Query Server is not responding and SharePoint Search is broken

This post is in reference to my previous post regarding SharePoint Search issue. I have tried to add detailed resolution steps for that issue.

Issue: Query Server does not respond for content index propagation and SharePoint search does not work for searching new contents. It may work for searching old contents.

These steps assume following SharePoint topology:

1. SPSRVR1: Query Server and SharePoint Central Administration Site
2. SPSRVR2: Index Server and Dedicated Web Front End server for crawling
3. SPDB: Database Server – SQL Server 2005

Note: We have heterogeneous environment, where SPSRVR1 and SPSRVR2 have Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP1-32 bit (x86) and SPDB has Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP1-64 bit. We have installed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard Edition-32 bit (x86) with SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition with SP1-64 bit.

Create a new folder (e.g. “Applications2”) on SPSRVR1 (Query Server) for content index propagation. There is no need to share it. SharePoint will do it automatically and remove sharing for “Application” folder (original location for content index propagation). It is highly recommended to create a new folder (“Application2”) at the same level as its original folder (“Application”).

Run following command on SPSRVR1 (Query Server)

Note: Do not move existing content index from old location (“Application”) to a new location (“Application2”) manually. In fact, SharePoint does it automatically once you create a new location for content index propagation and run above command

E:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office Server\Applications on SPSRVR1 – Query Server (Currently it is 4.84 GB with the items in index = 1271197)

E:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office Server\Applications on SPSRVR2 – Index Server (Currently it is 12 GB with the items in index = 1271197)

Above command should reinitialize Query Server for Shared Service Provider- SSP in your SharePoint Server farm. Check Search Settings from SharePoint Central Administration site. Index Server should start propagating content index to a new location on Query Server with the message stating “Propagating to new Query Server (Name of the Query Server).

Once “Indexing Status” and “Propagation Status” are idle, you should start “Full Crawl” to crawl the new contents and update the content index which will be propagated to a new location on Query Server automatically.

This should fix your issue and SharePoint search should be working fine for searching new as well as old contents after you finish “Full Crawl”.