Error while importing a sitecollection in MOSS 2007

Recently got this error message while trying to import a site collection in MOSS 2007:

FatalError: Failed to read package file.

at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.Uncompress(SPRequest request)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.Run()
*** Inner exception:
Failure writing to target file
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.ExtractFilesFromCabinet(String bstrTempDirectory, String bstrCabFileLocation)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.<>c__DisplayClass2.<Uncompress>b__0()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.CodeToRunElevatedWrapper(Object state)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.Uncompress(SPRequest request) 

Resolution: The error is because of insufficient space on c drive. Please clean up c drive run the import process again.

Loading this assembly would produce a different grant set from other instances

After installing .NET 3.5 sp1, all the MOSS web applications were working fine except for one. The following error was showing up:

Stack trace:
at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandle& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean fillCache)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean fillCache)
at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes) at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture)
at System.Web.Configuration.Common.ModulesEntry.Create()
at System.Web.Configuration.HttpModulesSection.CreateModules()
at System.Web.HttpApplication.InitInternal(HttpContext context, HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers)
at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetNormalApplicationInstance(HttpContext context) at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetApplicationInstance(HttpContext context)
at System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestInternal(HttpWorkerRequest wr)

Fix:
Just restart the application pool account associated with the erroring application and you be all set.

MOSS search access denied error after .NET Framework 3.5 sp1 installation

Recently we rolled out .NET Framework 3.5 sp1 on our MOSS Servers. During testing, we found out that while crawling the Sharepoint website the following error occurred:

Access is denied. Verify that either the Default Content Access Account has access to this repository, or add a crawl rule to crawl this repository.

To fix the above issue, try the below 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\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
• Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
• Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
• Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.
• In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
• Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.(Try to re-run the crawl after registry change without restart. Sometimes it may not be necessary to restart.)

MOSS out of the box search error

Recently while configuring the out of the box search for a MOSS site, I encountered the following error : Your search cannot be completed because of a service error. Try your search again or contact your administrator for more information.
In order to fix the error, please make sure the application pool, the site is running under, has access to the search index. Here are the steps to follow:

• First make sure the MOSS Search Service is running. Check the event viewer for error messages. If everything is ok, go to the next step
• Find out the application pool account the site is running under(network service, local account or another account)
• Go to Central administration -> SSP settings -> Search
• Check the default content access and make sure it is the same as the above one

MOSS SSP URL

In order to get the SSP URL of the farm, we can use the following piece of code. This is really helpful if you don't want to hardcode the SSP URL.

   1:  private string getSSPURL()

   2:  {

   3:     string uri = string.Empty;

   4:     ServerContext sc = ServerContext.Default;

   5:     object ssp = sc.GetType().GetProperty("SharedResourceProvider",
                       BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic).GetValue(sc, null);

   6:     Guid sspGuid = (Guid)ssp.GetType().GetProperty("AdministrationSiteId").GetValue(ssp, null);

   7:     using (SPSite sspSite = new SPSite(sspGuid))

   8:     {

   9:       uri = sspSite.WebApplication.GetResponseUri(SPUrlZone.Default).AbsoluteUri + "ssp/admin";

  10:     }

  11:     return uri;

  12:  }

MOSS Search error

Scenario: Multiple web front ends with MOSS search service(both query and index) running on one of them.Everything is fine on the web server which also host the moss search service. Specifically, search queries work fine without any errors.

Issue: The other WFE's(not hosting the search service) throw errors when trying to sort the search results. I repeat, the WFE's throw errors only when trying to sort the results. Otherwise they work fine. I can still do search on these servers, but when trying to sort the search bombs out.

The error message thrown is:

The specified network name is no longer available. (Exception from HResult: 080070040

The event view shows the following message (or something simillar):
The last query machine was taken out of rotation. Propagation may be neccessary. The query machine will be retried in 15 seconds again.
The uls logs show the following message :

---

0x80070040000000006B49C6F8d:\office\source\search\ytrip\tripoli\common\crequest.cxx246

---

0x80070040000000006B49C6F8d:\office\source\search\ytrip\tripoli\common\crequest.cxx246 _LokRelegateMachine just relegated the last query machine! - File:d:\office\source\search\ytrip\tripoli\icommand\qpcache.cxx,Line:1393

---

0xc000020c000000006B49C73Ad:\office\source\search\ytrip\tripoli\common\crequest.cxx244 In CRootQuerySpec::Execute - caught exception: 0x80070040, translated to: 0x80070040 - File:d:\office\source\search\ytrip\tripoli\icommand\qryspec.cxx,Line:767
Log Query: More Information: The specified network name is no longer available.

