Creating the portal site search collection fails

Creating the portal site search collection can fail due to a file path length restriction.

Problem: If the file path length for the location of search collections exceeds its limit, the collection cannot be created. This can occur particularly when the portal site collection is created under UNIX operating systems.

Cause: The file path length for the portal search collection is limited to 118 characters. If this limit is exceeded, the default collection cannot be created. The following items contribute to the length of the file path:
  • The installation directory path. Under UNIX operating systems the installation directory path name can be longer than under other operating systems.
  • By default, the search collection for the portal site content is created under the path your_portal_install_directory/PortalServer/collections.
  • The name of the virtual portal.
  • The name of the search collection.
Solution: Proceed as follows:
  1. Change the default directory location for the portal site search collection to a shorter path, so that the complete path and file name does not exceed a length of 118 characters. For details about how to do this see the topic about Configuring the default location for search collections.
  2. Re-create the portal site search collection. For details about how to do this see the topic about Resetting the default search collection.