In your server farm deployment of SharePoint Portal Server 2003, you may find that after you remove an index management server from the server farm topology, users cannot search the portal site for content. Users may receive an error message that is similar to the following: Additionally, an error message that is similar to the following is logged to the application event log on the server:

This issue may occur if the index management server where the catalog was first created is removed from the server farm topology. In this situation, the search server that contains the propagated index cannot contact the index management server to validate the catalog.

To resolve this issue, re-add the index management server to the server farm topology, create a new content index that uses the same name as the original content index, and then edit the registry on the index management server so that the search servers can validate the catalog.

Step 1: Add the index management server to the server farm topology

To add the index management server to the server farm topology, follow these steps:

1. Connect the server that you want to add to the configuration database for the server farm. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Start SharePoint Central Administration.
   2. Under Server Configuration, click Configure configuration database server.
   3. On the Specify Configuration Database Settings for ServerName page, in the Database Connections area, click Connect to existing configuration database.
   4. In the Configuration Database Server area, in the Database server box, type the name of the computer that is running Microsoft SQL Server.
      
      This is the server where the configuration database is stored.
   5. In the Configuration Database Name area, specify the option that you want, and then click OK.
2. Configure the server as an index management server. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Under Server Configuration, click Configure server topology.
   2. On the Configure Server Topology page, click Change Components.
   3. On the Change Component Assignments page, in the Component Assignment area, do the following:
      • Click to select the Index check box.
      • Click to clear the Index check box, and then click to clear the Search check box.
   4. In the Job Server Component area, in the Job server box, click the name of the job server that you want, and then click OK.

Step 2: Create a new content index on the index management server

To create a new content index that uses the same name as the original content index on the index management server, follow these steps:

1. Connect to the portal site, and then click Site Settings.
2. On the Site Settings page, under Search Settings and Indexed Content, click Configure search and indexing.
3. On the Configure Search and Indexing page, under Content Indexes, click Manage content indexes.
4. On the Manage Content Indexes page, click New Content Index.
5. On the Create Content Index page, in the Name and information area, specify a name, a description, a source group, and a server for the new content index.
   
   Make sure that you use the same settings as the original content index.
6. In the Local Address area, make sure that the path of the content index on the index management server is correct.
7. Click OK.

Step 3: Edit the registry of the index management server

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
Add the following registry entries to the index management server:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Indexer\<GUID>\<IndexName>\PropSequenceNumber
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Indexer\<GUID>\<IndexName>\CurrCatInfo
  
  
  Note You have to add all registry subkeys and registry entries that the
  CurrCatInfo
  key contains.

To do so, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Add the
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Indexer\<GUID>\<IndexName>\PropSequenceNumber
   registry entry. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. Locate, and then click the following registry key:
      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Indexer\<GUID>\<IndexName>
   2. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
   3. Type PropSequenceNumber, and then press ENTER.
   4. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
   5. In the Value data box, type the appropriate value, and then click OK.
      
      Note The value that you use for the
      PropSequenceNumber
      registry entry on the index management server must be the same as the value of the
      PropSequenceNumber
      registry entry on the search server. To determine the correct value to use for the
      PropSequenceNumber
      registry entry, start Registry Editor on the search server in your server farm, locate, and then make a note of the value of the
      PropSequenceNumber
      registry entry.
4. Add the
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SPSSearch\Indexer\<GUID>\<IndexName>\CurrCatInfo
   key, including all registry subkeys and registry entries that the key contains.
   
   To add this registry key and its subkeys to the index management server that you added to the server farm topology, export the key and its subkeys from another index management server on your server farm to a .reg file, import the .reg file to the index management server, and then edit the registry entries where necessary.

To work around this issue, do one of the following, depending on your situation:

• Remove all catalogs from the index management server before you remove the index management server from the topology.
• If you already removed the index management server from the topology, use the Catutil.exe command-line tool to remove the catalogs that are not valid. To identify the catalogs that you have to remove, view the application event log, and then make a note of the names of the catalogs that are contained in the Event ID 7043 error messages. After you remove the catalog or catalogs, restart the search servers on the farm.
  
  For additional information about how to use the Catutil.exe command-line tool in SharePoint Portal Server 2003, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  825484  (http://kbalertz.com/Feedback.aspx?kbNumber=825484/ ) How to use the Catutil.exe tool
  
  
  Note The contents of the index are not accessible on the search servers until the indexes are propagated from the index management server to the search servers. You can force propagation to put the latest indexes on the search server (or servers).

For more information about how to configure the topology of server farms in SharePoint Portal Server, see the "Configuring the Topology of the Server Farm" topic in the "Configuring the Server Farm" section of the "Configuration" chapter of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide.

For more information about how to manage index propagation in server farm deployments of SharePoint Portal Server, see the "Managing Index Propagation" topic in the "Managing Search Settings" section of the "Administration" chapter of the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide.

The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.

For more information about SharePoint Portal Server, visit the following Microsoft Web site: