Adventures of a ServerGrrl- the WSS/SPF edition

Blacking out the site in protest against SOPA

2012-01-17T23:37:00.002-05:00

For my 6 followers, I wanted to give you all a heads up. I will be blacking out this blog for a day in support of those who feel that SOPA and PIPA are too restrictive and are being considered by/voted on by/could be enforced by those who don't understand the internet. These laws, if they pass can cause (will likely cause) damage to the democracy of published content on the internet and free speech there. Please consider signing one (or every one) of the many petitions out there against these laws.

If you don't like the fact that so many useful or interesting sites are going black- then imagine what could happen if these laws were enacted. It would be very likely that they would either have to go offline or be censored so tightly as to be useless. Although every single bit of content in my blog entries is my own (as is evidenced by the typos), all it would take is a comment linked from somewhere that a big company didn't like and all my content, all my work to give you information, would be gone. So, in protest, I might as well black it out now. Please consider the ramifications of these laws and any like them when you vote for your politicians. Those that think this will be effective against pirates are too deep in the pockets of their corporate masters to realize that it will only be effective in stifling the constituents that actually vote for them.

You need a government for the people, by people- not for corporations, by corporations. We all do. Please help us keep the internet safe. Protest against SOPA and PIPA while we still can.

Thank you,
CA Callahan

Frugal Admin, special edition: How to get your SharePoint Foundation 2010 server to index RTF files

2011-12-30T23:06:00.003-05:00

Hi there,

In this special edition, I am going to tell you how to index rich text files (document files with the rtf extension).

(to see it done in action, go to http://www.livestream.com/callahanSPF4admins and watch "Enabling RTF indexing on SharePoint Foundation 2010")

Now I know, I know, you've got to be saying, "Callahan, how often does anyone need to upload a rich text file? I mean c'mon."

But hey, it can happen. How about having users that are working on different platforms and don't have Word installed? What if there is a piece of software on your network that puts out RTF files for some reason, and you need to have them in a library on your SharePoint site? Maybe your tech support site uses RTF files so they're compatible with everyone?

For whatever reason, it appears that there is a little something broken in the registry for SharePoint so it can't do something so simple, so assumed, as search rich text files.

You see, it all started when someone tweeted asking if SP2010 could index rtf files natively or if it "needed an ifilter" (meaning they'd have to go install one). I just so happened to be doing a lot of work with PDF ifiltering, so I was well qualified and ready to check into it.

I thought their question was sincere, so I started looking. It turns out that seconds after the question, someone tweeted back saying it couldn't be done.

Of course, I was busy digging, so I didn't know it couldn't be done.

And so..

...I did it.
(later I did find out that there is a book out there telling SharePoint Server people to just register the rtf ifilter DLL and it will work fine for them-- but that definitely doesn't work in SharePoint Foundation, and might've stopped me right there had I known...)

[for my tl;dr readers- the short form of how to get rtf ifiltering to work in SharePoint Foundation:

change the value of the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.rtf to the correct DLL CLSID: {e2403e98-663b-4df6-b234-687789db8560}
run the AddExtensions.vbs script that you copy from the internet so it will permanently add an rtf extension to the extensionlist at key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\Search\Applications\6519b45e-2869-4f5a-9bb5-ec60370309fb\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList
reboot server (you have to to get it to read the changes to the registry)
upload an rtf file that has at least one unique word in it to a library in SharePoint
then wait for search to run an index, or force a fullcrawl- when it's done, you'll be able to search your RTF by that unique word and have it show up in the search results.

And that's it. but to see why and how I knew to do this stuff, how to do it in step by step detail, and why it works for SPF, read on]

First I checked to make sure that SharePoint Foundation 2010 (SPF) could not, in fact, index RTF files by uploading one to a library, doing an iisreset, then a fullcrawl (stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart --keep in mind to run that command in 2010, as opposed to early more security conscious versions, the account your logged in as must OWN the search database...). Then I did a search on the file name, which proves the full crawl worked. Finally I tried to search by text in the RTF file and had it fail- proving that RTF file indexing failed.

Once I knew it failed, I then went to the registry, because I knew that other than an ifilter's DLL, the settings in the registry were key to having ifiltering work in SharePoint Foundation.

Now, when using Adobe's PDF ifilter, I needed to go to the registry, add an entry to the "ExtensionsList" for applications, and a Extension key for .pdf with the correct CLSID pointing to Adobe's PDF ifilter DLL. These two things were critical for success.

So I checked to see if there were any entries for "rtf" in the same places in the registry. I found something interesting.

There was no listing for "rtf" in the ExtensionList key (see figure below for details- the full path in the registry is listed at the bottom of the window). I've been given to believe (and I am correct) that an ifilter won't work for SPF without a listing for the file extension here.

