SharePoint Topology Data Collection

Updated Wiki: Home

AravindKS — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:35:13 GMT

This Timer job collects information about the topology of the SharePoint farm and publishes it as a SharePoint list to a site within the farm. This is meant to be used in conjunction with the Visio SharePoint Network Topology add-in to create a dynamic dashboard that enables intuitive visualization of the current state of your SharePoint deployment.

Note: This timer job works both in SharePoint 2010 and 2013

Updated Release: SharePoint Topology Data Collection Timer job (Sep 22, 2011)

AravindKS — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:31:39 GMT

This page provides the installer for timerjob, wsp file and installation PowerShell script.

Note: After setting the value from the SharePoint Topology Data Job settings, restart the SharePoint 2010 Timer Windows service and schedule the TimerJob.

Below Powershell script will also restart the SharePoint Timer service.

For SharePoint 2010:
Restart-Service -displayname "SharePoint 2010 Timer"

For SharePoint 2013:
Restart-Service -displayname “SharePoint Timer Service"

Note
In Hyper V machines the custom action to run the Powershell script may fail. Please deploy the WSP manually using the WSP and the PowerShell script.

Released: SharePoint Topology Data Collection Timer job (Sep 22, 2011)

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:31:39 GMT

Updated Wiki: Home

AravindKS — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:29:49 GMT

SharePoint Network Topology Diagram Add-in leverages Visio services to deliver a near real time intuitive rendering of the status of SharePoint farm’s infrastructure and associated services. Visio Graphics services – A key part of SharePoint, enables customers to share their dynamic data driven Visio diagrams and dashboards within SharePoint. This helps extend the reach of valuable information and insights across relevant teams within the enterprise for capacity planning and general IT maintenance.

The timer job fetches all the key technical metrics about the SharePoint farm infrastructure using SharePoint object model and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation). It’s frequency can be adjusted based on specific administrative needs. The timer job creates a SharePoint list that is linked to a Visio diagram. A client add-in helps you generate, customize and link the output of the timer job to a Visio diagram by using a wizard driven interface.

Upon publishing the Visio diagram within SharePoint, Visio services enable users to refresh their diagram from within SharePoint.

Note: This client add-in works both in Visio 2010 and 2013.

Source code checked in, #18611

Project Collection Service Accounts — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:57:50 GMT

Upgrade: New Version of LabDefaultTemplate.xaml. To upgrade your build definitions, please visit the following link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=254563

Source code checked in, #18610

Project Collection Service Accounts — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:56:15 GMT

Checked in by server upgrade

New Post: Using the install script

kiquenet — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 06:30:28 GMT

Any solution about it, please?

New Post: Exception: Invalid number value

rodgerjt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:51:49 GMT

First, the permission requirements for this tool listed above are in complete contradiction to the best practices laid out for SharePoint 2010 and general security best practices. A customer should never have to leave the farm account in the local admins group. This quote is absolutely ridiculous:

"When it comes to security, its fully safe and secured. Reason being is the SharePoint Timer Job is a secured windows service which runs in your farm. There is no chance to tamper it."

Second, I have yet to come across an enterprise organization that will allow the SharePoint farm account to be local admin on an SMTP server. The logic in the enumeration of the servers in the FetchSPFarmInfo method needs to be updated to skip the SMTP server. A try/catch would also be nice here so we don't fail the entire enumeration if one server query fails.

For those seeing the timerjob fail with the following ULS error:

Exception stack trace:   
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)    
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.AddOrUpdateItem(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, Boolean bAdd, Boolean bSystemUpdate, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Boolean bUpdateNoVersion, Int32& plID, String& pbstrGuid, Guid pbstrNewDocId, Boolean bHasNewDocId, String bstrVersion, Object& pvarAttachmentNames, Object& pvarAttachmentContents, Object& pvarProperties, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, String bstrFileName, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pListDataValidationCallback, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pRestrictInsertCallback, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pUniqueFieldCallback)    
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.AddOrUpdateItem(Boolean bAdd, Boolean bSystem, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Boolean bNoVersion, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Guid newGuidOnAdd, Int32& ulID, Object& objAttachmentNames, Object& objAttachmentContents, Boolean suppressAfterEvents, String filename)    
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.UpdateInternal(Boolean bSystem, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Guid newGuidOnAdd, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, Boolean bNoVersion, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Boolean suppressAfterEvents, String filename)    
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.Update()    
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology.AddServerDetails(SPList spFarmTopologyList, String& serverName, Int32& index, SPServer server)    
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology.FetchSPFarmInfo(SPList spFarmTopologyList)    
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology..ctor(String siteWebUrl, String spListName)    
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId)    
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvokeInternal.Invoke(SPJobDefinition jd, Guid targetInstanceId, Boolean isTimerService, Int32& result)

The reason for the error is becuase the farm account doesn't have the necessary permisisons to remotely query one or more servers in the farm and that scenario is not handled well in the timerjob code.

