Site collection with no associated content db

SharePoint 2013 presented me with another challenge today whereby I was unable to deleted a site collection through Central Admin or by using Remove-SPSite. Prior to the problem all I had done was provision a new content DB using PowerShell and and tried to create a new site collection using this new DB also using PowerShell. During the process it failed because of DB permissions.

In Central Admin the site collection was visible, but there was no DB associated and the button to delete was not active. Remove-SPSite just returned the following.
remove-spsite : <nativehr>0x80070003</nativehr><nativestack></nativestack>

A quick Google search quickly confirmed I was not the only one who had run into this issue. The quick and easy PowerShell solution is as follows:

$site = Get-SPSite http://siteurl
$siteId = $site.Id
$siteDatabase = $site.ContentDatabase 
$siteDatabase.ForceDeleteSite($siteId, $false, $false)

References: 
http://blog.claudiobrotto.com/2013/deleting-a-site-collection-that-cannot-be-deleted/
https://peterheibrink.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/forcefully-delete-site-collection/
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh323680(v=office.15).aspx?tduid=(ef781dacba28e2781c4bdf3ffd2cba40)(256380)(2459594)(TnL5HPStwNw-s7STYp2zFC.xMbOlk5rlOA)()

New-SPWeb : Access is denied

Ran into an interesting one recently. While trying to create a new site in my 2013 site collection, I got the following error message:

PS C:\Windows\system32> New-SPWeb http://intranet/communities/eim/MD -Template "CMSPUBLISHING#0" -Name "Master Data"

New-SPWeb : Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))

At line:1 char:1

+ New-SPWeb http://intranet/communities/eim/MD -Template "CMSPUBLISHING#0" -Nam ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share....SPCmdletNewWeb:SPCmdletNewWeb) [New-SPWeb], UnauthorizedAccessException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletNewWeb

Turned to Google and found that I needed to add the user account executing the code, in my case the farm setup account, to the site collection admin group. Strange, because I used the same script previously on a 2010 site collection without the user being in the site collection admin group.

Ping back: http://dirty-dot.blogspot.co.za/2012/04/i-ran-into-another-odd-problem-with-my.html

Create a new Search Service Application in SharePoint 2013 using PowerShell

Distributed Cache link resources

Just a few useful links I found regarding Distributed Cache in SharePoint 2013

Manage the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server 2013https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219613.aspx

Repopulating the Newsfeed Cache after a Server Restart
http://steve.thelineberrys.com/2013/11/

The Five Minute Cheat-Sheet on SharePoint 2013′s Distributed Cache Service
http://blog.idera.com/sharepoint/the-five-minute-cheat-sheet-on-sharepoint-2013s-distributed-cache-service/

SharePoint 2013 Newsfeeds not working
https://jerryyasir.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/sharepoint-2013-newsfeeds-not-working-microsoft-office-server-microfeed-microfeedexception/

The operation failed because the server could not access the distributed cache, Sharepoint 2013
https://dayansameera.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/the-operation-failed-because-the-server-could-not-access-the-distributed-cache-sharepoint-2013/

Using PowerShell to Manage the Distributed Cache in SharePoint 2013
http://almondlabs.com/blog/manage-the-distributed-cache/

Tips and Tricks from the Field on the new Distributed Cache Service in SharePoint 2013
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mspfe/archive/2013/12/11/tips-and-tricks-from-the-field-on-the-new-distributed-cache-service-in-sharepoint-2013.aspx

SharePoint 2013 MySite Newsfeed displays "There was a problem retrieving the latest activity. Please try again later"
http://blogs.blackmarble.co.uk/blogs/adawson/post/2012/10/30/SharePoint-2013-MySite-Newsfeed-displays-There-was-a-problem-retrieving-the-latest-activity-Please-try-again-later.aspx

Following of Content not working

So after setting up a SharePoint 2013 environment that consisted of two web apps, one for collaboration, the other for the my sites, it seemed the Following of Content was broken. Kept on getting an error message that stated "InternalError : Could not follow the item ..."

I used separate application pools using different accounts. When I followed content in my own personal sites the Following of Content worked, but kept on getting an error when Following Content in the collaboration site. I was unable to find any related errors in the ULS.

Could not find a conclusive answer after googling, but it seemed to be db permission related.

Solution

In SQL I added the application pool account that was being used by the collaboration site to the MySite content db and gave it SPDataAccess permission.

AD Containers not Showing

I've run into this one a few times, so you busy creating a new connection to AD and everything is going smoothly until you try to expand the AD tree to select your containers. You have double checked that the account you are using to access AD is setup correctly, but still the tree won't expand. 
In my case is was the  Local Policy setting that needed to be changed.

Go to Local Policies, Security Options. Select "network security: LDAP client signing requirements", change the value  from “negotiate signing “  to "None". 

Once that is done I had to restart the server, I also opened up a new browser window and created the connection again, this time the AD container tree expanded as expected.

SharePoint 2013 - Central Admin Theme Change

Pingback: http://thesharepointlounge.thespirithotel.com/?p=34

Good to know when you are working on multiple farms.

Just add _layouts/themeweb.aspx  to the end of  your CA URL.

SharePoint 2013 - CA Change Suite Link Bar

Pingback: http://www.wictorwilen.se/sharepoint-2013-central-administration-productivity-tip

Great way of knowing which CA site you are currently working on. 

$ca = Get-SPWebApplication -IncludeCentralAdministration | ?{$_.IsAdministrationWebApplication -eq $true}

$ca.SuiteBarBrandingElementHtml = "<div class='ms-core-brandingText'>Central Admin: FarmA Production</div>"

$ca.Update()