SharePoint 2013 Upgrade Check List

Hi all,

Today, I’ve put all together my SharePoint 2013 upgrade experience.

As I have lot of Farms to admin, in different environments (Prod, pre-Prod, Test), I was faced to several issues.

So, in the ease for everyone, I’ve tried to figure out all the issues I had to solve.

This post is divided in 2 Sections:

1.       Pre-Upgrade CheckList: this is mandatory prior every upgrade

2.       Installation Process: binaries, and how I proceed the upgrade

3.       Trouble shooting: if something is wrong, the solution should/must be in this section

1.       SharePoint 2013 pre-Upgrade CheckList:

- Farm & Install accounts must be DB Owner on all system & content DBs

- Farm & Install accounts must have Security Admin  on all system & content DBs

- If there is mirroring, it must be stopped

- If there is Availability Groups, all DBs must be removed from the A.G

     *Update1: the USAGE database must not be part of an A.G nor mirroring

        This DB name is found in the "Manage servers in this farm" section in Central Admin

        The usage database name is like: <db_name>-USAGE
     *Update2: the "SPPLA-AppManagement" DB must also be removed from the A.G or mirroring
     

- Copy all needed binaries that must be applied (CU, PU, SP)

2.       Installation Process:

- Logon each server with your Install account

- Launch the binaries installation (exe file). This step can take up to 2,5 hours.

- Reboot all servers

- Check in Central Administration GUI that all servers status are: Upgrade required

- Launch, on each servers the Configuration Wizard, but one step at a time.

   --> launch Configuration Wizard, click "yes"

   --> do the same for each servers of the Farm

- Click "Next" on your Central Admin Server (always start by the Central Admin server).

- When upgrade is finish, DO NOT click to exit.

  Select the next server, and click "Next" in the Configuration Wizard.

  Do the same process to all your server until the last one.

- When all servers are upgraded, close the Configuration Wizard (Next or Finish) and check the server status in the Central Administration GUI:

  "No Action Required"

3.       Trouble Shooting:

What to do if the upgrade fails?

1- Check event viewer for any Farm or Install account access denied in SQL

2- Check ULS

3- Execute the installation via the PSCONFIG cmdlet.

/!\ ..... UPDATE .....  /!\

               PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait -force

According to Stefan Goßner, in SharePoint 2013, it is the best paractice to use the PSCONFIGUI.exe instead of PSCONFIG.exe
The reason is because the GUI version is doing more complete upgrade.

For any reason, if you need to use the PSCONFIG.exe, then use this cmdlet:
PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures -cmd secureresources

/!\ ..... UPDATE .....  /!\

What to do if the Configuration Wizard is showing "Missing on <servername>"?

In the configuration Wizard, if there is some installed patches shown as "Missing on <servername>" (and they are already installed), you can use this PowerShell command :

Get-SPProduct -local

Then, press "Refresh" in the Configuration Wizard".

When the servers are no more in the list, you continue the patching process.

What to do if in the error logs (i.e : Upgrade-20141027-143441-40-error) you have this type of message?

Upgrade SPUpgradeSiteSession           ajxnj        ERROR

                at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream(TransportContext& context)

                at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetRequestStream()

                at System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpOutput.WebRequestHttpOutput.GetOutputStream()

                ==> check that all Application Pools are up and running in IIS on all servers

What to do if you have Site Collection upgrade issue?

If you have this type of line in the error log:

ERROR   Pre-Upgrade [SPSite Url=<Your Site Collection URL/...] failed. Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPSiteWssSequence has the ContinueOnFailiure bit set.

