Sql – MOSS SSP Issue – Failed database logons from deleted SSP

databasesearchsharepointsql serverssp

We've been having some issues with a SharePoint instance in a test
environment. Thankfully this is not production 😉 The problems started
when the disk with the SQL Server databases and search index ran out
of space. Following this, the search service would not run and search
settings in the SSP were not accessible. Reclaiming the disk space did
not resolve the issue. So rather than restoring the VM, we decided to
try to fix the issue.

We created a new SSP and changed the association of all services to
the new SSP. The old SSP and it's databases were then deleted. Search
results for PDF files are no longer appearing, but the search works
fine otherwise. MySites also works OK.

Following the implementation of this change, these problems occur:

1) An audit failure message started appearing in the application event log, for 'DOMAIN\SPMOSSSvc' which is the MOSS farm account.

Event Type: Failure Audit
Event Source: MSSQLSERVER
Event Category: (4)
Event ID: 18456
Date: 8/5/2008
Time: 3:55:19 PM
User: DOMAIN\SPMOSSSvc
Computer: dastest01
Description:
Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\SPMOSSSvc'. [CLIENT: <local machine>]

2) SQL Server profiler is showing queries from SharePoint that reference the old
(deleted) SSP database.

So…

  • Where would these references to DOMAIN\SPMOSSSvc and the old SSP
    database exist?
  • Is there a way to 'completely' remove the SSP from the server, and
    re-create? The option to delete was not available (greyed out) when a
    single SSP is in place.

Best Answer

As Daniel McPherson said, this is caused when SSPs are deleted but the associated job are not and attempt to communicate with the deleted database.

If the SSP database has been deleted or a problem occurred when deleting an SSP, the job may not be deleted. When the job attempts to run, it will fail since the database no longer exists.

Follow the steps Daniel mentioned:
1. Go to SQL Server Management Studio
2. Disable the job called SSPNAME_JobDeleteExpiredSessions, right click and choose Disable Job.