The same code gets executed on all the WFE's but the error does not happen on the WFE running the query service. Assuming there is an issue with the firewall, how does the search work on these WFE's (when no sorting is done) ? I have been trying to fix this error for sometime now, but didn't get enough time to research more. I will keep looking for more information on this error and post a resolution if I find one.

Who is a SharePoint Developer and What is SharePoint ?

I recently had a conversion with one of my developer friend (Dilbert) which was something like this:

Prashanth: Hey Dilbert! How r u?

Dilbert: I am fine Prashanth. How r u doing?

Prashanth: Never been so great. So what r u working on these days?

Dilbert: I have been developing .NET applications. What’s up with you?

Prashanth: I am working on SharePoint. I build and maintain SharePoint applications.

Dilbert: So you basically take care of document libraries. I heard that that SharePoint is a document repository.

Prashanth (fuming with rage...): I do little more than that and SharePoint is a LOT more than a document repository. It is one of the many, many features provided by SharePoint.

Dilbert: Oh is it? All this time, I was thinking of SharePoint as a SourceSafe. BTW, Do you get to work on .NET applications?

Prashanth(trying to control himself to not hit Dilbert...): SharePoint is built on the .NET platform. Microsoft Office Server 2007 is built on ASP.NET 2.0 and you can basically do whatever you do when developing your .NET applications. SharePoint provides you with a lot of click-create websites based on templates, which may otherwise take days to build. As a developer, SharePoint provides you a great object model which enables you do anything that can be done by the wizards/user interface. This helps in developing rich business applications.

Dilbert: So you basically create websites with a click. Where is the development then?

Prashanth: It’s true that most of the times, I use the built-in wizards to create the sites. But, lot of customizations also needs to be done depending on the business requirements. It involves developing web parts, master pages, user controls and basically everything a normal ASP.NET developer does. It also involves using XML to create/modify site definitions and site templates which is a major part of SharePoint Development. SharePoint provides tight integration with InfoPath and Excel services providing you with a great development environment. Just imagine the kind of development you can do with these tightly-coupled technologies !

Dilbert: What else is part of SharePoint?

Prashanth: SharePoint has a lot more features aimed at Collaboration, Business Intelligence, Content Management, Search for improving Productivity, Communication and for finding information very easily. To summarize:

• Provides a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience -By tightly integrating with familiar client desktop applications, e-mail, and Web browsers
• Boosts employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities - By providing out-of-the-box workflows for initiating, tracking, and reporting common business activities such as document review and approval, issue tracking, and signature collection
• Helps meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content - By specifying security settings, storage policies, auditing policies, and expiration actions for business records
• Effectively manage and re-purpose content to gain increased business value - By being able to submit documents for approvals and schedule deployments for intranet and internet
• Simplifies organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information across disparate systems - By giving users access to line of business data like SAP, Siebel and many other disparate content sources
• Connects people with information and expertise -By providing enterprise search which is capable of returning back web pages, people information and documents
• Accelerates shared business processes across organizational boundaries - By providing great smart electronic forms out of the box
• Helps in sharing business data without divulging sensitive information
• Provides a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applications across the enterprise

Though I am not a SharePoint eulogist,working on it for sometime now has given me a better understanding and also the made me understand the essence of it. I hope Dilbert has a better understanding of it now.

MCTS (70-630) - Configuring WSS 3.0

I recently took the 70-630 exam and passed. There were questions on Load Balancing like using unicast/multicast modes and a few other network related questions. I still have two more exams to take in the Office Sharepoint Server 2007 section and Iam looking forward to take them soon.....

Attempted to read and write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.

Wasn't MOSS 2007 sp1 supposed to fix this problem ? I have the MOSS 2007 sp1 installed on a 64 bit machine but still, one of the WFE throws this error. The actual server hosting the central admin is fine and does not show any indication of this error message. In case you come across the same error message, the workaround is to restart the spadmin service (WSS Admin Service) . Few of the searches on internet do refer to the Timer service, but for me restarting the admin service fixes the problem temporarily. Use the task scheduler to schedule a restart (NET Stop SPAdmin, NET Start SPAdmin) whenever event 6398 occurs.

The protocol handler cannot be found. Check that the handler has been installed.

