**** Update (Thanks for the reminder to update this one Seth) This issue is resolved by the August CU for Project Server 2007 the details of which can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/chrisfie/archive/2009/08/27/announcing-the-release-of-the-microsoft-project-and-project-server-2007-august-cumulative-update.aspx. and the direct link is http://support.microsoft.com/kb/973937.
Details of the specific issue and fix:
You install the update that is described in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article 968271. When you create a site in Project Server 2007 that has the Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI) installed, a second timer job is created in the native language and the site provisioning fails. ****
The full error is Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.Objects' with unique index 'IX_Objects_ClassId_ParentId_Name', and this occurs when trying to provision a new PWA site in a farm. Some background first, and then the workaround. In the February CU we added a fix for the “waiting for resources” problems customers had run into when trying to provision new PWA sites. This was caused by a missing timer job. The fix checked for the timer job, and if it wasn’t found it was created – which for most of our customers was a perfect fix. However, for customers running multiple language versions (MUIs), or even just non US English versions it could fail to detect the timer job and think it was missing and try to re-create it – which led to the error!
My colleague Aik had been working on this problem and had a couple of workarounds we’d shared with customers and these turned up back in my blog comments a couple of days ago (Thanks Jose!) – so I thought the time was right for a full posting. So here are the workarounds – with option #1 being the favored one as it has the least impact on the users of the server:
Option #1 – Delete sync jobs before provisioning site
Option#2 – Change the regional settings
Any issues, or if you need some help working through these steps then please contact support. My blog reader Jose says we are may be fixing this in the June CU – though I couldn’t possibly comment…
*** Update *** See http://blogs.msdn.com/brismith/archive/2009/06/18/project-server-2007-tracking-method-updates-since-sp2.aspx for details of settings changes to see previous behaviour, and http://blogs.msdn.com/brismith/archive/2009/07/16/project-server-2007-office-system-june-2009-cumulative-update-is-now-available.aspx for the CU details that reverted to the previous behavior for Activity Plans and Proposals.
Sometimes we fix bugs and then find that customers had been relying on the “broken” behavior. I have covered this topic in some comment postings to the Service Pack 2 article but thought it worth a full posting to help customers understand why they are seeing different behavior.
In the Infrastructure Update we introduced a timephased grid for task time tracking. Most customers thought this was a great thing – but it did introduce issues in that Project Managers who had specified a project tracking method of % Complete and remaining work could no longer enforce this method – the timephased grid was a back door to “hours per period” statusing. So we fixed this in SP2 so that Project Managers could once again control how task time was entered.
How does this affect Activity Plans and Proposals? These server-side, or Light Weight Projects, as they are sometimes called, have certain limitations; only 100 tasks, only one assignment per task and also only one method of task statusing – which is % Complete and remaining work! This cannot be changed or over-ridden. In fixing this issue for “real” projects the fix also applied to all projects with this tracking method – and included Activity Plans and Proposals.
Now we are finding that between the IU and SP2 many customers were enjoying the ability to enter timephased data against these server-side projects. As always, I’d love to hear your comments.
Thanks to Laksh for his suggestion to make a full posting, and Ville for raising my awareness via comments to my blog.
Well maybe not secrets, but hopefully the webcast tomorrow (5/28/2009) will give more insight to the workings and architecture of the Active Cache. And if “tomorrow” is in the past the webcast is/was recorded. Chris Boyd will be presenting with Jan Kalis, and certainly myself and possibly Aik Chen will be along for the Q&A.
WebCast Overview This webcast will uncover processes and key messaging between Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2007. From first logon, through operations like project open, save and publish, we will describe in detail the ‘cache’ folder structure and registry settings. Network traffic between client and server will also be explained. Finally, we will discuss enhancements made to increase client/server communication scalability and reliability.
When? Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:30 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). If you can’t make it, the WebCast is recorded :)
For other sessions you may have missed go to http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/epm.aspx and check the on-demand webcast list.
*** Update 2*** A fix for this issue is now released, and a replacement SP2 download will be available 4-6 weeks from now (and now is 6/26/2009). See http://blogs.msdn.com/brismith/archive/2009/06/26/project-server-2007-office-server-service-pack-2-sp2-update-kb-971620.aspx
***Update*** The KB for this issue is now live at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971620 but currently it does not say that this issue also applies to Microsoft Office Project Server 2007. This will be corrected shortly, but this certainly does also apply to Project Server 2007 once the Office Servers SP2 is loaded - regardless of the presence of MOSS. and Applies to section includes Project Server 2007!
This is an emerging issue where we are seeing servers that have been updated with the 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 2 (SP2) KB953334 are set to a trial license, with an expiry around the end of October 2009.
For the official statement on this issue please see the SharePoint blog, which also contains some FAQ answers on this topic.
This appears to apply to servers with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Project Server 2007 both loaded, as well as servers with just Project Server 2007. Thanks to Shazeb and Kyle for bringing it to our attention!
The fix is simple – just re-enter the license key. The Project Server 2007 one, or the Office SharePoint Server 2007 one if you have MOSS loaded too. This is done on the Operations page from SharePoint Central Administration under the Upgrade and Migration section (lower left) called Convert license type.
If you see the word “Trial” in the description area then you have the problem.
On the page itself enter the key, which will be the usual 25 characters in 5 groups of 5. The following screen shot is of a server after the correct key is entered – so it doesn’t show “trial”.
There will be a KB article coming soon KB 971620, but at the time of writing this is not live – though expected in the next 48hrs. No rush to fix as the expiry is not for a few months – but best to do it before you forget. No reboot necessary.
By the time you get to Phoenix… there will be some excellent Project Server 2007 and 2010 content for you. New information on the site at http://www.msprojectconference.com/ including an extension to the Early Bird rate! This will be the only Microsoft Project Conference anywhere in the world this year, so don’t miss the opportunity to “Learn, Connect and Grow” at Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix, AZ from September 14th-17th, 2009.
Let’s get some action going on Facebook too!
Session information is being posted (more to come in the next month), so come see these and many other:
And how about the Microsoft Project Conference 2009 Awards Program
The Microsoft Project Conference 2009 awards program recognizes customers and partners who have delivered innovative solutions built on Microsoft Enterprise Project Management 2007 technologies. This worldwide event represents a unique opportunity for you to showcase your solutions and to earn recognition from customers, partners and industry influencers. Finalists and winners will be announced on August 15, 2009 and will be recognized at the Microsoft Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, from September 14–17, 2009.
And finally…
It has to be worth the price of admission to see Christophe in Lucchese boots and Stetson hat at the rodeo on Tuesday night!