In Microsoft Exchange 2016, the Content Index State refers to the existing condition of the search index of the mailbox database. Usually, admins check the OWA and Outlook mailboxes for three kinds of states by using the cmdlet Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus. These include Healthy, Crawling, or Failed/Suspended.
While a healthy state indicates proper and up-to-date functioning of the search catalog, a crawling state refers to the indexing and scanning of mailbox items. The latter state usually happens after restarting or mounting a database. The third state- Failed/suspended points to the corrupted state of the search index, and it happens mainly because of the underlying database issues.
In this blog, our focus will be on finding and resolving the Content Index State Suspended in Exchange 2016.
What causes the content index suspended state?
In Exchange 2016, a failed or suspended state of the content index indicates a corrupted search index catalog. It turns the index completely out of sync with the mailbox database, halting automatic indexing. Several reasons may lead to this error, prominent of these includes:
- Shortage of disk space: Lack of space in the drive containing the database makes it difficult to write or expand new data.
- Ineffective Cumulative Update (CU): Improperly installed updates in a CU can hamper the indexing service
- Severe Index corruption: Several index corruptions, often indicated by Event ID 10006/1009, are beyond recovery. Any such corruption freezes the index to avert further damage.
- Improper server shutdown: Abrupt or unexpected shutdown of the system due to a power failure can affect the search catalog
- Antivirus installation: Often, an antivirus can quarantine the necessary database files, which prevents the Exchange search service from updating the catalog.
- DAG issue: The index of the passive copy in a Database Availability Group (DAG) may diverge significantly from the active copy, leading to the suspended state.
What are the consequences of Content Index State Suspended in Exchange 2016?
Here are several after effects of the suspended or failed content index states in Exchange 2016:
1. Incorrect search query results
- In the Outlook and Outlook on the Web (OWA) clients, the failed state affects the index that supports the fast full-text searches.
- At times, it may lead to a slow or inaccurate mailbox.
- It may also affect server-side searches, such as eDiscovery
2. Risk of database failover
- Failed content index runs the risk of blocking DAG switchover
- It can prevent automatic database activation
- It requires forced activation through SkipClientExperienceChecks
3. No automatic recovery
- A suspended content index cannot rebuild or reseed automatically
- Admins have to do a manual rebuild or reseed
- Exchange may try to recover failed state, but the suspended state will still need manual reseeding
Resolving the Content Index state Failed or Suspended error
Admins resolve this issue depending on whether the Exchange Server is a part of the Database Availability Group (DAG) or not.
When Exchange Server is a standalone Server
When the Exchange Server is not a part of DAG, you can follow the procedure below to rebuild the content.
1. Stop the Exchange services
You need to stop the Microsoft Exchange Search and the Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller. For this
- Press Windows+R
- In the Run dialog box, type services.msc and press Enter
- Find the services, right-click, and select Stop
You may also use the PowerShell Stop-Service cmdlet, as given below:
Stop-Service MSExchangeFastSearch
Stop-Service HostControllerService
2. Delete the content index
Next, delete the content index from the database path with the help of File Explorer. Before continuing with this step, make sure to stop the services mentioned in the first step. Failing it will cause problems in deleting the folder. Here are the steps:
- Navigate to the folder containing the EDB file of the corrupt database in your system
- Look for the GUID folder
- Delete the folder
If you do not know the file path of the database, use the PowerShell cmdlet Get-MailboxDatabase. Here is the command:
Get-MailboxDatabase <database name> | select EdbFilePath
3. Restart the Exchange services
After deleting the content index folder comprising the corrupt database file, restart the services stopped earlier.
- Press Windows+R
- In the Run dialog box, type services.msc and press Enter
- Find the services, right-click the services, and select Start
The PowerShell cmdlets for this task are as follows:
Start-Service MSExchangeFastSearch
Start-Service HostControllerService
Restarting the services will resume indexing and crawling all the database content. Based on the size of the database and its contents, the indexing may take time. Once completed, run the Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus PowerShell cmdlet again. These steps will fix the suspended or failed state of the content index and turn it healthy.
When the ‘Content Index State Failed’ error occurs in a DAG Exchange Setup
If the content index state failed or suspended error occurs in the database when it is in a DAG, admins prefer reseeding the database from a recent and healthy copy of the database. This is possible with the help of the PowerShell cmdlet Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy, as shown below:
Update-MailboxDatabaseCopy <database name>\<source server name> -CatalogOnly -BeginSeed
The time to complete this operation will depend largely on the database size and server connection.
Re-run the PowerShell cmdlet Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus after the completion of the process. This will remove the errors and resume the healthy state of the content index in Exchange 2016
When the error does not resolve despite using the recommended solutions
There may be situations where the content index state remains in the suspended or failed state despite trying the recommended solutions. In any such circumstance, going through the steps can help:
- Install only the latest Exchange Server update from the official Microsoft website
- Make sure to restart the Exchange Server so that any pending configuration updates or modifications get committed
- Check if your HDD drive has enough space to store the expansion or a copy of the database, or the content index
- Exclude the configured antivirus for the database, indexes, and logs
- Remove the replication network to make your networking simpler
- Create a new Exchange database and shift your databases to it, so that the index gets recreated automatically in the new database.
- Use an Exchange recovery tool, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange, if you want better, more convenient, and quicker error resolution.
Using Stellar Repair for Exchange to Resolve Context Index State Suspended Issue
The widely recommended Exchange recovery tool, Stellar Repair for Exchange, provides an advanced solution to repair and recover corrupt Exchange databases. The software is instrumental in resolving several Exchange issues, like Jet Exchange Error, Content Index State Suspended, Dirty Shutdown Error, etc. Specifically, it is ideal to repair large EDB files. Here are some of its prominent features:
- Recovers deleted Exchange mailbox and its items
- Exports recovered mailboxes to Office 365 and Live Exchange
- Converts EDB files to HTML, EML, PDF, PST, MS, and RTF formats
- Carries out eDiscovery search along with Granular Recovery
- Gives an enhanced preview of the mailbox contents before saving
Conclusion
When using the Exchange Server database, you may come across the Content Index Suspended or Failed error. This issue may occur because of a disk space shortage, improper CU, or server index corruption. DAG issues, antivirus installation, etc. In any case, the consequences can be severe, including wrong search query results, database failover, or a failed automatic recovery.
Resolving this issue depends on whether your database resides in a single Exchange server or it is a member of a DAG server group. Both methods require you to use several PowerShell commands, which in turn need you to possess adept technical acumen. Moreover, these methods take time and often do not guarantee complete resolution of the error.
To remedy this situation, the use of an Exchange recovery tool, such as Stellar Repair for Exchange, would be a feasible option. Widely recommended by MVPs, the software works actively in getting you rid of several Exchange errors, including the Content Index suspended state.