After restoring databases from the production servers, I started a crawl. Instead of seeing "Green Messages", I just saw one error message:
The protocol handler cannot be found. Check that the handler has been installed.
I usually restore databases on the dev machine without using the preparetomove command. But today, I was really into the right mood and wanted to follow all the rules religiously. So, before detaching the database, I ran the following command:
stsadm -o preparetomove -contentdb sqlserver:dbname -site http://mymosssite
Then I detached the database using the Central Admin and started the database restoration process. Once done, I added the content database back. I was really happy that everything went smooth without any issues. It was now time to crawl the site and there for I started a full crawl on my site.But as mentioned before the crawl bombed out with the above error message. I went into the eventviewer and saw the following error messages:
The update cannot be started because the content sources cannot be accessed. Fix the errors and try the update again.
The protocol handler cannot be found. Check that the handler has been installed. (0x80040d1a)
I did not understand what was happening and so I started thinking about the changes I made. Before restoring the databases, I stopped the wss help search as I was not using it. Also, I was more inclined towards the sync between the content databases and the ssp. So, I took the following steps expecting to fix the issue:

• Restarted the wss help search


• Restarted the office search - net stop osearch


• Ran the command: stsadm -o synch -deleteolddatabases 0

After this, I started the crawl again and now it worked ! Though I do not know exactly, which of the above steps fixed my issue, I am delighted that it was working again. If anyone knows the exact reason for this issue, please let me know.
Also, if you see the error "Error in the Site Data Web Service. (Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: databaseId)", run the synch -deleteolddatabases command and it should fix the error.

Output cache not used. Reason: User can view an unpublished version of the current page

I was trying to enable output caching on an authenticated MOSS site and followed the below steps:

• Site Actions -> Modify Site Settings -> Modify All Site Settings
• Site Collection Administration -> Site Collection Output Cache
• In here, I enabled the cache profile, disabled anonymous cache profile, set the authenticated cache profile to Extranet(Published Site)
• I also enabled the "Enable debug cache information on Pages" to check if the caching was working as expected
• Now, I logged in as the site administrator and checked the html source of the page. Instead of seeing the following message: "Rendered using cache profile:Extranet (Published Site) at: 2008- 02-24T10:08:03", this message came up : "8 Output cache not used. Reason: User can view an unpublished version of the current page".
• The above was expected because, I was logged in as a site collection administrator. I logged off and logged in as a different user(reader access) and still was seeing the same message : "8 Output cache not used. Reason: User can view an unpublished version of the current page. "
• I tried using different user id's but was still the same error message.
• So, I went back to the site collection output cache profiles page and modified the Extranet(Published Site) property as shown below:
  

• After this is done, I logged in as a reader and behold ! It works as expected spitting out a cached version of the page.
• But the downside to the above setting is that the writers will be seeing a cached version of the page. I still need to figure out why the readers were able to see a unpublished version of the page.

MOSS 2007 on Windows 2008

Recently I tried to install MOSS 2007 on Windows Server 2008. This blog post describes the sequence of events experienced by me.

Initially, I tried to upgrade the Windows 2003 server (enterprise) to Windows 2008 server(standard) but this is not possible. Migration seems to possible from standard 2003 -> standard 2008, standard 2003 -> enterprise 2008, enterprise 2003 -> enterprise 2008. You will not be able to upgrade from enterprise 2003 -> standard 2008.
After this, I did a fresh install of Windows 2008 server (both web and database, though database upgrade was not needed) and configured the required Roles(Web Server) for the web front end server. I was not able to directly install .NET 3.0 framework on 2008 as in Windows 2003. .NET 3.0 framework needs to be installed using the 'features' feature in Windows 2008. Also, I enabled other features like Load Balancing and WindowsActivation. Activating these features is quite easy in Windows 2008 compared to Windows 2003.
Having done the basic steps, I inserted the MOSS 2007 installation DVD and ran the exe. I did not record the exact error, but it was something simillar to this one: 'product id was not found'.
MOSS installation was blocked on Windows 2008 and it required MOSS SP1 to continue. But the problem is you have seperated files/exe's for MOSS 2007 and MOSS 2007 SP1. On Windows 2003 you need to install MOSS 2007 first and then later do an upgrade. I found a few blogposts on MOSS - Windows 2008 installation and they all pointed out to slipstream installation of MOSS 2007. Slipstream installation refers to the integration of updates, patches with the installation files of a product. I copied all the installation files from the MOSS 2007 DVD onto the c:\MOSS 2007 and then dowloaded the sp1 files from here:

WSS 3.0 sp1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4191A531-A2E9-45E4-B71E-5B0B17108BD2

MOSS 2007 sp1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=AD59175C-AD6A-4027-8C2F-DB25322F791B&displaylang=en

Using winzip, I extracted the installation files to the directories like c:\MOSS-sp1 and c:\WSS-sp1. Then copy the files from these directories into the upgrades folder in c:\MOSS 2007 . I clicked on 'yes' for replace files prompts. Running the setup.exe after copying the sp1 files should directly take you to the MOSS setup console. From here onwards, it should be the same one as on Windows 2003.

