Full-Text Search - Service not responding

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Full-Text Search - Service not responding

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rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 21:53:23

Hi all

I've just had my admin guy start the Full-Text Search service (under Support Services) for a server here. Actually he did it a couple of hours ago. I've checked his computer and the icon shows "started" (ie green traffic light).

From my Enterprise manager, the Full-Text Search icon is still showing "stop" ie red traffic light. Yes, in case you are wondering, I've refreshed, closed and reopened Enterprise manager, and waited quite a while, but my code is definitely still failing on this. Identical code on an identical recordset in another server (which has the full-text icon "green") works fine.

I've already set full-text for the catalog and
SELECT fulltextserviceproperty('IsFulltextInstalled')
returns 1 for this catalog.

My quetion is: does enabling Full-Text Searching require a Server restart, or is there something else I can try first?

Thanks in advance

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 22:17:19

Double check in services applet on the server, ensure it's not in starting status.

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 22:31:33

Thanks rmiao

the Microsoft Search service shows "started" on both servers....

does sql server agent need to be running as well?

?

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 23:45:28

Not sql agent. Is sql server fulltext search service running?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 23:48:46

quote:
Originally posted by rrb

the Microsoft Search service shows "started" on both servers....

is the "sql server fulltext search service" different to the Microsoft Search service? If that's the same thing, then yes, the service shows "started"

Only reason I ask about SQL Server agent is that I noticed that it is not running on the server with the probs. But if it's not relevant...

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-17 : 23:59:49

If service is running on the server, don't worry status in ssms. Just check if you can populate the catalog and query returns correct result.

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-18 : 00:03:52

Thanks - the query results are NOT correct. Identical code on an identical recordset in another server (which has the full-text icon "green") works fine ...

Is there any chance I need to restart the server?

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-18 : 22:54:01

Can try if possible. Did you check windows event logs?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-18 : 23:00:07

Thanks rmiao. Yep I have checked the event logs. I'm getting no error from MS Search.

Today (after my computer - not the server - was rebooted last night) I still have exactly the same symptoms - Full-Text search is showing "started" on the server, but on my console (locally) it still shows "stopped", and the code is still "failing" at the same point.

I guess I'll try a server restart and post back. Might be a while though, I'll have to wait for next scheduled down time.

Thanks for your help

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-18 : 23:37:15

Did you try logon to the server directly and run same query in ssms on the server?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-18 : 23:51:10

hi rmiao

Thanks again for persisting in trying to help. I really appreciate it.

Interesting suggestion btw. What is ssms?

I've gone to both servers and run the code in QA. Same results. The code fails on the one where Full-Text Search (according to my console) is stopped.
* Checked EM locally on that server and it still shows Full-Text Search is started.
* Event logs report that the service started successfully.

Just in case I'm doing something really dumb, the test code I'm running is

Select title, case when contains(title, '"minor*"') then 1 else 0 end
from dbo.rmDetails

On the server showing "started" (from my console) this code returns

MINOR CONSULTANCY 1
MINOR CONSULTANCY 1
MINOR CONSULTANCY 1
CONTRACT FOR SERVICE 0
LARGE RESEARCH GRANTS 0

On the server showing "stopped" (from my console) this code returns

MINOR CONSULTANCY 0
MINOR CONSULTANCY 0
MINOR CONSULTANCY 0
CONTRACT FOR SERVICE 0
LARGE RESEARCH GRANTS 0

This obviously a simplified set, but I need contains rather than like because I need the higher level functionality...
--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-19 : 00:05:48

SSMS is sql server management studio. Did you populate catalog on both servers? What do you have in catalog properties?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-19 : 00:17:58

ah - I have not explicitly populated the catalogs. I'm assuming that's my problem. How do I do this? Is it always a manual step after enabling Full-Text searching?

GOOD NEWS:
I've issued the following:

exec sp_fulltext_table 'rmDetails', 'Activate'

This makes my code run ok - so at least that is now working.

But the Full-Text Index Table context menu item is still not available when I view the table through EM, both locally and remotely. But it is on the other server.

I looked at [url]http://www.eggheadcafe.com/articles/20010422.asp[/url] and he says

quote:
Rather, they are populated and updated according to a schedule that you can conveniently set from within the SQL Server Enterprise manager, or even programmatically with SQL DMO

But the options he describes do not appear to be available to me (I wonder if this job has not been set up on the other server...). How do I check catalog properties?

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-19 : 23:13:18

Which version of sql do you have? This is sql2k5 fourm but you always memtion EM.

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-19 : 23:20:59

Oops - my apologies- I have 2000 (ie v8)

Sorry rmiao -

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-20 : 23:30:40

Right click on the catalog and open properties in em, what do you get?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-20 : 23:44:08

hi rmiao

I get the usual properties with values that look good. Shows a last update date which is recent - etc etc. And since the code is working, maybe I can give up.

But it still won't show the correct status from a remote EM!

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-21 : 00:16:23

Your windows account may don't have proper windows permission on the server.

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-21 : 00:24:03

any hints on where I should look?

I can log into the server directly with the same credentials - don't know if that helps you or not.

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-21 : 23:28:57

Which windows local group is your account in?

rrb
SQLTeam Poet Laureate

1479 Posts

Posted - 2007-09-25 : 02:09:35

hi rmiao

I'm advised by my sys admin that my priveleges match exactly on both servers.

Thanks for all your help. I'm going to give up now. My code works, the catalog is being updated and even though EM is still reporting that full-text is not enabled, it's time I moved on.

Thanks again for sticking with me.

Cheers

--
I hope that when I die someone will say of me "That guy sure owed me a lot of money"

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