The content index is not updated successfully and error messages are logged to the gatherer log if the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site contains a large number of groups and users

On a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site that contains a large number of Active Directory directory service groups and users, updates to the content index are not completed successfully. Error messages that are similar to the following are logged in the gatherer log: Users cannot search for content on the portal site.

This behavior occurs if the size of the access control list (ACL) is larger than 64 kilobytes (KB). The maximum buffer size of the InitializeAcl function is 64 KB. Therefore, the maximum size of an ACL in Windows, including the access control entries (ACEs) that are contained in the ACL, is 64 KB.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 processes ACL information when the content index is processed. If a large number of users and groups are added to the portal site, and if the ACL is more than 64 KB, the index operation is not completed successfully.

To work around this behavior, use one of the following methods, depending on your situation:

• Reduce the number of groups and the number of users who are added to the portal site. For example, reduce the number of groups and users on your portal site so that the portal site contains less than 1,000 users and groups.
• Create a new group in Active Directory, add the new group to the portal site, and then add all the groups and users who require access to the portal site to the new group.

The number of users and groups that you can add to a portal site is limited only by the 64 KB limit of the ACL. Except for the 64 KB limit on the ACL, there is no hard-coded limit for the number of users and groups to whom you can grant access to the portal site. You can add as many users and groups to a portal site as you want until the 64 KB limit of the ACL is reached. Because the sizes of individual ACEs vary, the total number of ACEs that can be put in an ACL also varies. Therefore, the exact number of groups and users who you can add to the portal site cannot be determined from the 64 KB limit of the ACL. To avoid this issue, we recommend that you do not add more than 1,000 users and groups to your portal site.

For more information about how to administer and configure SharePoint Portal Server 2003, see the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide. The Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Administrator's Guide (Administrator's Help.chm) is located in the Docs folder in the root folder of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 CD.