DistributedCache Errors fills ULS log, how to remove them

Question

I had this problem, tried reconfiguration, and then reinstallation of SP 2013 with SP1 x64. But it still persists. AppFabricCachingService was not running. If I turn it on, I get these errors

Many pages in internet advise to stop, remove, then

Add-SPDistributedCacheServiceInstance

in powershell, an then restart "Distributed Cache" on "Services on server" in CA, but it is stopped in CA my case, and AppFabric service wasn't running, and I don't need it at all. It is standalone, developer configuration. How to remove this Distributed Cache at all? imho it looks like latest updates bug..

first message:

Token Cache: Failed to initialize SPDistributedSecurityTokenCache Exception: 'Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheException: ErrorCode:SubStatus:Cache referred to does not exist. Contact administrator or use the Cache administration tool to create a Cache.
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCache.ThrowException(ResponseBody respBody, RequestBody reqBody)
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactory.GetCacheProperties(RequestBody request, IClientChannel channel)
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactory.GetCache(String cacheName)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.DistributedCaching.SPDistributedCachePointerWrapper.InitializeDataCacheFactory()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.DistributedCaching.SPDistributedCache..ctor(String name, TimeSpan timeToLive, SPDistributedCacheContainerType containerType, Boolean encryptData)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.IdentityModel.SPDistributedSecurityTokenCache..ctor(String name, TimeSpan timeToLive, SPDistributedCacheContainerType containerType, Boolean encrptyData, TimeSpan minimumTokenExpirationWindow)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.IdentityModel.SPDistributedSecurityTokenCacheInitializer.Init(Object state)'.

second message:

Unexpected Exception in SPDistributedCachePointerWrapper::InitializeDataCacheFactory for usage 'DistributedLogonTokenCache' - Exception 'Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheException: ErrorCode:SubStatus:Cache referred to does not exist. Contact administrator or use the Cache administration tool to create a Cache.
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCache.ThrowException(ResponseBody respBody, RequestBody reqBody)
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactory.GetCacheProperties(RequestBody request, IClientChannel channel)
at Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheFactory.GetCache(String cacheName)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.DistributedCaching.SPDistributedCachePointerWrapper.InitializeDataCacheFactory()'.

Answer 1

Distributed Cache is a required component of SP 2013, even on stand alone machines. Depending on your scenarios you are developing for you may very well need that (it caches credentials and content).

That being said - you should not attempt to start the appfabric service on it's own - always let SharePoint do it. If it's not started - then that is the 1st indication of a problem in the configuration. If the Distributed Cache get's messed up you may have to re-build your entire server (I have seen this more than once destroy a farm).

And that is my recommendation - I've spent days tracking down and correcting issues with DC / AppFabric and for a dev machine that's a lot of work. Keep the databases but stand up a new server and re-run installation then attach your databases.

When you do this SP will automatically start the distributed cache. Do NOT change this at this point. Once SharePoint is configured and running, you can reduce the cache size and then use the "services on server" page (or PowerShell) to disable the service. I would not go further than that on a single machine. If you notice appfabric still running - leave it running.

Otherwise - on your current farm, you can ignore the errors if they are not interfering with your work.