                ==> upgrade manually yours sites:

                Get-SPSite -Limit all | Where-Object {$_.NeedsUpgrade} | Upgrade-SPSite -VersionUpgrade -Unthrottled

*Update:
If you have this error with the previous cmdlet:

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-SPSite -Limit all | Where-Object {$_.NeedsUpgrade} | Upgrade-SPSite -VersionUpgrade -Unthrottled
Get-SPSite : There was no endpoint listening at http://localhost:32843/SecurityTokenServiceApplication/securitytoken.s
vc that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if 
present, for more details.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-SPSite -Limit all | Where-Object {$_.NeedsUpgrade} | Upgrade-SPSite -Version ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...SPCmdletGetSite:SPCmdletGetSite) [Get-SPSite], Endpoint 
   NotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletGetSite

Check that those Services are running:
  - SPAdminV4
  - SPTimerV4
  - W3SVC

Reason:
 This is due to a faulty PSCONFIG.exe cmdlet.
 If the upgrade is not successfull, then the services are not started back.

That’s all folks

---

Issue with SharePoint 2010 Farm Update

Hi all,

Today, I’m taking the time to solve my “Upgrade Available” issue in my production farm.

Last time, I’ve noticed that, after successfully upgraded my production farm, the status went back to “Upgrade Available” after being successful.

So, the binaries are 14.0.6117.5002

The status is now as on this screen below :

I know that I have 2 sites that gave me errors when upgrading my farm, but I used a workaround to be able to apply the Feb 2012 CU :

Backup/Delete/Restore of both faulty sites.

Step 1: let’s list the DB where are located those 2 sites

Central Administration => Upgrade and Patch Management => Review database status:

I google about this status “Database is up to date, but some sites are not completely upgraded”, and fount this link where I found 2 powershell lines to execute:

$DB = Get-SPContentDatabase -Identity DB_NAME

Upgrade-SPContentDatabase -id $DB

This must be done for each DB after having fixed the error.

To be honest, I used this Upgrade-SPContentDatabase command to check the resulting error log, and find the site, and the error type.

Step 2 : let’s check the error log and find the direction to look

Opening the “Upgrade-20130115-094410-390.log, then finding the first [ERROR] entry show this :

[powershell] [V2VRecordCenterUpgradeSiteAction (13.0.2.0)] [ERROR] [15/01/2013 09:44:14]: Failed to run V2VRecordCenterUpgradeSiteAction.Upgrade for SPWeb (http://shpteam.xxxxxxxx/sites/TTeamSite/backoffice), the following error occured:The specified name is already in use.

Please try again with a new name. at:   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.AddGroup(String bstrUrl, String bstrName, String bstrDescription, Int32 lOwnerID, Boolean bOwnerIsUser, UInt64 iPermMask, Int32 lUserId, Boolean bUseExisting, Boolean bSelfOwner)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGroupCollection.AddInternal(String name, SPMember owner, SPUser defaultUser, String description)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGroupCollection.Add(String name, SPMember owner, SPUser defaultUser, String description)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtilityInternal.CreateDefaultSharePointGroups(SPWeb web, String strUserLogin, String strUserLogin2, String strGroupNameSeed)

   at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.Internal.DocumentRoutingFeatureReceiver.<>c__DisplayClass2.<FeatureActivated>b__0()

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Utilities.CultureUtility.RunWithCultureScope(CodeToRunWithCultureScope code)

   at Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.Internal.DocumentRoutingFeatureReceiver.FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.DoActivationCallout(Boolean fActivate, Boolean fForce)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.Activate(SPSite siteParent, SPWeb webParent, SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, Boolean fForce)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureCollection.AddInternal(SPFeatureDefinition featdef, Version version, SPFeaturePropertyCollection properties, Boolean force, Boolean fMarkOnly)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureCollection.AddInternalWithName(Guid featureId, String featureName, Version version, SPFeaturePropertyCollection properties, Boolean force, Boolean fMarkOnly, SPFeatureDefinitionScope featdefScope)

   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureCollection.Add(Guid featureId)

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Upgrade.SiteAction.ActivateFeature(SPFeatureCollection features, Guid featureGuid, String featureScope, Boolean force)

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Upgrade.SiteAction.ActivateFeatures(SPFeatureCollection features, Guid[] featureGuids, String featureScope)

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.DLC.Upgrade.V2VRecordCenterUpgradeSiteAction.UpgradeWeb(SPWeb web)

So, I had to go to the site, and I was not able to find the name that was already in use….