To make the timer job work without adding the farm account to the local admins group, you need to grant your farm account the following permissions on each server in listed on the "servers in farm" page in Central Admin:

Navigate to WMI Control Properties and on the security tab grant the "Remote Enable" permission on the Root WMI namespace and all subnamespaces.
Launch DCOMCNFG and a grant the farm account "Remote Activation" permissions under Component Services > Computers > My Computer

New Post: Using the install script

eliassal — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:25:07 GMT

Hi, I tried the MSI file to install the timer but got a debug dialogbox halfway then cancelled the setup.

I downloaded the wsp and install script in same directory, ran the script, getting the following error (Lofgged as administrator and running the command line as admin as well) but getting the following error:

Get-SPSolution : Cannot access the local farm. Verify that the local farm is properly configured, currently available,
and that you have the appropriate permissions to access the database before trying again.
At C:\temp\sharepointfarminfotimerjobInstall.ps1:51 char:37
+     $IsWSPInstalled = Get-SPSolution <<<< | where-object {$_.Name -eq $SolutionName} | Select-Object Deployed -verb
ose
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...dletGetSolution:SPCmdletGetSolution) [Get-SPSolution], S
   PCmdletException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletGetSolution

Should I run the script with some parameters? Thanks in advance

New Post: Possible to show WFE

clee — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:20:44 GMT

I have the same issue in my DEV farms (all-in-one or 2 WFE+1 App+1 SQL). Only 1 server shown in the list. Could you please point out where we should update teh configuration in order to fetch all servers?

Thanks.

New Post: Install vs. activation

bsimser — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:15:05 GMT

I've done a few installs of this on our DEV and TEST environments but a little confused about the feature. Once you install and deploy the solution, you get the Central Admin link so you can configure where to save your collection data to. But what's the feature activation on the site collection for? I've activated on my Central Admin site collection but should it be activated on all site collections? It looks from the code that it just creates the timer job.

Edit:

Never mind. Figured it out. The feature *must* be activated on the Central Admin website. The feature activation is what adds the SharePoint Topology Data Collection Settings to the Timer Jobs section of Monitoring. The settings lets you direct where to post the farm info list to.

Maybe I missed it in the docs or it wasn't clear. Also when you activate through the browser you must be logged in as the farm account (not just a farm admin I found).

New Post: Feature install and activation issues.

bsimser — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:31:01 GMT

I just tried it on my DEV farm and got the same error. I'm activating it on the site collection through the browser using my farm account. I don't know what it's trying to do or what account it's trying to use but it is happening in the Feature Activated event.

Feature receiver assembly 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=24899278d4c23296', class 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver', method 'FeatureActivated' for feature 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5' threw an exception: System.Security.SecurityException: Access denied.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update()
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver.FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.DoActivationCallout(Boolean fActivate, Boolean fForce) The Zone of the assembly that failed was: MyComputer

Will try to activate it via PowerShell on the server using the farm account.

New Post: Min Permissions on Servers?

loligator — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:03:18 GMT

What permission changes did you have to make? I'm confused. I understand something has to run with domain admin credentials but I'm not sure what. Are you talking about the SharePoint 2010 Timer service?

New Post: Feature install and activation issues.

aland17 — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:20:11 GMT

It did not help me.

Access denied - again and again.

What to do?

Commented Issue: Error activating the feature on a foundation site. [709]

