Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.

Start a SharePoint 2013 Management Shell on one of the servers in the farm.

• For Windows Server 2008 R2:

  • On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

• For Windows Server 2012:

  1. On the Start screen, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

     If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:

  2. Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

Start a search service instance on the server that you want to create the index replica on and create a reference to the search service instance Id. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$<host n> = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "<Server name>"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $<host n>

Where:

• $<host n> specifies the PowerShell object reference for the search service instance.

• <Server name> specifies the server on which you want to add an index component. The input must be a valid GUID, in the form 12345678-90ab-cdef-1234-567890bcdefgh; a valid name of a server (for example, myserver1); or an instance of a valid SearchServiceInstance object.

For example:

$hostA = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "myserver1"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $hostA

Wait until the search service instance is running. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command until the command returns the status Online:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $<host n>

Clone the active search topology. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication
$active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
$clone = New-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Clone –SearchTopology $active

Add a new index component and associate it with a partition. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance <host n> -IndexPartition <Index partition number>

Where:

• $clone is the cloned topology that you are changing.

• $<host n> is the PowerShell object reference to the running search service instance on the server that you want to add the index replica to.

• <Index partition number> is the number of the existing index partition that you are creating a replica of. For example, to create an index replica of index partition 0, choose "0" as the parameter value.

For example:

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance $hostA -IndexPartition 0

Activate the clone topology. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

Set-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Identity $clone

Verify that your new topology is active and that the index component representing the new index replica is added. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Active -SearchApplication $ssa

Monitor the distribution of the existing index to the new replica. The added index replica will have the state Degraded until the distribution is finished. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa -Text

Repeat this command until all search components, including the new index component, output the state Active. For a large search index, this could take several hours.

Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a member of the Farm Administrators group.

Start a SharePoint 2013 Management Shell on one of the servers in the farm.

• For Windows Server 2008 R2:

  • On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

• For Windows Server 2012:

  1. On the Start screen, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

     If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:

  2. Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

Start a search service instance on all the servers where you want to add an index replica for the new index partition. You create a PowerShell object reference to the search service instance that is used later in the procedure. For each server, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$<host n> = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "<Server name>"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $<host n>

Where:

• <host n> specifies the PowerShell object reference for the search service instance.

• <Server name> specifies the server on which you want to add an index component. The input must be a valid GUID, in the form 12345678-90ab-cdef-1234-567890bcdefgh; a valid name of a server (for example, myserver1); or an instance of a valid SearchServiceInstance object.

For example:

$hostC = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "myserver3"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $hostC
$hostD = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity "myserver4"
Start-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $hostD

Wait until the search service instances are running. For each server, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command until the command returns the status Online:

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceInstance -Identity $<host n>

Clone the active search topology. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication
$active = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Active
$clone = New-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchApplication $ssa -Clone -SearchTopology $active

The command creates a clone search topology that can be referenced with $clone and returns information about the clone topology. Make a note of the topology Id of the cloned topology, in case you have to cancel the repartitioning process.

Add a new index partition by adding one or more index components and associate them with the new index partition. We recommend that you create the same number of index replicas for the new index partition as you have for the existing partitions. For each new index component, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent -SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance <host n> -IndexPartition <Index partition number>

Where:

• $clone is the cloned topology that you are changing.

• $<host n> specifies the PowerShell object reference for the search service instance.

• <Index partition number> is the number of the index partition that you are creating. By default, you have one index partition, which is called index partition 0. If you want to create a new index partition, enter the IndexPartition parameter value 1, followed by 2, then 3 and so forth.

For example, if you have an existing index partition 0 with index replicas on Host A and Host B, and you want to add a new index partition with index replicas on Host C and Host D:

New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance $hostC -IndexPartition 1
New-SPEnterpriseSearchIndexComponent –SearchTopology $clone -SearchServiceInstance $hostD -IndexPartition 1

Verify that the Search service application is running. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$ssa.IsPaused() –ne 0

1. If this command returns False, the Search service application is running. Continue with step 8.

2. If this command returns True, the Search service application is paused. You must resume the Search service application before you continue with step 8.

   Warning:
   Before you resume the Search service application, find out why it is paused. Any operation that requires the Search service application to be paused, for example running a backup or restore procedure, will not complete successfully if you resume the Search service application before that operation is completed.

   To resume the Search service application, at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

   Copy

   $ssa.ForceResume($ssa.IsPaused())
   

Start the activation of the clone topology. This will start the activation of the topology that includes the new index replicas associated with the new index partition. This will start the index repartitioning process.

Important:
The Search service application is paused during index repartitioning and cannot crawl or index content. Also, users will not be able to run queries. You will not be able to access the Windows PowerShell console where the activation command runs.

Note:
The Search Administration page in Central Administration does not show that the Search service application has been paused for index repartitioning. However, because all query processing components are suspended when you pause the Search service application for repartitioning, the Search administration page will show errors for the query processing components during this process.

At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$ssa.PauseForIndexRepartitioning()
Set-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -Identity $clone

Monitor the progress of the index repartitioning process. You can only monitor the progress of the repartitioning process on the primary index components of the existing topology. The following steps show you how to find the primary index components.

Note:
You will not be able to run any commands in the existing SharePoint 2013 Management Shell until the topology activation, including the index repartitioning process, is finished. Run the following commands in a second SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

1. Start a second SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

   • For Windows Server 2008 R2:

     • On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

   • For Windows Server 2012:

     1. On the Start screen, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

        If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:

     2. Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

   For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

2. Find the primary index replica for each of the existing index partitions. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt of the second SharePoint 2013 Management Shell, type the following command(s):

   Copy

   $ssa = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication
   Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa -Text
   

   The command returns a list of index components and their properties. Make a note of the names of the primary index component(s). These are the index components that have the property Primary: True.

   For example, the output could look like this. In this example, IndexComponent2 is the primary index component:

   Copy

   Name      : IndexComponent1
   State     : Active
   Primary   : False
   Partition : 0
   Host      : MyMachine1
   
   Name      : Cell:IndexComponent1-SPd32cdffb08a2I.0.0
   State     : Active
   Primary   : False
   Partition : 0
   
   Name      : IndexComponent2
   State     : Active
   Primary   : True
   Partition : 0
   Host      : MyMachine2
   
   Name      : Cell:IndexComponent2-SPd32cdffb08a2I.1.0
   State     : Active
   Primary   : True
   Partition : 0
   

For each primary index component, monitor the index repartitioning progress. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt of the second SharePoint 2013 Management Shell, type the following command(s):

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa -Healthreport -Component <Index component name> | ? { ($_.name -match "repart") -or ( $_.name -match "splitting") } | ft -AutoSize Name, Message

Where:

• <Index component name> is the name of the primary index component that you want to monitor the progress of, for instance IndexComponent2.

Monitor the output of the command for each primary index component. The output of the command contains progress information about the repartitioning of the index.

During the initial phase of the index repartitioning process, the output will look something like this:

Name                                              Message
----                                              -------
repartition_component_state[SP...]                Pending

The index partitions are split during the main phase of the index repartitioning process. During this phase, the output will look something like this:

Name                                              Message
----                                              -------
index splitting: current fusion progress[SP...]   <Percentage value>
index splitting: splitting state [SP...]          Index splitter running fusion, building: <Folder>
repartition_component_state [SP...]               Splitting

The percentage value in the output indicates the approximate progress of the repartitioning process.

Repeat this command for all primary index components until the output of the commands no longer returns any values. That means that the index repartitioning process has completed and that the repartitioned index will now be replicated and distributed over the servers. This could take several hours.

Monitor the progress of the distribution of the index to the new index replicas. To do this, verify that your new topology is active, and that all search components are healthy. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt of the second SharePoint 2013 Management Shell, type the following command(s):

Get-SPEnterpriseSearchStatus -SearchApplication $ssa | ft -AutoSize Name, State, Details

During the distribution of the index to the new index replicas, the added index replicas will return the state Degraded. The distribution is finished when all index components return the state Active in the output. This could take several hours.

Note:
The query processing components are suspended because you have paused the Search service application for index repartitioning. In the output, the query processing components will be listed with the state Unknown.

In the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell that you used to start the topology activation process, verify that the search topology activation command has completed.

(Optional) Restart the SharePoint Search Host Controller service on all the servers that hosted index components (representing a primary index replica or any other index replica) prior to the repartitioning.

Perform this step to get a correct document count and free up memory after repartitioning the search index. If you decide not to perform this step, it will take a few days and some indexing iterations for the memory usage to be gradually reduced and the document count (as returned by PowerShell cmdlets and in the Search Administration page in Central Administration) to be correct.

Note:
To avoid query outages, ensure that at least one index component returns the state Running for each index partition before you restart the SharePoint Search Host Controller service.

Important:
Do not use the Services on Server page on the SharePoint Central Administration Web site to restart this service.

1. To restart the SharePoint Search Host Controller, open a command prompt window on each of the servers that host index components for existing index partitions.

   1. To stop the SharePoint Search Host Controller, type this command: net stop spsearchhostcontroller

   2. To restart the SharePoint Search Host Controller, type this command: net start spsearchhostcontroller

Resume the Search service application. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$ssa.ResumeAfterIndexRepartitioning()

Start a new SharePoint 2013 Management Shell on the server where you ran the topology activation command.

• For Windows Server 2008 R2:

  • On the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

• For Windows Server 2012:

  1. On the Start screen, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

     If SharePoint 2013 Management Shell is not on the Start screen:

  2. Right-click Computer, click All apps, right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and then click Run as administrator.

For more information about how to interact with Windows Server 2012, see Common Management Tasks and Navigation in Windows Server 2012.

Retrieve the activating topology Id. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$activating = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchTopology -SearchTopology <Id of the activating topology> -SearchApplication $ssa

Where:

• <Id of the activating topology> is the identity (GUID) of the clone topology that you wrote down when you cloned the search topology.

Cancel the topology activation. At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following command(s):

$activating.CancelTopologyActivation()

Add a new index component to the server that you want to move the index replica to. Clone the search topology, add a new index replica, wait for the index to be replicated to the new index replica and activate the search topology. See Add an index replica to an existing index partition.

Wait until the new index replica is ready to serve queries. View the status of the search topology in the Search Administration page in Central Administration or run the Windows PowerShell cmdlet Get-EnterpriseSearchStatus. Before you proceed, the index replica that you have added must be Active.

Clone the search topology again.

Remove the superfluous index replica by removing the index component. See the procedure Remove a search component in the article Manage search components in SharePoint Server 2013.

Activate the search topology again.