Troubleshooting FTS searching issues

When you configure AR System server for Full Text Search (FTS) or Global search, you might encounter issues regarding FTS searching.  Use this information to understand and resolve the problem or to create a BMC Support case.

Related topic

Troubleshooting-Full-Text-Search

Symptoms

  • You do not get any results when you perform an FTS search.
  • You get incorrect results from the Global searches.
  • You receive error messages while performing an FTS or Global search.
  • You encounter a performance issue while performing the search.

Scope

In a server group environment, this might impact one or more servers.

Resolution

Perform the following steps to troubleshoot the FTS searching issues:

Step

Task

Description

1

Determine if the search is performed on the indexer server or searcher server (user-facing server).


2

Enable API and SQL logging on the server performing the search.


See the steps described in Enabling-server-side-AR-System-logs.

For load-balanced environments, enable the API and SQL log from all user-facing servers in the server group.    

Perform the following steps to enable debug searcher logging from the indexer server:

  • Remove previous log entries from the ..\db directory to reduce the log file size.
  • Rename log files to make it easier to identify.
  • Make sure that the log files include the time when the issue was reproduced.

Note: Starting with version 18.05, you can enable logs across servers and server groups. For more information, see Managing-logs-for-server-groups. 

3

Reproduce the issue.

If you do not have specific steps to reproduce the issue, enable the logs, wait for the problem to occur, and then perform these steps.

Provide the following information to BMC Support:

  • Name of the user who performed the search.
  • The search criteria used.
  • Time when the problem occurred.

Important:

Analyze Java heap stack if you encounter any of the following problems:

  • Java heap size
  • AR System server stops responding
  • FTS plug-in server stops responding

Use the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or other appropriate tools to obtain a heap dump or thread dump as necessary. Collect the dump files when you observe the problem. 
For more information about collecting a heap or thread dump, see the following knowledge articles:

4

Disable logging.

Use steps described in the Enabling-server-side-AR-System-logs topic to disable the logging. 

5

Collect the logs.


  • Copy logs to another location where you can view them.
    Make sure that the logs are not overwritten.
  • Review the symptoms and error messages.

6

Analyze the logs.

You can review the logs, identify error messages or behaviors. 

7

Create a BMC Support case.

Collect and send logs with detailed information when creating a case with BMC Support:

  1. Provide the following information as part of your case:
    • Name of the user who performed the search.
    • The search criteria used.
    • Time when the problem occurred.
    • Any error messages received.
    • Include the pluginsvr_config.xml file located in the ..\pluginsvr\fts\secondary directory.
    • If you have more than one indexer, include all.
  2. Run the Support Assistant tool. 
  3. Attach the zip file to your case. You can attach the zip file upto 2 GB. You can also upload the files on FTP. 

After you determine a specific symptom or error message, use the following table to identify the resolution:

Symptom

Where

Resolution

Reference

ARERR 8760

On Screen

Check the Server-Plugin-Alias parameter in the ar.cfg file or in Centralized Configuration.

Slow response

Search results take too long to return

Browser

  1. Check the numcorethreads in the plug-in configuration.
  2. Check the API or SQL logs to determine if the FTS portion or the database portion of the search is slow.
  3. Ensure that the search string is not long by verifying the arfts-searcher.log file.
  4. Check the FTS Best Practice knowledge article to successfully set up AR System server and the FTS plug-in server.

ARS:ARF.FTS (8753)
Error while searching

On screen

Check the configuration of the FTS secondary plug-in.

ARWarn 682

ARERR 682

Full text search service not available; a database search was performed

The arerror.log file and the arsql.log file on the screen.



  • Check if a reindex is being performed. Obtain the arftindx.log file from each indexer.
  • Query the ft_pending table for operationType 5 or 7.
  • Obtain the arerror.log and arsql.log files from the searcher server.
    • If you perform search on an indexer server and failover occurs, the search does not move to the next rank searcher server.
    • If you perform a search on a non-indexer server (searcher server), all the indexer servers are busy.
  • If indexing is progressing, wait for it to complete.
  • If Indexing does not work, contact BMC Support and provide the necessary log files.

Data is missing from results.

Browser

  • Make sure that the field is indexed in Developer Studio.
  • Check the arftindx.log file to see if any record or any form is indexed or is showing any error.
    • If the arftindx.log file shows an error, the index might be corrupted. You can reindex the form.

    • If it is taking too long to index other data, review the knowledge article FTS Best Practice Configuration.

  • Make sure that you are not out of disk space for the Collection directory.
  • Check the arfts-searcher.log file and check if the Phase 2 of FTS searches (applying permissions) eliminated the results because of Row- Level-Security.

Best practice: Make sure that Full Text Search Threshold is high enough to return adequate results. We recommend that you set it to 2000.

 FTS Memory Leak

OS Tools

SW00552847

Addressed in 18.02 hot fix package:

SR_9104P2_20181128_CU_ALL.zip

FTS search is not working if field data contains dash or underscore like (- or _).

Browser

SW00551883

Addressed in 18.02 hot fix package: 

SR_9104P2_20181128_CU_ALL.zip

FTS searcher server error OutOfMemoryError in arftsplugin-searcher.log

arftsplugin-searcher.log

Increase heap (See knowledge article FTS Best Practices)

Common Error Messages:

  • java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit exceeded
  • java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

Cannot insert duplicate key row in object dbo.ft_pending

API/SQL logs

SW00548960

Addressed in 18.02 hot fix package: 

SR_9104P2_20181128_CU_ALL.zip

ERROR (678): Full text indexing is disabled -- turn on full text indexing and retry your operation;

The arfts-searcher-plugin.log file on screen.


Check the FTS tab from Server Information form and confirm FTS searching is not set to disabled.

ARSYS.ARF.FTS]
Fri Nov 30 12:40:13 2018 390602 :r:0 : The specified plug-in does not exist. (ARERR 8755)

The arerror.log file.

  • Check the Server-Plugin-Alias parameter in the ar.cfg file to validate Server Name and Port.
  • Check plug-in configuration from the Plug-in Server Configuration.

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*