Cannot start the WSS Search Service & Office SharePoint Search not working - Same SQL & WSS\MOSS Server

 

Problem

Running SQL and MOSS on the same server, I was unable to start the WSS Search Service and the Office SharePoint Search service was showing errors in the SSP Site.  I had the following errors in my Event viewer:

 

Event Type:           Error

Event Source:       Windows SharePoint Services 3 Search

Event Category:   Gatherer

Event ID:                10034

Description: Could not access the Search service configuration database.

Context: Application '8f7d4cbe-8cb1-4d32-b406-1737af554479'

Details:The filename or extension is too long.   (0x800700ce)

  

Event Type:           Error

Event Source:       Office SharePoint Server

Event Category:   Office Server Shared Services

Event ID:                6482

Description:Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (9d344ee4-eacc-4460-8dc6-bb66bd5ab982).

Reason: The path is not of a legal form.

Techinal Support Details:

System.ArgumentException: The path is not of a legal form.

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.RunOnServer[T](CodeToRun`1 remoteCode, CodeToRun`1 localCode, Boolean useCurrentSecurityContext, Int32 versionIn)

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchApi.AddApp(Role role)

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.InstallGathererApplicationIf()

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Synchronize()

   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)

 

Reason

If you are running SQL and WSS/MOSS on the same server you will need to specify the Database Server, in the SharePoint Configuration Wizard as the NetBIOS name (Server01) and not the FQDN (Server01.Domain.com).  Seems to be a bug in SharePoint as I always use the FQDN wherever possible

 

Solution

Disconnect from the SharePoint Farm (by running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard) and reconnect, this time using the NetBIOS name for the DB server.  You will need to set the Indexer for any SSP’s you have created and restart some of the Services on the SharePoint Server but you should get back up and running.

 

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