Reference urls:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/12/11/announcing-the-release-of-wss-3-0-sp1-and-office-sharepoint-server-2007-sp1.aspx

http://mindsharpblogs.com/ben/archive/2007/12/16/3837.aspx

MCTS (70-630) - Configuring MOSS 2007

I took the 70-630 exam yesterday and passed with a decent score. It was an easy one and should not be really difficult if you have already worked with MOSS 2007. It covers most of the administration stuff and it is sufficient to know the basics of MOSS 2007. I used Patrick Tisseghem's 'Inside Office Sharepoint Server 2007' and went through the articles on technet. Bill English's Administrator's companion is also supposed to be a good one but probably is not needed to get through this exam.

MOSS Indexing

Joel Olson has a great blog post on the anatomy of MOSS indexing. Here is an excerpt from his post. When a full crawl is started, then :

• Indexer communicates with a WFE web service, the sitedata.asmx
• Enumerates the URLs and gathers metadata
• With the URLs it issues GETS for the content from the content database to retrieve the page content and subsequent documents and lists

When an incremental crawl is started, then:

• Indexer communicates with a WFE web service sitedata.asmx to read the change log through WSS Object model
• Does enumeration and returns changed/added/deleted URLs and metadata to the indexer
• Indexer issues http GETs to index the relevant content

I can also add a few tips:

• An incremental crawl will go ahead and delete any content it cannot find (even if it was previously found). Be careful about crawl rules being added and deleted. Also check to see if all your pages are working properly or else they will be deleted
• Incremental crawl will index aspx files and all other document types during incremental crawl. It will NOT detect changes to aspx files
• Incremental crawl is very fast compared to a full crawl.
• You can easily run into memory exceptions (specially 'Error in Site Data Web Service: Out of Memory Exception'). This might be because of the number of documents in the library. The only way out can be to reduce the number of documents/migrate to 64 bit (I cannot confirm this statement...Iam still having a simillar problem). You should also try to add Impact rules and change the interval between each request.

Export MOSS Search Settings

For a long time now, I have been looking for a tool to export all my search settings from production to development environment and I thought the only way to do this is through the MOSS backup/restore process. But, there is a tool to do all this for you. You can basically export all your Content Sources, Managed Properties and Scopes using this tool. Check out the tool here:

http://www.codeplex.com/SSSPPC

TechEd 2008

Registration for TechEd 2008 has opened and if you register before April 2008, you can save 200$. They have two tracks :

• Tech·Ed U.S. 2008 Developers
• Tech·Ed U.S. 2008 IT Professionals

You will get to know more about the unreleased, state of the art technologies and also spend some really good time in Orlando, Florida.

Hosts file getting deleted

Today, I modified the search indexer to point to a seperate wfe server instead of crawling all the wfe's. Once I modifed the setting, the following error started throwing up in the eventviewer:

Reason: Could not find file 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS'.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Office Server Shared Services Event ID: 6482
Date: 1/19/2008
Time: 6:12:03 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ******************
Description:Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance Reason: Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied.
Techinal Support Details:
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied. at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath) at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy) at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options) at System.IO.StreamWriter.CreateFile(String path, Boolean append) at System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path, Boolean append, Encoding encoding, Int32 bufferSize) at System.IO.StreamWriter..ctor(String path, Boolean append) at System.IO.FileInfo.CreateText() at Microsoft.Search.Administration.Security.HOSTSFile.CleanupDedicatedGathering(Hashtable HOSTSFileMappings, StringBuilder HOSTSComments, IEnumerable obsoleteHosts, String dedicatedName, Boolean isDirty) at Microsoft.Search.Administration.Security.HOSTSFile.ConfigureDedicatedGathering(SearchServiceInstance searchServiceInstance, SPServer dedicatedWebFrontEndServer, IList`1 previousWebApplicationHostNames) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.SynchronizeDefaultContentSource(IDictionary applications) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)

The above error shows up because the Sharepoint Timer job actually deletes the hosts file after you modify the wfe the crawler has to point to. I had taken a backup of file and I went ahead and restored it. But after restoring it back, the following error throws up in the eventviewer:

