User Profile Service: View the management agent run history for details.

Do you still use FIM for User Profiles in SharePoint 2013?
If requirements allow, I highly recommend to switch to SharePoint Active Directory Import

If not, you may be lost with intricacy of FIM configuration. I hope this How to start User Profile Synchronization service post alleviate some configuration pain.

One the Sp2013 uses FIM, and I recently found an error message in the event log:

The management agent "MOSSAD-User Profile Synchronisation" failed on run profile "DS_FULLIMPORT" because of connectivity issues.

 Additional Information
 Discovery Errors       : "0"
 Synchronization Errors : "0"
 Metaverse Retry Errors : "0"
 Export Errors          : "0"
 Warnings               : "0"

 User Action
 View the management agent run history for details.

And was wondering where IS this agent run history.

Here it is:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\15.0\Synchronization Service\UIShell

SharePoint 2013: Architectural changes. Pain Points

As I have launched a migration project to SharePoint 2013, I have started analyzing the architectural changes in SharePoint 2013 farm and other related products.

My goal is to migrate SharePoint 2010 with Project Server 2010 to SharePoint 2013 with Project Server 2013.

Here is my earliest discoveries:

1. Hardware recommendations differ for SharePoint 2013 and for Project Server 2013. But Project Server lives inside the SP Farm.
For small SP farm, you have to have around 12 Gb for Front End and 8 Gb for SQL.
But in case you want to include Project Server in the farm, MS recommends 16Gb for Front End and 16 Gb for Sql.
NOTE: This 16 Gb recommendation doesn't cover additional need for memory by other SP services:

The minimum hardware requirements in this section are recommended in which only the required services to run Project Server 2013 are enabled. Be aware that enabling additional SharePoint Server 2013 features in the farm may require more resources. 

So, it seems like MS intends to sale lots of  Azure VM services!
At this moment, I am struggling to find on-prem VMs for a new demanding farm. Realistically, I will not get more than 10 GB RAM for SP+Project Server 2013.


PAINT POINT: You have to boost hardware not only for SP2013 ,but for Project Sever 2013 accommodation.


2.Office Web Apps server (or OWA farm) should be installed on dedicated server (NOT ON THE SP SERVER).
 And by the way, have you acquainted with PowerShell? OWA Sever doesn't have UI to set settings, you have to use PowerShell 3.0.
  Once you have installed OWA farm (server) , you have to bind (SPWopiBinding) SP to it.

Now, think twice in case of migration.
Not only you have to boost hardware for serves, you have to find an additional server in order to have Office Web Apps. In SP2010 Office Web Apps product was supposed to be installed on the SP server.

PAINT POINT: You have to find an additional server for OWA to provide  functionality that was  "hardware-strain" free in the previous SP version.

3. Web analytics services are removed from Sp2013 as a separate services. Now it's a part of Search Service.

When you upgrade to SharePoint 2013, do not attach and upgrade the databases that contain the data from Web Analytics in SharePoint Server 2010. We recommend that you turn off Web Analytics in the SharePoint Server 2010 environment before you copy the content databases that you want to upgrade to SharePoint 2013.

PAINT POINT: Web analytics are best service to clean your farm before you go to SharePoint 2013. It allows you find unused spwebs. But you have to turn the service off when you want to copy your content db for test upgrade. So, you need to clean the environment (with help of Web analytics) before even your first test upgrade.

4. A new Access Service requires SQL 2012.

 In case you want\or have to provide Access Service in your SP 2013 Farm, you have point the service to SQL 2012 Server.

PAINT POINT: For Access Service you have to have SQL 2012. So if you have planned to stick with SQL 2008, make sure you don't need to have Access Service. In case you need it you have 2 choices: 1. Have 2012 SQL server installed at the first place, or 2. extend you farm and include additional 2012 SQL server to accommodate Access Service Application.

Search Service Application: Architecture in one page

Search service application consists of the following pieces:

1. Administration interface (_admin/ServiceApplications.aspx)

2. Crawl component

3. Databases (Administration, crawl, property)

4. Index partition (Query component) 

Crawler - a component that browses the contents automatically on a regular basis. The goal of the crawling process is to provide up-to-date data from the data store to the indexer(s).

Indexer -a component that collects and stores crawled data. The goal is to make data available for fast and precise information retrieval during the queries.

Query -  a component that provides UI for entering the user queries, presents the result set to the end users. It communicates with the Indexer component directly to get the result.

(Real World SharePoint 2010: Indispensable Experiences from 22 MVPs)

SharePoint 2007 defined 2 search roles: Query and Index.

With modularity of SharePoint 2010, these functions are defined as components.

The Index role(2007) has been renamed as the crawl component (2010).

In 2010 you have 2 components:

 - Crawl component;

 - Query component.

In 2010 you can make Search fault tolerance by having several crawl and query components (with option "Failover-only Query Component").

To run a Query component on a server, the service "Search Query and Site Settings Service" should be started. (refer to Service Application : Architecture in one picture)

Service Application : Architecture in one picture

Recently, I have been studying the inner work of Service Applications in SharePoint 2010.
I have discovered several terms that can be confusing if you haven't dived yet into the theory.


Service application -  in the general case, are just a logical concept made up of one or more components, one of which may be an actual Service Application component that defines the configurations for a particular implementation of a specific Service Instance." (Gary Lapointe's book)


Service application (second meaning - most used) - a management interface with some SQL back end (_admin/ServiceApplications.aspx)


Service application Endpoint - IIS Virtual application - a WCF service (a WCF service per a service application)


Service instance  - a dll, register keys, binary files, timer job (_admin/Server.aspx)


(Got Access denied error on _admin/Server.aspx? - Read on Simple concept: Manage services on server link is missing)


Here is a simple picture to see the relationships between the components of the Service Application: