Service Instance timer execution failed - Event 6398 (SharePoint 2010 Products)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010

Alert Name:   SPServiceInstance timer execution failed

Event ID:   6398

Summary:   Several features of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 rely on scheduled background processes called timer jobs. Administrators can configure, schedule, and view the status of timer jobs by using the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.

Symptoms:   The following symptom might appear:

  • This event appears in the event log: Event ID: 6398 The Execute method of job definition <Job Definition Name> (ID Job ID) threw an exception. More information is included below. %n%n <Job Details>

    Most Common Job Definitions:

    • SPPasswordManagementJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Sends e-mail and logs events for expiring passwords and password changes. This timer job ensures that managed passwords are changed before they expire.

    • SPGeneratePasswordJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Generates new password for an account, updates the account password, and then launches jobs to deploy the new password to everything that uses it.

    • SPAdminAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Updates the credentials for the administration Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 application pool in the farm.

    • SPContentAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Updates the credentials for a content IIS application pool on all servers in the farm.

    • SPWindowsServiceCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Updates the credentials for a Windows service on every computer in the farm where the service is running.

    • SPMasterPassphraseDeploymentJobDefinition

      Purpose:   Tells all the front-end Web applications the new passphrase-derived key. This job is run when the administrator decides to change the passphrase of the farm.

Cause:   One or more of the following might be the cause:

  • The third-party timer job cannot be found or is corrupt.

  • The Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 timer job cannot be found, or is corrupt.

  • Most Common Job Causes:

    • SPPasswordManagementJobDefinition

      Issue:   Password change timer jobs (SPGeneratePasswordJobDefinition) have not been scheduled or updated for farm credentials. Any additions or changes made recently to the password change schedules for any credentials in the farm will not be updated to match the changes until this job completes successfully.

    • SPGeneratePasswordJobDefinition

      Issue:   A scheduled timer job to create a new password for a farm credential failed. The current credential value might no longer be valid and has to be updated manually in the Active Directory account. If the credentials for the account are still valid, this timer job should be restarted.

    • SPAdminAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Issue:   The new credentials for the Central Administration Web application pool have not been updated on the local machine to match the current value that was configured for the farm. This might prevent the Central Administration Web application from starting.

    • SPContentAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Issue:   The new credentials for the application pool have not been updated on the local machine to match the current value that was configured for the farm. This might prevent the application pool from starting.

    • SPWindowsServiceCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Issue:   The new credentials for the service have not been updated on the local machine to match the current value that was configured for the farm. This might prevent the service from starting.

    • SPMasterPassphraseDeploymentJobDefinition

      Issue:   The master passphrase for the farm has not been updated on the local machine to match the current value that was configured for the farm. This might prevent decryption or encryption of the farm encryption key until it is updated locally.

Resolution:   Determine appropriate resolution

  • Review the job definition name found in the event description to determine the appropriate resolution:

    • SPPasswordManagementJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job.

    • SPGeneratePasswordJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job to manually force a password reset.

    • SPAdminAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job to run administrator deployment jobs locally, in order to manually force a password reset.

    • SPContentAppPoolCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job to run administrator deployment jobs locally, in order to manually force a password reset.

    • SPWindowsServiceCredentialDeploymentJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job to run administrator deployment jobs locally, in order to manually force a password reset.

    • SPMasterPassphraseDeploymentJobDefinition

      Resolution:   Restart this timer job to run administrator deployment jobs locally, in order to manually force a password reset.

For all other timer job resolutions, follow the steps in the next section. To resolve this issue, use the resolution that corresponds to the cause you identified in the “Symptoms” section. After performing the resolution steps, see the “Verify” section to confirm that the feature is operating properly.

Note

You must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group to perform these tasks.

Resolution:   Configure faulty timer job

  • If the faulty assembly cannot be found or is corrupt, and if it is not a SharePoint Foundation 2010 assembly, and if the timer definition is a recurring job, you must disable the faulty timer job.

    To disable the faulty timer job:

    1. On the Central Administration page, click Monitoring and in the Timer Jobs section click Review Job Definitions.

    2. Locate the timer job in the list and click the timer definition name.

    3. On the Edit Timer Job page, click Disable.

      Disabled timer jobs are displayed as Disabled in the Schedule Type column.

    To enable the faulty timer job:

    1. On the Central Administration page, click Monitoring and in the Timer Jobs section click Review Job Definitions.

    2. Locate the timer job in the list and click the timer definition name.

    3. On the Edit Timer Job page, click Enable.

Note

To perform the following procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.

Resolution:   Repair Windows SharePoint Services installation

  • If the faulty assembly cannot be found or is corrupt, and is a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation assembly, you must repair the SharePoint Foundation installation to restore or repair the assembly.

    Note

    Repairing the installation requires that you restart the server. Web application modifications and other settings changes will be preserved.

    To repair the SharePoint Foundation installation:

    • Run the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 setup wizard, select the Repair option, and click Continue.

    To verify that the timer job is working:

    1. If the timer job was a recurring job, go to the Timer Job Definition page, and enable the timer job. The job should run at the next normally scheduled interval.

    2. If the timer job was a one-time-only job, retry the command that triggered the timer job.