Update Conflict Error in SharePoint Using PowerShell Script

Introduction

Many of you must have come across the issue “An update conflict has occurred and you must re-try this action” and it is suggested to remove the file system cache on the front-end servers. There are many articles to show how to do this manually. But here I will show you how to resolve it using a PowerShell script.

Cause for this issue

This issue occurs if the contents of the file system cache on the front-end servers are newer than the contents of the configuration database.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, clear the file system cache on all servers in the server Farm on which the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service is running. This can be done manually, but consider a large Farm where the administrator needs to login to each of the servers to perform the activity manually. It is time-consuming and people can make mistakes. PowerShell becomes handy here.

The following procedure can resolve the issue:

1. Stop the SharePoint timer service
2. Take a backup of the system cache files before deleting it
3. Delete the XML files from the cache folder
4. Reset the cache.ini file to the value 1
5. Start the SharePoint timer service

Now I will explain how to perform the preceding tasks using a PowerShell script.

Stop SharePoint timer service

The following piece of code stops the SharePoint timer service:

Backup config cache files

The following piece of code backs up the config cache files before deleting it:
Deleting XML files

The following piece of code deletes the XML files:
Reset timer cache

The following piece of code resets the timer cache:
Start SharePoint timer service
Complete Code

1. $LogTime = Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd_hh-mm
2. $LogFile = ".\ClearSPConfigCachePatch-$LogTime.rtf"
4. # Add SharePoint PowerShell Snapin
7. if ( (Get-PSSnapin -Name Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null ) {
8. Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell
9. }
11. $scriptBase = split-path $SCRIPT:MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path -parent
12. Set-Location $scriptBase
15. #Deleting any .rtf files in the scriptbase location
16. $FindRTFFile = Get-ChildItem $scriptBase\*.* -include *.rtf
17. if($FindRTFFile)
18. {
19. foreach($file in $FindRTFFile)
20. {
21. remove-item $file
22. }
23. }
26. start-transcript $logfile
28. Write-host "##############Following steps will be involved################" -fore green
29. write-host "Step 1 - Stop the timerservice" -fore cyan
30. write-host "Step 2 - Take the backup of config cache file" -fore cyan
31. write-host "Step 3 - Delete the XML files" -fore cyan
32. write-host "Step 4 - Reset the cache.ini file" -fore cyan
33. write-host "Step 5 - Start the SP timerservice" -fore cyan
34. Write-host "##############Above steps will be involved##################" -fore green
36. $global:timerServiceName = "SharePoint 2010 Timer"
37. $global:timerServiceInstanceName = "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Timer"
39. # Get the local farm instance
40. [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::get_Local()
41. Function StopSPTimerServicesInFarm([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm)
42. {
43. Write-Host ""
44. foreach($server in $farm.Servers)
45. {
46. foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)
47. {
48. # If the server has the timer service then stop the service
49. if($instance.TypeName -eq $timerServiceInstanceName)
50. {
51. [string]$serverName = $server.Name
53. Write-Host "Stop " $timerServiceName " service on server: " $serverName -fore yellow
55. $service = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $serverName Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$timerServiceName'"
56. $serviceInternalName = $service.Name
57. sc.exe \\$serverName stop $serviceInternalName > $null
59. # Wait until this service has actually stopped
60. write-host "Waiting for '$timerServiceName' service on server: " $serverName " to be stopped" -fore yellow
61. do
62. {
63. Start-Sleep 1
64. Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewLine "."
65. $service = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $serverName Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$timerServiceName'"
66. }
67. while ($service.State -ne "Stopped")
68. write-host " '$timerServiceName' service on server: " $serverName " stopped successfully" -fore green
69. break;
70. }
71. }
72. }
74. Write-Host ""
75. }
78. Function BackupSPConfigFiles([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm)
79. {
80. write-host ""
81. write-host "Backup SP config cache files" -fore yellow
83. foreach($server in $farm.servers)
84. {
85. foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)
86. {
87. if($instance.TypeName -eq $timerServiceInstanceName)
88. {
89. $ServerName = $server.name
