How do I – Resolve the Powershell New-SPConfigurationDatabase command error – The pipeline has been stopped, This SharePoint farm currently has pending upgrades

I was building a fresh SharePoint farm and issued the “New-SPConfigurationDatabase” Powershell commandlet when I was presented with the following error:

PS C:\Users\blog-spadm> New-SPConfigurationDatabase

cmdlet New-SPConfigurationDatabase at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
DatabaseName: SharePoint_Config
DatabaseServer: SPSQL.Crayveon.com
FarmCredentials
Passphrase: *********
New-SPConfigurationDatabase : The pipeline has been stopped.
At line:1 char:28
+ New-SPConfigurationDatabase <<<<
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share…urationDatabase:
   SPCmdletNewSPConfigurationDatabase) [New-SPConfigurationDatabase], Pipelin
  eStoppedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletNewSPCon
   figurationDatabase

New-SPConfigurationDatabase : This SharePoint farm currently has pending upgrad
es.  The cmdlet New-SPConfigurationDatabase cannot be executed until the upgrad
e is completed.
At line:1 char:28
+ New-SPConfigurationDatabase <<<<
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [New-SPConfigurationDataba
   se], SPException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletNewSPCon
   figurationDatabase

PS C:\Users\blog-spadm> New-SPConfigurationDatabase

cmdlet New-SPConfigurationDatabase at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
DatabaseName: SharePoint_Config
DatabaseServer: SPSQL.Crayveon.com
FarmCredentials
Passphrase: *****************
PS C:\Users\blog-spadm> 

The really silly outcome of this was not related to any upgrade or stopped pipelines or anything of that sort.  Yet another case of the error message NOT having anything to do with the actual problem.  As it turns out, the solution was in the farm Passphrase I was specifying.  The GUI version of PSCONFIG gives you notification when the specified farm passphrase does not conform to domain password policies, but the Powershell version does not.

I reran the exact same command but this time specifying a more complex passphrase that conforms to domain security policies, and the problem was solved!



Cheers
C

SharePoint Versions Table updated with Oct 2011 CUs for 2007

The versions table has been updated with the latest CU info for SharePoint 2007 versions including SP3 and the October CUs.

• http://crayveon.com/sharepoint-solutions/sharepoint-versions-list/

Cheers
C

How do I – Solve the Access Denied error in SharePoint 2010 under Claims or Classic auth when accessing portal root while content access works fine

Sometimes in a SharePoint 2010 environment, you could encounter a problem where accessing a portal URL directly, e.g. http://portal.company.com. When attempting to access the URL, you could get presented with a simple “Access Denied” error such as this:

In addition, if you’re trying to access a NLB load balanced IP from your App server, you could be challenged for logon three time before getting Access Denied. The problem in this case is that the web application is thinking it has anonymous access enabled, but it actually does not. When a request for the root portal comes into the web app, the app does not challenge the requestor for credentials and when passed onto IIS without credentials and Anonymous Access not turned on, the result is an Access Denied error.
In order to resolve this, we will enable Anonymous Access on the web app and then turn it back off again.
Start by navigating to Central Administration.
Click “Application Management” in the left menu.
Under the Web Applications section, click “Manage web applications”.

A list of all your web apps is displayed.
Select the web app in question.
In the ribbon, click “Authentication Providers”

A popup window with your authentication providers opens. In our case, we see Claims.
Click the link under Zone, in our case “Default”.

Scroll down to the Anonymous Access section.
Check the “Enable anonymous access” check box.
Scroll down and click “OK”.

Now attempt to access your portal e.g. http://portal.company.com, and ensure that you’re able to resolve correctly. Once confirmed, simply follow the above steps again and uncheck the anonymous access check box this time. Once again check your access and all should be good.
Hope that saves someone some time.



Cheers
C

Honored for the 7th time

I am honored today, to have received my 7th Microsoft MVP award for SharePoint. It’s been an incredible journey thus far and we’re only getting started. I look forward to what vNext will bring, but until then I’ll be spreading the word on my new SharePoint Disaster Avoidance Architecture for Large Scale Enterprises endeavor with my friend Jason Himmelstein.



Cheers
C