Collect SharePoint ULS Logs quicker || Say “No” to Merge-SPLogFile
As a SharePoint Support Engineer, we often need to collect ULS logs from a single server or several servers to help identify our customer's issues. Russ Maxwell has a great blog and script that helps collect ULS on a more "real-time" approach and collects from all servers in the farm from the time you execute the script to the time to terminate that script. ( Jeff shared this out in an email a few weeks back ). We contemplated writing and releasing this, but we wanted to spin the Log Collection process in slightly different direction that we also felt could be useful and more efficient for Admins when "Microsoft" asks them to go grab ULS logs from specific servers. The intent of this script is not to take anything away from Russ' work, just another method to collect ULS logs. I am sure you may be asking, why not just use "Merge-SPLogFile"?SharePoint 2013/2016/2019: How to replace expired WorkFlow Manager Certificates
SharePoint 2013/2016/2019: How to replace expired WorkFlow Manager Certificates Having trouble with your SharePoint 2013-based workflows because your Workflow Manager certificates expired? Here is how you can fix this scenario...SharePoint throws 500 or 403 and remains inaccessible until IISRESET
Summary I have seen this very obscure SharePoint issue a few times and almost impossible to identity and resolve without extensive debugging. So, I just wanted to get this blog out there to help the next SharePoint Admin that may experience this situation with a quick resolution. Symptom: While trying to access the site http://sharepoint users are intermittently presented with 403 and 500 errors and the site remains inaccessible until performing a manual IIS RESET. However, after resetting IIS the site may remain operational for a very short time before the issue reoccurs. When this issue occurs, you will find the following COMException recorded in the ULS Logs. 12/14/2018 14:48:11.11 w3wp.exe (0x22A0) 0x270C SharePoint Foundation Runtime tkau Unexpected System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException: Cannot complete this action. Please try again. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetFileAndMetaInfo(String bstrUrl, Byte bPageView, Byte bPageMode, Byte bGetBuildDependencySet, String bstrCurrentFolderUrl, Int32 iRequestVersion, Boolean& pbCanCustomizePages, Boolean& pbCanPersonalizeWebParts, Boolean& pbCanAddDeleteWebParts, Boolean& pbGhostedDocument, Boolean& pbDefaultToPersonal, Boolean& pbIsWebWelcomePage, String& pbstrSiteRoot, Guid& pgSiteId, UInt32& pdwVersion, String& pbstrTimeLastModified, String& pbstrContent, Byte& pVerGhostedSetupPath, UInt32& pdwPartCount, Object& pvarMetaData, Object& pvarMultipleMeetingDoclibRootFolders, String& pbstrRedirectUrl, Boolean& pbObjectIsList, Guid& pgListId, UInt32& pdwItemId, Int64& pllListFlags, Boolean& pbAccessDenied, Guid& pgDocid, Byte& piLevel, UInt64& ppermMask, Object& pvarBuildDependencySet, UInt32& pdwNumBuildDependencies, Object& pvarBuildDependencies, String& pbstrFolderUrl, String& pbstrContentTypeOrder) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetFileAndMetaInfo(String bstrUrl, Byte bPageView, Byte bPageMode, Byte bGetBuildDependencySet, String bstrCurrentFolderUrl, Int32 iRequestVersion, Boolean& pbCanCustomizePages, Boolean& pbCanPersonalizeWebParts, Boolean& pbCanAddDeleteWebParts, Boolean& pbGhostedDocument, Boolean& pbDefaultToPersonal, Boolean& pbIsWebWelcomePage, String& pbstrSiteRoot, Guid& pgSiteId, UInt32& pdwVersion, String& pbstrTimeLastModified, String& pbstrContent, Byte& pVerGhostedSetupPath, UInt32& pdwPartCount, Object& pvarMetaData, Object& pvarMultipleMeetingDoclibRootFolders, String& pbstrRedirectUrl, Boolean& pbObjectIsList, Guid& pgListId, UInt32& pdwItemId, Int64& pllListFlags, Boolean& pbAccessDenied, Guid& pgDocid, Byte& piLevel, UInt64& ppermMask, Object& pvarBuildDependencySet, UInt32& pdwNumBuildDependencies, Object& pvarBuildDependencies, String& pbstrFolderUrl, String& pbstrContentTypeOrder) Cause: This issue is caused by an excessive amount of AD / SharePoint groups or user permissions being added to site collections, list & libraries or pages, which fully consumes the maximum allowed “in-memory security cache” (owssvr!VsecCacheManager) which is 2mb by default. Once this memory has been exceeded, SharePoint is unable to verify user security and responds with a 500/403 error for all users at the server level. Resolution: To resolve this problem, increase the “SecurityCacheMemoryAllowed” setting from the default of 2MB to 20MB. Registry DISCLAIMER: Modifying REGISTRY settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of REGISTRY settings can be solved. Modifications of these settings are at your own risk. Steps: Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0 Right-click 14.0, point to New, and then click Key Note: If you are using SharePoint 2013 the key will be under 15.0 and 16.0 with SharePoint 2016. Type SecurityCacheOptions, and then press ENTER Right-click SecurityCacheOptions, point to New, and then click DWORD value Type SecurityCacheMemoryAllowed, and then press ENTER Right-click SecurityCacheMemoryAllowed, and then click Modify In the Value data box, change the Base to decimal, type the value 20, and then click OK Execute an IISRESET and manually restart the “IIS Administration service”Install SMTP Server and Telnet with PowerShell
