Validation of ViewState failed - SharePoint farm or ASP.NET application cluster or while removing survery questions in SharePoint 2010

When you are removing Questions in a survey in SharePoint 2010 in a Farm environment, you might see this error:

 

“Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that <machineKey> configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.”

 

This happens when you put down a node where a customer was served content. The customer makes a new request to the server and is redirected to the remaining node. Unfortunately, this node is not able to validate the Viewstate and goes in this exception.

The issue is solved by specifying the same machine Key settings for the application you are hosting on both servers.

If you are using IIS7, you can define it easily in the machine key section of the web application. You can generate and configure the machine key setting for your application directly there. Use the example below as a reference:

 

 

 

On the right side of the above window, you are able to find a “generate key” button. This is helpful when you don’t want to specify for yourself the key

 

The machine key must be the same on all web frontends for your application!!

 

Check this here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms998288.aspx

 

 

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ToothPaste story, Ingenuity, simple solutions to complex problems

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down the supermarket don’t get pissed off and buy someone else’s product instead.

 

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. They solved the problem by using some high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighing less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done.

 

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent!” – he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

 

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren'’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

 

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before it, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin. “Oh, that — one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang”, says one of the workers.

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/tenoq/reddit_my_friends_call_me_a_scumbag_because_i/

 

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FW: SharePoint warmup Warmup job fix.

Used the warmup script at:

http://spwarmup4admin.codeplex.com/releases/view/74482

 

 

Fixed the issues with the Warm-up script, these are the things that I had to do:

1. Disable the power shell execution prompts, run this command: set-executionpolicy bypass
2. In the task scheduler start the power shell with this parameter: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.exe &'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\WarmUp\WarmUp.ps1'
3. Disable Loopback check:  Create the Dword DisableLoopbackCheck key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa OR run the .reg file that I attached.
4. Reboot the Server for the registry key to take effect.
5. Add the site url in “Trusted Sites” in IE: <sharepoint url>

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The details of the quarantined email are:

From: Anil.Bobba@quintiles.com
Subject: SharePoint warmup Warmup job fix.
Attachments: DisableLoopback check.reg
Date/time: 02 May 2012 21:37:55 -0400

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