Reason: Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Office Server Shared Services
Event ID: 6482
Date: 1/19/2008
Time: 6:22:50 AM
User: N/A
Computer: ******************
Description:Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance
Reason: Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied.
Techinal Support Details:System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS' is denied. at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath) at System.IO.FileInfo.Delete() at Microsoft.Search.Administration.Security.HOSTSFile.CleanupDedicatedGathering(Hashtable HOSTSFileMappings, StringBuilder HOSTSComments, IEnumerable obsoleteHosts, String dedicatedName, Boolean isDirty) at Microsoft.Search.Administration.Security.HOSTSFile.ConfigureDedicatedGathering(SearchServiceInstance searchServiceInstance, SPServer dedicatedWebFrontEndServer, IList`1 previousWebApplicationHostNames) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.SynchronizeDefaultContentSource(IDictionary applications) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)

The following permissions need to be given to c:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc folder for the wss_admin_wpg account :

• Traverse Folder / Execute File
• List Folder / Read Data
• Read Attributes
• Read Extended Attributes
• Create Files / Write Data
• Read Permissions
• Delete Permissions ( I will explain this .....)

The delete permission also needs to be given because the timer job actually deletes and recreates the hosts file. I was a bit hesitant to give this but had to do so to get it to work. After the permissions are given, I did not see any other errors in the eventlog

Later..

Query.TotalRowsExactMinimum Property

Do you want to know what 'Query.TotalRowsExactMinimum' Property does ? Check it out here.....

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.server.search.query.query.totalrowsexactminimum.aspx
There is no way one can understand what exactly it means ? Please let me know if someone knows what exactly it means.

Resetting search index error

I was trying to reset the search index on my dev box and the following error message comes up while doing so:

The application is unable to accept further updates because the last attempt to persist the state failed.

Checking the event logs show up following messages:

Unable to Reset search application 'Shared Services'. Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.DatabaseException: Unable to persist changes to the search application object due to a previous error persisting changes. See event log for more information on the cause. Only read operations are possible until the issue is resolved. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80040DBA): The application is unable to accept further updates because the last attempt to persist the state failed. See the event log for more details. at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.MSSITLB.IGatherApplication2.ValidateVersionForWrite(Int32 lLastVersion, Int32& plVersionOut) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.WriteAndReturnVersion(CodeToRun`1... .. remoteCode, VoidCodeToRun localCode, Int32 versionIn) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.WriteAndReturnVersion(CodeToRun`1 remoteCode, VoidCodeToRun localCode, Int32 versionIn) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.ResetApp(Int32 versionIn) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.ResetApp()

To fix it, I tried the following steps:

• Operations -> Services on server -> Office Sharepoint Server Search - > stop
• Started the service again
• SSP site -> search settings
• Here you need to associate the SSP with the search database
• Once its done, go back to the search settings page and wait for sometime for the indexer to complete its job (probably 2-3 minutes)
• Now the search index can be reset.

MOSS Errors

Now, I do have an answer to the following error messages:

Error 1:
While trying to backup the whole farm, I saw the error message:
Object Shared Search Index failed in event OnPrepareBackup. For more information, see the error log located in the backup directory. UnauthorizedAccessException: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {3D42CCB1-4665-4620-92A3-478F47389230} failed due to the following error: 80070005.

Event Viewer Error messages

Error 2:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3
Event Category: Timer
Event ID: 6398
Date: 12/7/2007
Time: 1:47:40 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ****ServerName******WIKI
Description:The Execute method of job definition Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.IndexingScheduleJobDefinition (ID 1f3483b5-34a2-421a-9f3f-92a9c5251363) threw an exception. More information is included below.
Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {3D42CCB1-4665-4620-92A3-478F47389230} failed due to the following error: 80070005.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Error 3:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Office Server Shared Services
Event ID: 6481
Date: 12/7/2007
Time: 1:47:33 PM
User: N/A
Computer: ****ServerName******WIKI
Description:Application Server job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (1a9460af-60a2-4fc5-8fb2-c53f9a48063a).
Reason: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {3D42CCB1-4665-4620-92A3-478F47389230} failed due to the following error: 80070005.
Techinal Support Details:System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {3D42CCB1-4665-4620-92A3-478F47389230} failed due to the following error: 80070005. at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.AllocateUninitializedObject(RuntimeType objectType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.AllocateUninitializedObject(Type objectType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.CreateInstance(Type serverType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.IsCurrentContextOK(Type serverType, Object[] props, Boolean bNewObj) at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.Gatherer.get_AdminObject() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.Gatherer.ProvisionGlobalProperties() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Solution:
The application pool account needs to be given launch & activate permission to the DCOM 'osearch' service. In my case it was the network service which was getting accessed denied. I had to give it the permissions and there were no errors in the eventviewer.

• Start -> Run -> DCOMCNFG
• Component Services ->Computers->My Computer->DCOM Config
• Look for osearch and right click it to give lauch, activate permissions to the desired account
• Sometimes you need to give the IISWAM REG ADMIN service.

Hope this helps someone.