90. $FolderName = $servername + "SPConfigCacheBackup"
91. write-host "Creating a folder to hold the backup files" -fore magenta
92. write-host "Checking whether the folder aleady exist"
93. if(Test-path $scriptbase\$FolderName)
94. {
95. write-host "Folder already exists and the script is deleting it......"
96. remove-item $scriptbase\$FolderName -recurse -confirm:$false
97. write-host "Existing folder deleted" -fore green
98. }
99. else
100. {
101. write-host "Folder does not exist"
102. }
103. New-Item $scriptbase\$FolderName -type directory
104. write-host "New folder created to hold the backup files" -fore magenta
105. write-host "Backup of SP config files for the server " $serverName " started ...... " -fore yellow
106. $path = "\\" + $serverName + "\c$\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config"
107. Copy-Item $path -Destination $scriptbase\$FolderName -recurse
108. write-host "SP config cache files backed up for the server " $serverName " Sucessfully..." -fore green
109. }
110. }
111. }
112. write-host "SP config caches files are backed up" -fore green
113. write-host ""
114. }
117. Function DeletingXMLFiles([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm)
118. {
119. Write-host ""
120. write-host "Deleting SP config cache XML files from each server in the farm" -fore yellow
121. $path = ""
122. foreach($server in $farm.servers)
123. {
124. foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)
125. {
126. if($instance.TypeName -eq $timerServiceInstanceName)
127. {
128. $serverName = $server.Name
129. write-host "Deleting SP config cache files from the server " $servername -fore magenta
130. $path = "\\" + $serverName + "\c$\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\*-*\*.xml"
131. remove-item -path $path -force
132. write-host "SP config cache files deleted on the server " $servername -fore magenta
133. break
134. }
135. }
136. }
137. write-host "SP config cache XML files from each server in the farm is deleted successfully......" -fore green
138. write-host ""
139. }
142. Function ResetTimerCache([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm)
143. {
144. write-host ""
145. write-host "Reseting the value of timer cache to 1" -fore yellow
146. $path = ""
147. foreach($server in $farm.servers)
148. {
149. foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)
150. {
151. if($instance.TypeName -eq $timerServiceInstanceName)
152. {
153. $serverName = $server.Name
154. write-host "Reseting the value of timer cache file in server " $serverName -fore magenta
155. $path = "\\" + $serverName + "\c$\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\*-*\cache.ini"
156. Set-Content -path $path -Value "1"
157. write-host "Value of timer cache file in server " $serverName " is resetted to 1" -fore magenta
158. break
159. }
160. }
161. }
162. write-host "The value of timer cache is resetted to 1 in all the SP servers in the farm" -fore green
163. write-host ""
164. }
167. Function StartSPTimerServicesInFarm([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]$farm)
168. {
169. Write-Host ""
170. foreach($server in $farm.Servers)
171. {
172. foreach($instance in $server.ServiceInstances)
173. {
174. # If the server has the timer service then stop the service
175. if($instance.TypeName -eq $timerServiceInstanceName)
176. {
177. [string]$serverName = $server.Name
179. Write-Host "Start " $timerServiceName " service on server: " $serverName -fore yellow
181. $service = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $serverName Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$timerServiceName'"
182. $serviceInternalName = $service.Name
183. sc.exe \\$serverName start $serviceInternalName > $null
185. # Wait until this service starts running
186. write-host "Waiting for " $timerServiceName " service on server: " $serverName " to be started" -fore yellow
187. do
188. {
189. Start-Sleep 1
190. Write-Host -foregroundcolor DarkGray -NoNewLine "."
191. $service = Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $serverName Win32_Service -Filter "DisplayName='$timerServiceName'"
192. }
193. while ($service.State -ne "Running")
194. write-host $timerServiceName " service on server: " $serverName " started successfully" -fore green
195. break;
196. }
197. }
198. }
200. Write-Host ""
201. }
204. #############Calling functions################
205. StopSPTimerServicesInFarm $farm
206. BackupSPConfigFiles $farm
207. DeletingXMLFiles $farm
208. ResetTimerCache $farm
209. StartSPTimerServicesInFarm $farm
210. ##########################################
212. write-host "SCRIPT COMPLETED" -fore cyan
213. stop-transcript

Execution Procedure

Step 1: Download the script and copy it to the SharePoint server.

Step 2: Navigate to the script path.

Step 3: Execute the script.



Conclusion

Thus this article explained how to troubleshoot the “Update conflict” error in SharePoint using a PowerShell script.