How to clear the Active Roles Server schema cache (4322345)

If you are experiencing any errors in the Web Interface indicating that there is an issue with finding an attribute in the schema, the issue may not be with the schema cache and clearing it may not resolve the issue.

It may actually be the case that the attribute has been added in the Web Interface manually, by an import of a custom Web Interface site or remnants of an Active Roles Add-On from a previous version (prior to upgrade) and the attribute does not actually exist in Active Directory or in Active Roles (if it's a virtual attribute). The correct resolution in this situation is to either add the attribute in Active Directory or in Active Roles, or to  remove the attribute reference from the Web Interface.

Clearing the local files in Solutions 1 and 2 below is a very safe and low impact troubleshooting step, with no potential for creating a serious issue. The Active Roles Server service will simply recreate these local files when it starts. Since they are local files, there is no impact to other servers.

Solution 3 is only to be used if directed to do so from an Active Roles 7.4 hotfix note, or as further described below.

These solutions are not meant for maintenance. They are for troubleshooting purposes only in specific circumstances as noted above.

Solution 1

To clear the schema cache for the Web Interface, perform the following steps:

1. Delete the ADSI provider cache files here on the host running the Active Roles Server service:
   For Active Roles 6.x:
   C:\Program Files\Common Files\Quest Shared\ARSADSITempFiles
   
   For Active Roles 7.0 and 7.1:
   C:\ProgramData\Dell\Active Roles\ADSI 
   
   For Active Roles 7.2 and later:
   C:\ProgramData\One Identity\Active Roles\ADSI
2. Restart IIS (i.e. open a Command Prompt and type IISReset) on the host running the Web Interface
3. If the Active Roles Administration Service is also hosted on this machine, restart the Active Roles Administration Service.

Solution 2

If you experience issues in the Active Roles Server MMC, you will have to perform the following in addition to Solution 2 above:

1. Delete the MMC schema cache here:
   C:\Windows\SchCache
2. Delete any files found in this folder:
   
   For Active Roles 6.x:
   C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Quest\EDM\CachedSchemas
   
   For Active Roles 7.0 and 7.1:
   C:\Users\<LOGGED ON USERNAME>\AppData\Local\Dell\EDM\CachedSchemas
   
   For Active Roles 7.2 and later:
   C:\Users\<LOGGED ON USERNAME>\AppData\Local\One Identity\EDM\CachedSchemas

Solution 3

This workaround is only to be used under advisement of One Identity Support, and as noted in Active Roles 7.4 hotfix release notes. It is not meant to be used for maintenance.

Otherwise, this step is only to be used as a last step in troubleshooting and should be used cautiously. Clearing the schema cache in SQL has the potential to create malformed entries in the SQL database and therefore it is recommended that you backup the Active Roles Server database prior to running Step 2 below.

1. Stop the Active Roles Administration service on all Active Roles servers in the environment that share the same database configuration, whether they share the same database or are Publisher/Subscriber nodes.

2. Run this query on the SQL server that is hosted by Active Roles, targeting the Active Roles database (i.e. ActiveRoles74) within SQL Management Studio:
exec ClearTable tblSchema 

• Note: When working with SQL Server Merge Replication, this tSQL command will need to be executed on the Publisher and on each Subscriber individually, as the tblSchema table is NOT replicated.

3. Start the Active Roles Administration service only on the first Active Roles server. Once the initial service is available (i.e. you can login to the MMC), proceed to start other Active Roles services, one at a time. Failure to do so will cause the Active Roles Administration service to not start properly and you will have to redo Steps 1-3 again.