Relate+ or community search - Could not get search results for uri

I had a hard time finding out why the search service in EPiServer community (or relate+) did not return any search results. When investigating the EPiServer log (log4net) I found that the webserver returned 404 (not found) when trying to send the search request to the search service IndexingService.svc.

But it was possible to reach the service by entering its url in a web browser. (I got the "endpoint not found" error which means that I reached the service)

So it seemed crazy that it didn't work. It really should work (heard that before?)

I than analyzed the IIS-logs and found out that the 404 error that was reported in the EPiServer log really was an 404.15 error (Query String Too Long).

So I analyzed what was really sent to the search service, and found out that all groups that the user is a member of was sent in the request. Since we use AD-accounts the users were members of lots of groups and the query string became very long.

I solved it by adding the following to the generic system.webServer section of web.config.

<system.webServer>

    <security>

        <requestFiltering>

            <requestLimits maxQueryString="10000" />

        </requestFiltering>

    </security>

</system.webServer>

Here is the error message I found in the EPiServer log

EPiServer.Search.RequestHandler.GetSearchResults - Could not get search results for uri 'http://{your site}/IndexingService/IndexingService.svc/search/?q=(EPISERVER_SEARCH_DEFAULT%3a(searchword*))+AND+(EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(U%5c%3a415aa516%5c-1653%5c-46b0%5c-85c0%5c-2ee3faf5e08d)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+1b6bafd0%5c-44c4%5c-4b13%5c-bf29%5c-fe110c7c1110)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+21adf78a%5c-aba5%5c-452a%5c-9ebf%5c-c5cd345abc7e)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+5ee681c7%5c-f001%5c-4478%5c-a7b3%5c-62e6f6cca6a3)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+6ab59e8a%5c-47d6%5c-4d17%5c-aa83%5c-6bc3e0fba1ac)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+95ed85c7%5c-8982%5c-4b13%5c-913b%5c-967a10b9edf5)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+ac01b6a8%5c-a740%5c-4d69%5c-a523%5c-029133dd41c7)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+bc60d25e%5c-f254%5c-43d5%5c-93ef%5c-32527e5f849c)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+c2c78b48%5c-bc99%5c-4226%5c-b377%5c-86398f105ed1)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+cb229ec7%5c-8d31%5c-4000%5c-807c%5c-491fbc9e34fd)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+de2a5931%5c-5c58%5c-4fe6%5c-a183%5c-4f24d9f5dead)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+f6b18ceb%5c-eee8%5c-4b1a%5c-9248%5c-9eac2c759d56)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+fd39c628%5c-40eb%5c-4599%5c-b972%5c-da9dfda5b7d5)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aClub+members+fd984453%5c-54f0%5c-4daa%5c-aa3d%5c-9e9b6125b387)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aCommunityMembers)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aEveryone)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAuthenticated+Users)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aNETWORK)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aNTLM+Authentication)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aThis+Organization)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+AgdaEntre)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+Allow+Client+Removable+Drives)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+MailBox_Info)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+Microsoft+Office+2010)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+Microsoft+Outlook+2010)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+Microsoft+Snipping+Tool)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+yourcompanyIntra)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+yourcompanyIntra+Admins)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+yourcompanyIntra+Editors)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+yourcompanyIntra+Upload)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+XenApp+Desktop)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG+XenApp+OTP)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aAG_XenApp_VPN)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aDomain+Users)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-010)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-060)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-060%5c-Diego)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-080)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-130)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-130%5c-Projekt+G)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-130%5c-Projekt+G%5c-01)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-150%5c-GIAB_Info_diverse)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-200+SAP%5c-W)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aG%5c-IntranetAdmin)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3ayourcompany+HK)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3ayourcompany+Users)+OR+EPISERVER_SEARCH_ACL%3a(G%5c%3aUsers))&namedindexes=&offset=0&limit=10&format=xml&accesskey=local'. Message: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found. at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()