Content index state failed (event 3170) in Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2016

Problem

In ECP (Exchange Control Panel) the content index state of one Mailbox DB was failed. In EMS (Exchange Management Shell), everything was fine:

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus | fl name,*index*
Name                         : ARDB1\EXCHANGE
ContentIndexState           : Healthy

Moving the DB to another Mailbox server by using ECP failed :

An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to validate the specified database copy for possible activation. Error: EXCHANGE: Database copy ‘ARDB1’ on server ‘EXCHANGE’ has content index catalog files in the following state: ‘Failed’. If you need to activate this database copy, you can use the Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase cmdlet with the -SkipClientExperienceChecks parameter to forcibly activate the database. [Database: ARDB1, Server: EXCHANGE]

Troubleshooting “Seeding of content index catalog failed”

In EMS, I ran the cmdlet with SkipClientExperienceChecks succesfully. However, the ContentIndexState was still in failed state:

Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase -SkipClientExperienceChecks -db ARDB1 -ActivateOnServer EXCHANGE
Identity       ActiveServerAtEnd Status     NumberOfLogsLost   RecoveryPoint MountStatus MountStatus
--------       --------------- --------------- ------     ----------------   ------------- ----------- -----------
ARDB1         EXCHANGE     Succeeded 0                 8/22/2018 ... Mounted     Mounted

To repair the Content Index, I ran this cmdlet:

Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity ardb1\EXCHANGE -CatalogOnlySeeding database copy "ARDB1\EXCHANGE".
WARNING: Seeding of content index catalog for database 'ARDB1' failed. Please verify that the Microsoft Search(Exchange) and the Host Controller service for Exchange services are running and try the operation again.
Error: Could not connect to net.tcp://localhost:3863/Management/SeedingAgent-734F89C7-A0D4-F9BCB112/Single.
The connection attempt lasted for a time span of 00:00:02.0311839. TCP error code 10061: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 127.0.0.1:3863. .

 

update-mailboxdatabasecopy

Solution

To fix this error, I found out the Microsoft Exchange Host Controller Service was stopped on my EXCHANGE server. After starting the service remotely, everything was fine again. Including the Content Index State 🙂

[PS] C:\Windows\system32>Enter-PSSession EXCHANGE
[EXCHANGE]: PS C:\> Get-Service HostControllerServiceStatus
Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Stopped HostControllerS... Microsoft Exchange Search Host Cont...
[EXCHANGE]: PS C:\> Start-Service HostControllerService
[EXCHANGE]: PS C:\> Get-Service HostControllerServiceStatus
Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running HostControllerS... Microsoft Exchange Search Host Cont...

get-service HostControllerService

Further references

In Event Viewer, the following error occurred multiple times a day:

Log Name: Application
Source: MSExchangeRepl
Date: 8/22/2018 10:47:41 AM
Event ID: 3170
Computer: EXCHANGE
Description:
Attempt to move active database ‘ARDB1’ from EXCHANGE to  failed. Move comment: Moved as part of database redistribution (RedistributeActiveDatabases.ps1).

Error: An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to validate the specified database copy for possible activation. Error:

EXCHANGE:Database copy ‘ARDB1’ on server ‘EXCHANGE’ has content index catalog files in the following state: ‘Failed’. If you need to activate this database copy, you can use the Move-ActiveMailboxDatabase cmdlet with the -SkipClientExperienceChecks parameter to forcibly activate the database.

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