Summary SharePoint and general app servers often use the SMTP Service to integrate e-mail into the systems functionality. Since Windows supports a well vetted SMTP Service, using the built-in application is often the best choice. With the said, when testing your app functionality with e-mail, Telnet is almost always needed and not installed by default. If you find yourself always rebuilding servers to test new features and functionality, you may install SMTP and Telnet manually each time. If this is the case, why not use PowerShell? What does the script do? If SMTP is not installed, the installation will proceed. Once completed, it will then detect if Telnet is already installed. If not, you will be asked if Telnet should be installed. If you run the script a server with SMTP or Telnet already installed, the app installation will be detected and skipped. I'm hoping this script will make your test builds quicker and more enjoyable in the future. The Script: # Check if SMTP is installed before installing it. $smtp = get-WindowsFeature "smtp-server" if(!$smtp.Installed){ write-host "SMTP is not installed, installing it..." -ForegroundColor red add-WindowsFeature $smtp } else{ write-host "SMTP is already installed!" -ForegroundColor Cyan sleep 2 } # Once SMTP is installed, prompt to install Telnet, if not installed. $telnet = get-WindowsFeature "telnet-client" if(!$telnet.Installed){ #Use a popup windows with a yes or no choice $shell = new-object -comobject "WScript.Shell" $choice = $shell.popup("Telnet is not installed, do you want to install it?",0,"Install Telnet",4+32) } else{ write-host "Telnet is already installed, done!" -ForegroundColor Green break } #If you get here telnet is not installed and the user choose Yes. if ($choice -eq "6"){ write-host "Installing Telnet..." -ForegroundColor Green Add-WindowsFeature $telnet write-host "Done!" -ForegroundColor Cyan } #If you got here telnet is not installed but the user chose No. if ($choice -eq "7" -and !$telnet.Installed){ write-host "Telnet is not installed and will not be installed!" -ForegroundColor Green break } The Output: Here is what you will see if SMTP and Telnet is not installed: Windows Popup asking if Telnet should be installed: Installing Telnet: Done: If SMTP and Telnet is already installed it be detected and skip the installation:Script to copy specified IIS logs from multiple Servers
Summary Need to copy a set of IIS logs from multiple servers for data analysis? Are you doing it manually? If so, please check out this script as it will help expedite the process. The Script: #Modify Inputs # Host and Drive to store the IISLogs $Hostdir = "\\HOSTSERVER\c$" # Actual Location of the IIS Logs on the Server $iislogsfolder = "c$\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1892304237" #A wild card parameter to determine a file range $thefiles = "*ex1906*" # Create a target folder on host if does not exist $TARGETROOT = "$Hostdir\logs" if(!(Test-Path -Path $TARGETROOT)){ New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $TARGETROOT } # Create an export folder if it does not exist $target = "$Hostdir\logs\export" if(!(Test-Path -Path $target)){ New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $target } #Simple Server list $servers = Get-Content C:\servers.txt # For loop to do the work foreach ($server in $servers) { #make a new folder by server name if it does not exist $TARGETDIR = "$target\$Server" if(!(Test-Path -Path $TARGETDIR)){ New-Item -ItemType directory -Path $TARGETDIR } #Get the files $iislogLogDir = "\\$server\$iislogsfolder" $iislogName = Get-ChildItem "$iislogLogDir" -Recurse -Include "$thefiles" | Get-Item #Start a loop to copy all the files to the host locatiion foreach ($log in $iislogName) { copy-Item -path $log $TARGETDIR } } What the Script Does You only need to modify the inputs and create a server list. Then the script will do the following: Use a list of servers to collect the data from. Create a "logs" folder on the specified drive. Create an "export" sub folder under "logs". Create a sub folder under "export" using server name of each server. Use the wild card file name you specified to target specific files. Copy each targeted file to the correct serer name folder. Notes: If you want to collet 1 file from each server, just specify use the full date name in the search input (ie 190606). You can run this more than once if another file is needed and they will be added to the existing folders. The "export" folder will contain all the files needed. Just compress the folder and your ready to share.Gathering a SAML token using Edge or IE Developer tools
Every once in a while you will find that you cannot install the Fiddler application and you need to quickly grab the SAML token to help troubleshoot a SAML authentication issue. Below are the steps to gather the SAML token using Microsoft Edge or IE Developer tools.
