ArcGIS Server 10.2 unable to start Publishing Tools

[GeorgeSimpson]

I just installed 10.2 over my existing 10.1 on Windows.  There were several errors during the installation that cleared up by deleting the config-store.  Once I did that, everything started working correctly except for the Publishing Tools service and the Caching Tools service.  Has anyone come across this?  Any ideas how to fix it?

[GeorgeSimpson · Accepted solution]

I ended up uninstalling 10.2 and deleting my entire arcgisserver directory, as well as all the server directories in Program Files.  After a restart and a fresh install, everything seems to be functioning

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

@gsimpson4 - I'm about to try the update-on-top-off-10.1 process, but I'm a little nervous.  Any idea why you had the issue?  Did you shut down the 10.1 service prior to the update?  Did you update Desktop first if it's on the machine? 

I noticed on testing a "clean" install on another test machine, when I try to have the \arcgisserver\directories on my 😧 drive instead of the deafult C:, it does not create the folder and therefore gives me an error when I start up (or that's what I now think the issue is).  Not sure if this is a bug or if I still have residual links from previous installs that are causing issues, but I had the directories on the 😧 drive for 10.1 and prior versions with no problems (and 10.2 eap).  I had renamed the old folders before installing the new, so it should have recreated.

Did you have any of these issues?

[BubbaHey]

10.2 is really just a service pack, I wouldn't be too concerned.  Although, I have seen some issues with the upgrade. If uncertain, I would recommend uninstalling 10.1 (or 10.0), then installing 10.2

[GeorgeSimpson]

I didn't have the issues you are describing.  My issues started with the "site" not being able to update certain services.  The log files said that the service version could not be changed from 2 to 5.  Once I got rid of those errors, "Create Site" would work correctly but that's when Publishing Tools wouldn't start.  I was not able to determine the exact cause for that and did not see any difference in the config files.  My best guess is that it had something do with residual settings/files from the prior version.

I'd try the upgrade if I were you.  Maybe you'll get lucky and it will work.  If not, then I definitely suggest uninstalling and then deleting or moving the existing folders before trying a fresh install.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

@gsimpson4  This may not be the case for you, but I noticed on the upgrade, my assigned roles for administrators and publishers did not move forward with the upgrade.  I was/am using Active Directory and the GIS Tier. 

To correct, I opened manager, went to the Security tab, and made sure my Active Directory (AD) connection still was valid.  Then I went into roles and reapplied all the "administrator" and "publisher" settings to the AD groups.  By default they all reset to "user".

Personally, although it's a slight inconvenience, I don't think this is a bad thing with the upgrade.  At least it makes you revisit the security a bit.

BTW - I did have a smooth upgrade on my dev and prod server.  I actually remove Desktop 10.1 before up upgrading server.  I don't know that it was necessary, but I figured it would make things simpler.  I then stopped the ArcGIS Server service. The install took a while, partially because we have a lot of services that neede to be restarted.  (once complete, I installed Desktop 10.2)

For the Web Adaptor (on a separate IIS machine), I have two web adaptors installed...one with port :80, the other with port :443 (with ssl cert).  The install recognized both ports.  Only issue I had with this portion is when the "config" windows tried to come up for each of the web adaptors, it attempted to use "localhost" which on my IIS machine did not work.  When I changed "localhost" to the DNS name, I was able to configure it for both :80 and :443.

[BubbaHey]

The upgrade works most of the time, but I think, to be safe, uninstall 10.1 first then install 10.2

[ThomasHoman]

@gsimpson4 - I'm seeing the same problems as you with caching and publishing services. In my case, publishing fails (sort of.) An error is generated during publishing yet the service is available on the server side. Caching is similar matter in that it doesn't kick off with publishing but will start when I select get into cache management tasks. Forgot monitoring cache status though.

So it looks like this weekend involves a full shutdown and rebuild. Sigh. I wonder how something as fundamental as publishing and cache management made it through dev. They must've been working with only new installs and not upgrades.

Tom

[BubbaHey]

I have been seeing a lot of issues with upgrades from 10.1 to 10.2 but no problems on clean installs of 10.2. I think Tom is right, this must not have been tested thoroughly.

[JeremyWilliams]

FYI:
I also had a machine upgraded from 10.1sp1 to 10.2, and would not publish any services regardless of security settings.  I uninstallled, and reinstalled 10.2, viola fixed.  Publishes services as it should again!