AppFabric 1.1 Caching (Windows Service Failure)

Question

I have a test installation of AppFabric 1.1 x64 (Hosting + Cache) on one machine (registered on a domain, Windows 7 Enterprise). Installation and configuration went flawlessly (cluster with 1 machine, configuration stored in SQL), I run everything locally (including SQL Server 2008 R2). The problem occurs when I want to start the "AppCabric Caching Service" - it will work after a few seconds, and the following entries will appear in the "Administrative Events" (in the event viewer):

Faulting application name: DistributedCacheService.exe, version: 1.0.4632.0, time stamp: 0x4eafeccf Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17651, time stamp: 0x4e21213c Exception code: 0xe0434352 Fault offset: 0x000000000000cacd Faulting process id: 0x1928 Faulting application start time: 0x01ccb8c5266c0fd5 Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server\DistributedCacheService.exe Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll Report Id: 6457890a-24b8-11e1-b051-70f1a19c8456 

and

 Application: DistributedCacheService.exe Framework Version: v4.0.30319 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception. Exception Info: System.UriFormatException Stack: at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.VelocityWindowsService.StartServiceCallback(System.Object) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean) at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem.ExecuteWorkItem() at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch() at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback() 

and

 AppFabric Caching service crashed with exception {System.UriFormatException: Invalid URI: The hostname could not be parsed. at System.Uri.CreateThis(String uri, Boolean dontEscape, UriKind uriKind) at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.ServiceConfigurationManager.InitializeThisHostData() at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.ServiceConfigurationManager.InitializeDataFromGlobalConfig() at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.VelocityWindowsService.StartService(Boolean deleteTKT) at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.VelocityWindowsService.StartServiceCallback(Object context) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean ignoreSyncCtx) at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem.ExecuteWorkItem() at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch() at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback()}. Check debug log for more information 

Here is the output of the main PowerShell commands:

Get-cachehost

 HostName : CachePort Service Name Service Status Version Info -------------------- ------------ -------------- ------------ MW7GM0B50ROMDQ:22233 AppFabricCachingService DOWN 3 [3,3][1,3] 

Get-CacheHostConfig

 cmdlet Get-CacheHostConfig at command pipeline position 1 Supply values for the following parameters: HostName: MW7GM0B50ROMDQ CachePort: 22233 HostName : MW7GM0B50ROMDQ ClusterPort : 22234 CachePort : 22233 ArbitrationPort : 22235 ReplicationPort : 22236 Size : 3994 MB ServiceName : AppFabricCachingService HighWatermark : 99% LowWatermark : 90% IsLeadHost : True 

The caching service is configured to act as a network service.

Do you have any clue what might be wrong? I saw "Invalid URI: hostname could not be parsed." message, but the name in the configuration seems perfectly normal (even if it looks weird, this is my computer’s own name). Any help would be appreciated.

PS I used to have AppFabric 1.0, and it seemed to work fine. I uninstalled it before installing AppFabric 1.1.

Answer 1

I managed to find out what is the reason.

In my Windows host file, I had several entries for the loopback IP: localhost, {machine name} and {FQDN computer name}. When I deleted everything except the {FQDN of the machine name}, the setup wizard was able to configure the correct configuration.

It was an easy way, but I found out about it later ...

My first (and more painful) way to fix the problem was to manually remove the Caching Service configuration and create it from scratch using PowerShell cmdlets:

 Import-Module ApplicationServer Import-Module DistributedCacheAdministration Import-Module DistributedCacheConfiguration New-CacheCluster ... Register-CacheHost ... Add-CacheHost ... Add-CacheAdmin ... etc. 

The service starts up quickly, but unfortunately, when I verify the installation using Get-CacheHost, I get:

 HostName : CachePort Service Name Service Status Version Info -------------------- ------------ -------------- ------------ MW7GM0B50ROMDQ.<domain part>:22233 AppFabricCachingService UP 0 [0,0][0,0] 

If you look at the version number, you will see that this is most likely not suitable. Unfortunately, when I try to update this information manually ("Update-CacheHostAllowedVersions"), I get weird views on "access-related errors":

 Update-CacheHostAllowedVersions : ErrorCode<ERRCAdmin026>:SubStatus<ES0001>:Remote registry access failed on host MW7GM0B50ROMDQ.<domain part>. Check if the required permissions are available and the host is not down. 

I need to do some more tests to find out if this is really a problem or just annoyance.

Answer 2

I ran into a similar problem, but fixing the HOST did not help. The core of my problem was that my server had a long name (8+ chars). It was truncated when setting up the cache.

The first helpful Get-CacheHost was the conclusion of Get-CacheHost , where the name was incorrect. Then the decision was easy:

• Export-CacheClusterConfig -Path <path>\config.xml
• Edit file and fix host name
• Import-CacheClusterConfig -Path <path>\config.xml
• Start-CacheCluster