with step-by-step resolution for the whole SharePoint community.

Problem description:

One of my departmental colleague is trying to upload a file in SharePoint site and getting the following error message:

Error message:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application

The specified file is larger than the maximum supported file size.

Imp notes:-

The error message is self explanatory for those who are well versed with the SharePoint functionality, but it is quite understandable to get the confusion for those who have recently migrated to this new SharePoint version, started learning SharePoint recently and so many reason.

But nothing to worry, that’s why I am here to provide the detail instructions as how we can resolve this issue completely.

Little background on this:-

If you are facing this error message then let me clear that this limit is already defined somewhere and that’s why you are getting this exception.

In SharePoint 2010, we have a central console from where we can control all the things which is termed as ‘Central Administration’

So let’s explore this central administration to find out this defined limit.

-Open the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration

-Application management

-manage web applications

-select the correct web application

-Top side- On the web application Ribbon

-click the down arrow and select General settings button

-Go to ‘maximum upload size’ section

By default its 50MB

-Enter the appropriate value as per your requirements and select OK

Note: This setting will be applicable for the complete web application i.e. applicable for all the site collections which are a part of that web application.

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…

Cannot find history for workflow with instanceId. It may have been removed from the database + Nintex 2010

One more NINTEX issue, today I am going to discuss some more details with respect to one workflow issue which has been configured using NINTEX.

Problem Description:

The “xxxname of the workflowxxx” workflow has ended unexpectedly for ‘xxxname of the itemxxx’.

“name of the workflow” failed to start.

Click here to view the workflow status.

As soon as we click on “click here to view workflow status” then we get the following exception.

Error Message:

Cannot find history for workflow with instanceId a39c080f-1215-47eb-7f7a-6242e3882e5e. It may have been removed from the database.

Troubleshooting done:

-Checked the SharePoint logs

-Checked the event logs

-Checked the NINTEX REPORTS based on that specific site collection

-Tried opening the site in Mozilla Firefox to debug by means of FIRBUG

-Checked the workflow history exist or not for that specific list

Resolution:

From the error message, we have a instance id of the list on which we are trying to check the workflow history.

Here are some links that I have referred to get the instance id:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2010/09/22/use-powershell-to-manage-lists-views-and-items-in-sharepoint.aspx

http://geekswithblogs.net/bjackett/archive/2010/07/12/powershell-script-to-find-instances-of-running-sharepoint-workflow.aspx

http://blogs.flexnetconsult.co.uk/colinbyrne/2008/02/26/PowerShellSharePointThreeWaysToDeleteAListItemIDCAMLStringMatching.aspx

But the strange thing was the item did not exist, how did I find out this? It’s very simple…

Let’s do some analysis on the error message again!!!

The “xxxname of the workflowxxx” workflow has ended unexpectedly for ‘xxxname of the itemxxx’.

“name of the workflow” failed to start.

Click here to view the workflow status.

-now try to click on name of the workflow item

-as soon as we clicked on that item then we got the following error message:

File not found.

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Correlation ID: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx

Date and Time: xxxx-xxxxxx

From the above exception, it’s very clear that the item does not exist.

Issue resolved. We are good now…

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, also if you have any additional resolution/valuable inputs apart from the mentioned above then please share so that it would be valuable for the complete community… Thank you.

Loading this assembly would produce a different grant set from other instances in SharePoint Designer 2010

Environment entities:

-Windows server 2008 R2

-SQL server 2008

-SharePoint Server 2010 with SP1

-Client: Windows 7 + IE7.0

Problem Description: In SharePoint designer 2010, whenever I use the “Start Approval Process” action on new or existing workflows and try to publish it, it’s throwing the following error.

Error Message#1: Loading this assembly would produce a different grant set from other instances. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131401)

Checked the SharePoint logs and found the following error:

Error Message#2: Errors were found when compiling the workflow. The workflow files were saved but cannot be run.

Right from the beginning Microsoft is playing a very important role in publishing knowledge base article which are very useful for the whole community.

Resolution: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2557533

As per this article, we can increase this default value to 7000 by using the following command:

$app = get-spwebapplication http://portal.sharepoint2010.com

$app.UserDefinedWorkflowMaximumComplexity = 7000

$app.Update ()

Again the best practices are saying we need to take every step by considering the farm performance as the maximum limit is 10000 and you cannot increase more than that so it’s better if we restructure our workflows with respect to reusability.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. If you have any additional resolution or valuable inputs which would be useful for the whole SharePoint community then please share…

Thank you.

Product Applies To:
-SharePoint Server 2010
-SharePoint Foundation 2010

Object reference not set to an instance of an object + Unable to display this webpart + Error while executing webpart in SharePoint 2010

Problem Description: XSLT list views do not work / TIMEOUT FOR XML TRANSFORMATIONS

Error Message#1: 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.

Error Message#2: Error while executing web part: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Debugging SP Logs:

0x1578 SharePoint Foundation         Web Parts                     89a1

High     Error while executing web part: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at System.Xml.Xsl.XslCompiledTransform.Load(MethodInfo executeMethod, Byte[] queryData, Type[] earlyBoundTypes)     at Microsoft.Xslt.STransform.GetCompiledTransform()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.BaseXsltListWebPart.LoadXslCompiledTransform(WSSXmlUrlResolver someXmlResolver)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart.GetXslCompiledTransform()     at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart.PrepareAndPerformTransform(Boolean bDeferExecuteTransform)

Resolution:  After analysing the complete SharePoint environment, we realized that if this issue started recently so there must be some changes happened with respect to the updates. When we checked the updates then we found that there are some windows updates got installed recently but difficult to find out the culprit.

Here it comes the MICROSOFT as a LIFE SAVER and remove your headache by means of this issue. Millions Thanks to Microsoft once again!!!

Please refer the following Microsoft TechNet thread:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/windowsazure/ru-ru/871a0661-05d0-4f3a-b66d-2504552142bd/error-while-executing-web-part-systemnullreferenceexception-object-reference-not-set-to-an

ALSO- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2872441

Overall conclusion is:

If you want to get rid of this issue then please refer the following steps:

-Uninstalled this update: Windows KB2844286

-Hide the update

-reboot the server

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you would like to share some updates from your side with respect to this issue (any new resolution, any new findings, new easy resolution apart from the above mentioned) then please share so that it would be useful for the whole community. 

The content databases in this cluster are full. You cannot add more web sites until you change the content database web site capacity settings or add more content databases

SharePoint capacity planning plays a very vital role with respect to any farm, whether it’s a small farm, medium farm or large farm. Today I am going to share some details and troubleshooting steps regarding one issue that I faced recently.

Problem Description: we have received the following error message while creating the site collection.

Error Message: The content databases in this cluster are full. You cannot add more web sites until you change the content database web site capacity settings or add more content databases.

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Troubleshooting done: From the above error message, 2 points comes into the picture i.e. database size and number of site collections exist in a single database.

-Based on analysis, we found out that total site collections exist are 100 and size of the database was 67GB.

-checked the managed databases section in central administration with respect to that web application under which we are trying to create a site collection. We found out that somebody has changed the maximum site collection limit to 100 and that’s why we were facing that error message.

Resolution:

Please refer the following steps to get rid of this error message:

-Central administration

-Application management

-manage databases

-select the appropriate web application from the top

-change the maximum site collection limit to 15000 and warning set to 9000.

That’s it. After this we are able to create site collections without any issues.

If you have any queries/issues 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. 

Performance and capacity management- SP2010

Sharing some useful links with respect to the capacity planning: 

https://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/database-management-for-sharepoint-2010/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/kaevans/archive/2012/03/27/what-every-sharepoint-admin-needs-to-

know-about-host-named-site-collections.aspx

http://www.sharepointsharon.com/2011/08/sharepoint-2010-performance-and-capacity-limits/

http://www.sharepointfix.com/2010/07/adding-new-content-database-in.html

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262971(v=office.14).aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/download/details.aspx?id=21307

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261700.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff758645.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg604780(v=office.14).aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298801(v=office.14).aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/infopath/archive/2010/04/19/capacity-planning-for-sharepoint-2010.aspx

You do not have permissions to connect to the server + Access Denied in SharePoint 2010

Problem Description:

Getting the following while launching SharePoint 2010 performance point dashboard designer and connecting to datasource.

Error Message:

Access Denied.  You do not have permissions to connect to the server.  Please contact your system administrator.

Entities used:

-SharePoint server 2010

-Performance point

-SQL Server 2008 R2

-BI template for the site collection

-IE7 + windows 7 OS

Troubleshooting done:

-Performance point service application is started or not

-performance point service is started or not

-secure store service application is started or not

-secure store service is started or not

-performance point service application is properly associated with the respective web application

-the account that we have used for configuring the performance point service application has proper rights in SQL or not

-what kind of rights user has on the specific site collection that is being used inside the dashboard designer

Resolution:

After checking all the steps and thorough analysis, we check the logs and found some traces with respect to the authentication.

We have checked the authentication part with respect to that web application and it was using claim based authentication.

As per the Microsoft theory regarding performance point services, it does not support any other authentication except windows authentication.

So conclusion is windows authentication is mandatory to make the performance point functional.

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.

Unexpected error while creating a Business Intelligence Center site - SharePoint 2010

Hello Guys,

Today I am going to share one more interesting issue and troubleshooting steps so that it would be helpful to all of you.

