Installing workflow service for SharePoint 2013 Preview

The workflow service in SharePoint 2013 Preview is no longer a part of the standard SharePoint server installation, and is provided by the Windows Workflow Manager (Azure). The service it self is a huge improvement to the product, but requires additional step as it has to be installed and configured post-installation of SharePoint Server 2013.

Getting the workflow service in SharePoint 2013 Preview up and running on my development environment gave me some challenges that wasn't well documented at the time, so I decided to list some of the error messages and steps that helped me getting it up and running properly.

Installation and configuration

I started my installation by following this documentation on TechNet:

Installation guide for Workflow Manager 1.0 Beta: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj193478

Configuration guide for connecting SharePoint 2013 to Workflow Manager: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj658588(v=office.15)

Error messages

• Configuration wizard: Could not successfully create management Service Bus entity 'WF_Management/WFTOPIC' with multiple retries within timespan
• Browsing the WF management site (http://localhost:12291/):"Object reference not set to an instance of an object"
• Powershell: "The trusted provider certificate which is already in use." or  "Unable to properly communicate with the workflow endpoint"
• Service App error (/_admin/WorkflowServiceStatus.aspx): "SharePoint was unable to communicate with the Workflow host"

Tips for troubleshooting

• Check which regional settings are used on your setup and admin account. When I used something else than “English (United States) I got an error when accessing the configuration database.
• Remember to start SQL Server Browser, and keep it to start automatic.
• Grant the workflow service account the server roles “dbcreator” and “securityadmin” in SQL Server.
• Grant the workflow service account local administrator rights on the server.
• Run the workflow configuration wizard logged in as the workflow service account.
• Use a FQDN for the account in the configuration wizard (default suggestion is wrong).
• To clean up a failed installation:
  • Run workflow configuration wizard, and remove the server from the workflow farm.
  • Manually delete the databases created (prefixed with Wf and Sb in default installation).
  • If registered with SharePoint, remove the service application “App Fabric Application Proxy”.
• It is possible to run the registration with SharePoint, Register-SPWorkflowService, with a “-Force” switch to get pass a state where it tells you it already has been registered, but still fails.

Summary

This article gives some tips for resolving different errors occurring either when installing the workflow service, or when connecting it with SharePoint.

DISCLAIMER: SharePoint 2013 is in preview at the time this article was written. When the product reaches RTM the content of the article may not be relevant or wrong.