bobchauvin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:00:33 GMT

Logs

11/17/2011 08:23:06.24 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation General 88jb Medium Feature Activation: Activating Feature 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature' (ID: 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5') at URL http://dmd2010. d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.25 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation General 75fb Medium Calling 'FeatureActivated' method of SPFeatureReceiver for Feature 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature' (ID: 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5'). d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.33 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8xqz Medium Updating SPPersistedObject SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob Name=SPFarmInfoTimerJob. Version: -1 Ensure: False, HashCode: 3675257, Id: 65b8720b-5df2-416f-80eb-225cf3f35024, Stack: at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update() at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver.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(SPFeatureDefini... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.33* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8xqz Medium ...tion 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, Boolean force, SPFeatureDefinitionScope featdefScope) at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.FeatureActivator.ActivateFeature(Guid featid, SPFeatureDefinitionScope featdefScope) at Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.FeatureActivatorItem.BtnActivateFeature_Click(Object objSender, EventArgs evtargs) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.WebContro... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.33* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8xqz Medium ...ls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) at ASP._layouts_managefeatures_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) at System... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.33* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8xqz Medium ....Web.HttpApplication.PipelineStepManager.ResumeSteps(Exception error) at System.Web.HttpApplication.BeginProcessRequestNotification(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb) at System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationHelper(IntPtr managedHttpContext, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotification(IntPtr managedHttpContext, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationHelper(IntPtr managedHttpContext, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineR... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.33* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8xqz Medium ...untime.ProcessRequestNotification(IntPtr managedHttpContext, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.35 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Topology 8dyu High The SPPersistedObject, SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob Name=SPFarmInfoTimerJob, could not be updated because the current user is not a Farm Administrator. d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.39 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Feature Infrastructure 88jm High Feature receiver assembly 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=24899278d4c23296', class 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver', method 'FeatureActivated' for feature 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5' threw an exception: System.Security.SecurityException: Access denied. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update() at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver.FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.DoActivationCallout(Boolean fActivate, ... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.39* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Feature Infrastructure 88jm High ...Boolean fForce) The Zone of the assembly that failed was: MyComputer d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.39 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation General 72by High Feature Activation: Threw an exception, attempting to roll back. Feature 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature' (ID: 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5'). Exception: System.Security.SecurityException: Access denied. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPJobDefinition.Update() at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Features.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_FeatureEventReceiver.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) The Zone of the assembly tha... d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.39* w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation General 72by High ...t failed was: MyComputer d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.41 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Monitoring b4ly High Leaving Monitored Scope (Feature Activation: Activating Feature 'SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob_Feature' (ID: 'f5bdb83d-a43e-435a-8e3b-73083421b6e5') at URL http://dmd2010.). Execution Time=178.126828968486 d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
11/17/2011 08:23:06.42 w3wp.exe (0x0E10) 0x0CA8 SharePoint Foundation Runtime 6615 Critical Access denied. d036972d-0682-4b7d-9fbf-900aa60d8fcc
Comments: ** Comment from web user: bobchauvin **

Trying the suggested fix from Pientka
http://unclepaul84.blogspot.com/2010/06/sppersistedobject-xxxxxxxxxxx-could-not.html

Commented Issue: Timer Job "The Execute method of job definition .... Invalid number value" [648]

Pientka — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:31:52 GMT

It appears that the table updates as the modified time entries show a later time but I get this error in the Logs from the OWSTIMER
entry 1
Invalid number value. A number field contains invalid data. Please check the value and try again.<nativehr>0x8102001a</nativehr><nativestack></nativestack>
entry 2
The Execute method of job definition SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob (ID 7f96d2c9-6917-44f0-adf2-877120f835f2) threw an exception. More information is included below. Invalid number value. A number field contains invalid data. Please check the value and try again.

entry 3

Exception stack trace:
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPGlobal.HandleComException(COMException comEx)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.AddOrUpdateItem(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, Boolean bAdd, Boolean bSystemUpdate, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Boolean bUpdateNoVersion, Int32& plID, String& pbstrGuid, Guid pbstrNewDocId, Boolean bHasNewDocId, String bstrVersion, Object& pvarAttachmentNames, Object& pvarAttachmentContents, Object& pvarProperties, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, String bstrFileName, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pListDataValidationCallback, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pRestrictInsertCallback, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter pUniqueFieldCallback)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.AddOrUpdateItem(Boolean bAdd, Boolean bSystem, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Boolean bNoVersion, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Guid newGuidOnAdd, Int32& ulID, Object& objAttachmentNames, Object& objAttachmentContents, Boolean suppressAfterEvents, String filename)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.UpdateInternal(Boolean bSystem, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Guid newGuidOnAdd, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish, Boolean bNoVersion, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Boolean suppressAfterEvents, String filename)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListItem.Update()
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology.AddServerDetails(SPList spFarmTopologyList, String& serverName, Int32& index, SPServer server)
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology.FetchSPFarmInfo(SPList spFarmTopologyList)
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SPFarmTopology..ctor(String siteWebUrl, String spListName)
at SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.SharePointFarmInfoTimerJob.Execute(Guid targetInstanceId)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerJobInvokeInternal.Invoke(SPJobDefinition jd, Guid targetInstanceId, Boolean isTimerService, Int32& result)

How would I debug this further to find out what field in the update is causing the issue and if its something I can change in the table or whether its something else?

Thanks
Comments: ** Comment from web user: Pientka **

Resolution of Invalid number problem is to change all Number columns on SharePoint list to Single line text. then it will start to work. Ehh. Great product but this bugs are really annoying.

Commented Issue: Timer Job "The Execute method of job definition .... Invalid number value" [648]

Pientka — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:59:19 GMT

Is there any way to turn off chaecking SMTP sever from this solution. In my case SMTP server is Exchange Farm without access for SharePoint account.

Commented Issue: Timer Job "The Execute method of job definition .... Invalid number value" [648]

Pientka — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:19:36 GMT

Is there any support for this problem?

Commented Issue: Error activating the feature on a foundation site. [709]

Pientka — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 09:19:05 GMT

https://plus.google.com/109423462029200221494/posts/hxS1LD6Aa3a - Here is the answer.

New Post: Feature install and activation issues.

Pientka — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:49:09 GMT

Answer:

https://plus.google.com/109423462029200221494/posts/hxS1LD6Aa3a