Present environment entities:

-SharePoint server 2010

-SQL Server 2008 R2

-Windows 7 Operating system

-Internet Explorer 7

Problem description: We are trying to use the performance point in SharePoint so one of the basic need is to create a site with BI template i.e. business intelligence

-We opened our site collection

-site actions

-site settings

-site administration

-sites and workspaces

-provided site name, entered the appropriate URL, selected the required template i.e. business intelligence template and clicked OK

-as soon as we clicked OK then we got the following error message

Error Message:

An Unexpected error has occurred

Correlation ID

Date and time

Troubleshooting Done:

-Tried creating different site using different template under the same site collection- it works

-so one thing is sure that problem is with creating a BI template site.

-checked numerous site collection features

-activated performance point services at the site collection level
-checked the SharePoint logs and found the following:

Publishing Feature activation failed. Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: The SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature must be activated at the site collection level before the Publishing feature can be activated.    

From the above, it’s very clear that what needs to be done to make it working.

Resolution:

Activated Publishing infrastructure at the site collection level

-site actions

-site settings

-site collection administration

-site collection features

-activated Publishing infrastructure feature

Please let me know in case of any queries/questions so that we can discuss and proceed towards the resolution, Thank you.

There was an error retrieving data from a datasource + An entry has been added to the Windows event log of the server + Event ID-7893

Problem Description:

I have a browser enabled InfoPath form loading in a Form web Part in a webpart page with another connecting web part. When users try to open the form they get:

"An error occurred querying a data source"

Sympton-1: Occasional error when opening an InfoPath form

Sympton-2: InfoPath timeout random error first time form is loaded

Sympton-3: An error occurred querying a data source

Sympton-4: There was an error retrieving data from a datasource.

Click OK if you want to resume filling in the form.  Possibly you might want to check the form for errors.

Sympton-5: There was an error retrieving data from a datasource. An entry has been added to the Windows event log of the server.

Log ID: 7893

Troubleshooting:

Best suggestion / recommended one is check the SharePoint ULS logs and find out the exact root cause behind this error message. I also did the same and found out that it is happening because of data connection time outs.

Resolution:

The Maximum data connection timeout value you modified is used to override all data connection time out values that specified within form template code. If you are not specified the time out value within form template code, please increase the default data connection timeout in Central Administration.

-Central Administration

-General Application Settings

-Configure InfoPath Forms Services

-Increase the time out value and try again.

If you have any queries/questions based on 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

-SharePoint foundation 2010

References:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262263(v=office.14).aspx

Cannot connect to PerformancePoint Services in SharePoint 2010

Today I am going share some troubleshooting that we have performed with respect to Performance Point Service. In this article, I will try to explain on

-Performance point Service (PPS) service application (SA)

-their associations, proxy SA

-services required

-dependent services

What is Performance point Service (PPS)?

Dashboards are a fundamental component of any performance management solution, and SharePoint 2010 Performance Point Services provides a rich set of tools and services for building highly interactive dashboard experiences that can help organizations of all sizes monitor and analyze their performance.

Problem Description:

After dashboard designer is opened, I try to define a new data source by right clicking on data connections. After I chose excel services, the error message is displayed.

Error Message:

Cannot connect to PerformancePoint Services. Contact the administrator for more details.

Recommended:

I am definitely going to share my troubleshooting steps, but what i can suggest is- if you face the same error message then please check the SharePoint ULS logs for better clarity.

Troubleshooting steps:

-use firebug to analyse the traffic

-check sharepoint logs to target the exact root cause

-check the service applications and their associations i.e. proxy Sa

-make sure that the PerformancePoint Service is turned on

-make sure that the secure store service is turned on

-make sure that secure store service has been properly configured in your farm.

Resolution steps:

1-When I checked the secure store service in my farm then i came to know that it was not 100% configured. Next question definitely comes into picture as what is meant by not configured.

Please follow these steps and make sure it is properly configured:

-Central Administration

-Application management

-service applications

-secure store service

-manage

-generate a new key

-enter the passphrase

-make sure the secure store service is turned on

-unattended service account is an optional step, if you wanna configure it then you can proceed ahead.

2-make sure the performance service is turned on.

Note: make sure that performance service application is already created and in started mode.

Please follow these steps:

-Central Administration

-Application management

-manage services on server

-performance point service

-status should be in STARTED mode.

Reference:  if you want to configure performance point service application in your farm then please refer the following link for detail description:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748643(v=office.14).aspx

3-make sure that performance point service application is properly associated with the web application.

Please follow these steps if it’s not there:

Go to Central Admin > Application Management > Configure service application associations > click default.

You should see that PerformancePoint Services will be unchecked. Check that box and you should be good to go.

You can cross check whether the PerformancePoint service application is properly configured by accessing PPS sites, Dashboard designer and other PPS first class objects in Business Intelligence Center Site. Before that, ensure to activate the PPS feature in Site Settings > Site collection features.

If you have any queries/questions with respect to 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.