Resolving Workflow Manager 2013 and SharePoint 2013

This article explains how to resolve problems with Workflow Manager 2013 and SharePoint 2013.

The issue was raised after the workflow server crashed and could not be recovered. This caused that there still be an association to the workflow server on the SharePoint server even though the server was not running anymore. After reading on how to remove the association from the SharePoint farm, I resolved the issue using the below method.

After several days of working on it, deleting and reinstalling the workflow manager this is the process that I followed to resolve the issue. Please keep in mind the SharePoint farm is an OOB solution with no third party tools or applications. This occurred after the workflow server was installed successfully on the production SharePoint server and functioned very well.

1. I deleted the Workflow Application Proxy using Central Administration.
2. I deleted all the Databases on the SQL Server.
3. I uninstalled the Workflow Manager on the Workflow Manager Server.
4. I uninstalled Workflow Manager Client on the SharePoint.
5. On the SharePoint Server I deleted the following in the Registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE
MICROSOFT
WORKFLOW MANAGER CLIENT

1. This will remove any association on the SharePoint server to the previous Workflow Server.
2. I ran an IISReset and for good measure also restart the SharePoint Timer Service.
3. To check if there are any association left on the server the following can be run to check:

[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::loadwithpartialname("Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowServicesBase")
$web = Get-SPSite -Limit 1 -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Get-SPWeb
$wfm = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowServices.WorkflowServicesManager($web)
$wfm | SELECT *

1. After all the associations were removed (double check this) I reinstalled workflow manager on the workflow manger server, which then recreated new databases on the SQL Server, I then received an error, that the service bus database was already created, I resolved this by creating a new instance on the SQL server specifically for the workflow manger and thus the correct databases were created and a new workflow farm was created.
2. Workflow manager was then installed on the SharePoint server again.
3. The following command was ran in PowerShell to associate the SharePoint web application to the workflow manager:

Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite "https://sharepointwebapp/sites/sitecollection" -WorkflowHostUri "https://workflowsrvcom:12290"

Even though the command is for a specific site collection it associates it to the web application and not only the specified site collection.

I then verified that the workflow application proxy was recreated in central administration and that it was running.
The final step that I did was to verify that the workflow application proxy was associated to the web application. This can be checked in Web Applications, Manage Web Applications. Selecting the Web application and then clicking on Service Application you must ensure the workflow application box is ticked otherwise it won’t reflect in SDP as SharePoint 2013 Workflow.
This resolved my Workflow Server issues.

Regards,
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