I google again , and find a post of Gayan Peiris with this little explanation :

In my case, the duplicate name was “Back Office”.

But, I was able to find only 1 “Back Office” site, the site mentioned into the error log.

Then, I decide to go to the root URL of this site “http://shpTeam.xxxxxxx/sites/TTeamSite”

I found then, that the mentioned “Back Office” name was a sub site of TTeamSite.

And, another “Back Office” site was already created, but with the “bo” name instead of “Back Office”.

Both sub sites had the same name, and this was the root cause of the issue.

I deleted the “Back Office” sub site, and got this situation:
  "Back Office" name is now used once.

Then, I’ve executed again the Upgrade-SPContentDatabase command, I my DB was successfully upgraded.

Now, here is the situation :

Step 3 : do the same steps as beginning, and solve the issue following the given error message in the log.

This is the error lines found on the log :

[powershell] [SPSiteWssSequence2] [ERROR] [15/01/2013 10:46:03]: Feature upgrade incomplete for Feature 'PublishingWeb' (Id: '94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb') in Web 'http://shpworkgroup.xxxxxx/sites/WWorkgroup'. Exception: Provisioning did not succeed. Details: Failed to provision role definitions. OriginalException: Value does not fall within the expected range.  (Inner Exception: Value does not fall within the expected range.)

[powershell] [SPSiteWssSequence2] [ERROR] [15/01/2013 10:46:03]: Feature upgrade incomplete for Feature 'PublishingWeb' (Id: '94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb') in Web 'http://shpworkgroup.xxxxxx/sites/WWorkgroup'. Exception: Dependency feature 'PublishingSite' (id: f6924d36-2fa8-4f0b-b16d-06b7250180fa) for feature 'PublishingWeb' (id: 94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb) is not activated at this scope.

So, I activate the features for this site :

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingSite\feature.xml -url http://shpworkgroup.xxxxxx/sites/WWorkgroup -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingWeb\feature.xml -url http://shpworkgroup.xxxxxx/sites/WWorkgroup -force

Then, let’s upgrade again the DB :

$DB = Get-SPContentDatabase -Identity DB_NAME

Upgrade-SPContentDatabase -id $DB

Looks nicer :

But, unfortunately, the status is still the same :

Checking the upgrade status via the stsadm command :

stsadm.exe -o localupgradestatus

So, all seems ok, except the CADM page.

Let’s recycle IIS :

Check the CADM page :

Voilà !

I can now plan the next step : run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Job’s done.

How to solve CU Update issues : the return

Hi all,

Today, I applied the August 2012 CU on your UAT Collaboration Farm.

This farm is populated by 4 servers.

Installing binaries was done without any issue.

Execution of the “SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard” was done with several issues.

I used my previous post “How to Apply Cumulative Updates and Avoid Issues” to have the process and most solutions in my hands.

But each upgrade is different of the other.

The main issue came from one server, that gave the impression that it’s registry lost the fact that SharePoint 2010 was already installed.

To solve this issue, I had to execute the following command :

                Get-SPProduct –local

Then, a click on the Refresh button of the “Product Configuration Wizard” let me to start the upgrade.

Then, I had all four servers status in “Upgrade Available” mode in Central Administration.

So, I execute the psconfig cmdlet :

                Psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b –wait

Directly, I had errors and the upgrade failed.

So, opening the created log files like “Upgrade-20121109-xxxxxx-xxx.log” point me out serveral sites to correct.

As I’m working on our test environment, I decided to simply delete the faulty sites.

Some were backed-up, as I need to restore one of them.

Then, the psconfig worked fine for 3 out of 4 servers… Ugh!

What’s wrong with this last server?

It was like the upgrade process was already running on this server…

Check in the server process list, and I didn’t found any running process.

So, I googled on the Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPUpgradeConcurrencyException, and found SharePointGeoff site.

Nearly same type of error, and a 4-steps solution:

1.       Stsadm –o setproperty –pn command-line-upgrade-running –pv No

2.       IISReset

3.       Restart the "SharePoint 2010 Timer" Service

4.       Psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b –wait –force

Then, now, all my servers of this farm have the status : “No Action Required”.

Job’s done.

Link to the Updates for SharePoint 2010 Products

Hi all,

Today, I found this link concerning all the SharePoint 2010 Updates as I had to patch from RTM to Feb2012 CU the 2 last SharePoint 2010 Servers.

Technet : Updates for SharePoint 2010 Products


And the patching was successful.



That's all folks.

How to Apply Cumulative Updates and Avoid Issues

Hi all,

The last few weeks, I was busy in patching our SharePoint 2007 and 2010 farms in test and prod environment.

Of course, I faced several issues, but now, I can say that all farms are up-to-date until Feb 2012 CU.

I can warmly told you to monitor available space on your SQL disk, and the Errors in your Event Viewer for the lack of access rights on the DB's.

Part 1 : Procedure followed to apply the CU

First of all, write down the complete list of your servers of all your farms.

I've 3 environments : PROD, UAT (should be as close as possible to PROD) and Test.

Test is only used for big changes, or in standalone.

PROD and UAT are very important, as if UAT pass the tests, we are allowed to apply the changes in PROD.

This procedure is for the patch, adding new feature, and in this case : allow the end-users to test their migrated sites and to fill the survey.

Doing this, we were able to point out the sites that were customised via SharePoint Designer in 2007.

Now, let's go for the CU process :

STEP1 :

-          Download and prepare the binaries of the CU that will be needed for your patching process.

-          Install the binaries on all your servers in the same Farm. (proceed farm by farm)

-          At the end of this install process, do not click on the message box : "Do you want to reboot to finalise the installation of this package?"

Sometime, this message was displayed, sometime not… Strange…

-          When the binaries are installed on all servers, click on "OK" or "No", following the end message that you got.

STEP 2 :

-          Open the "Configuration Wizard", click "Next", then "YES"

-          And WAIT !!!!

-          Do same operation on all the remaining servers of your farm

-          When all servers are at the same step, go to your CA, and press "Next"

-          When the Wizard is successful, do not click on "Finish", but continue the Configuration process to the next servers, one-by-one.

STEP 3 :

-          On the CA, click "Finish" and check your farm version (System Settings è Manage Servers in this Farm

-          Check the Version, and the status of your servers in the farm. (in this example, 2 servers are upgraded, not the 2 others)

-          Check the Upgrade Status via Upgrade and Migration è Check Upgrade Status

Part 2 : Errors found

Case #1 : Event 3760

The account issue occurs specially on our TEST environment, as DB's are copied from prod, removed and replaced for test purpose.

Case #2 : Event 3758

SQL disk-volume was full.

Solution is to move some DB's to another volume, but SharePoint Services have to be stopped.

Case #3 : Database is deleted, but still listed in SharePoint 2010 CA

I also had this Event 3760, same error as in case #1.

The difference is that the concerned DB was deleted from SQL disk, but was not deleted from SharePoint CA.

So, I removed the entry via Application Management è Manage Content Database, select the related Web Application, and then delete the missing Database Name entry.

Part 3 : used tips

-          If you have the status "Upgrade Available" in the "Farm Information" page, you can always execute this command from your BIN folder (<drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN) :

psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait

               or
            psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures

In my example, I had to wait longer than in the other farms, as lot of DB's were present, and to run                                                the second psconfig command on the last server.

-          When you've installed the binaries, and you need to install again the CU, you can force it's installation via the command line :

<filename>.glb.exe PACKAGE.BYPASS.DETECTION.CHECK=1

-          In the configuration Wizard, if there is some installed patches shown as "Missing on <servername>", you can use this PowerShell command :

Get-SPProduct -local

            Then, press "Refresh" in the Configuration Wizard".

If you still have issues, please check the created logs, and the Event Viewer.

Doing this let me update all my servers until Feb 2012 CU, in SharePoint 2007 and 2010.

That's all folks.