Then I went to check the second registry entry I'd learned was important, a key under Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension. Each file type that SharePoint Foundation can possibly search is listed here with it's own key. The key contains, at the minimum, a default value that is the CLSID of the DLL used by the ifilter for that file type. RTF did have a key.

To be thorough, I wanted to know what DLL that value was pointing to. It should be the CLSID for the file's ifilter DLL.

To check that I selected the CLSID key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and did a find (go to Edit on the menu bar, and click Find, or use ctrl+f keys) for the CLSID value listed for the rtf extension ({35500004-002C-0000-0000-000000000000} as it happens to be). What came up was the plain text filter's CLSID not the one for rich text files:

Every CLSID key for an ifilter has to have an InProcServer32 sub-key. It will list the path to the DLL for that ifilter. In this case, to really prove it has nothing to do with rich text, the InProcServer32 sub-key's path goes to tquery.dll-- the dll used for simple, plain text indexing.

I thought that couldn't be right. It looked like the wrong CLSID for the rtf key for ifiltering had been entered by the SPF installer during setup.

And I figured, if that was the case, I just needed to find the rtf ifilter, if it existed by default (which I had to assume it did, I mean, really), and use it's CLSID instead.

So I went back up to the CLSID key under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and did a Find for "RTF Filter". Why, you ask, did I know to use those exact words? Because the name for the CLSID for the PDF ifilter was PDF Filter, so I figured it would probably be like that for rtf.

And I found it. The value for the rtf ifilter was: {e2403e98-663b-4df6-b234-687789db8560}

Also notice in the picture that the DLL for the rtf filter is "rtffilt.dll". During all this I'd also looked on the internet to see if anyone had been trying to use an rtf ifilter. There were blog entries and forum posts about getting rtf ifilters online, downloading them and using those, and few for SharePoint except, ironically, two for SharePoint Search Express. One refers to a DLL that Microsoft apparently published several years ago named "rtffilt.dll" (now it appears built into server 2008 R2) and one that actually had you register a DLL that was already in system32, so I knew the file already existed on the server.

(to note: however, the blog entry that registers the DLL does something interesting, it has you copy the file from system32 to the sysWOW64 folder and register both: http://thetrainndt.posterous.com/?tag=ifilter Just mentioning it in case your system requires that for some reason- not sure why you would...)

Anywho, obviously, the correct CLSID for the existing rtf ifilter is the value I listed before the picture.

So I copied the correct CLSID value (I right clicked the CLSID key on the right side of the window, and selected "Copy Key Name"), then went back to the rtf Extensions key under ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension and changed it's value to the correct one (never forget the curly brackets have to be on either end of the alphanumerics) by pasting the key name. You'll have to delete some of the key information so only the CLSID remains.

Once that was done, I needed to add the .rtf extension to the Applications\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList (we checked that earlier in this entry, and it was missing). Now these extensions are numbered, so we have to add a string value of the next higher number (in my case that'd be 49, in yours it'll probably be 48). Then double click the value to enter "rtf" (without the quotes of course) as the value.

However, I have found that, with server 2008 R2 (especially with all the most recent updates and service pack) that ExtensionList key is protected, and no matter what I do (take ownership of the key, subkeys, etc., for example), the change is deleted in a few hours or on next reboot.

To overcome this, there is a simple visual basic script you can run to override that behavior and "register" your extension correctly in the ExtensionList. It won't disappear and it won't delete after reboot.

The easy way to get that script is to go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2518465 . In that KB article is the text for the visual basic script- just copy and paste it into a text file (if you don't feel like going to the KB, here it is for your convenience):
---------------------
Sub Usage

    WScript.Echo "Usage:    AddExtension.vbs extension"
    WScript.Echo

end Sub

Sub Main

    if WScript.Arguments.Count < 1 then
                Usage
                wscript.Quit(1)
   end if

    dim extension
    extension = wscript.arguments(0)

    Set gadmin = WScript.CreateObject("SPSearch4.GatherMgr.1", "")

    For Each application in gadmin.GatherApplications
        For Each project in application.GatherProjects
                    project.Gather.Extensions.Add(extension)
                Next
    Next

End Sub

call Main
-------------------

Once I copied the text above into a text file, I saved the text file as AddExtension.vbs (make sure you select All Files *.* for the "Save as Type" field, so it doesn't save the file with a txt extension anyway). Always pay attention to where you save files, it comes in handy later.

That script has to be run in order to make the necessary change in the registry. That's why I needed to know where the script was saved. So I opened an explorer window and browsed to the location where I put the new vbs file. Then I shift+right clicked in the window and selected to Open command window here.

I then entered the following command in the command prompt window and hit enter (of course):

wscript AddExtension.vbs rtf

That ran the script and added the correct entry in the registry, which now won't disappear if I reboot. Which is good, because after the script runs, you have to reboot the server to get it to read the change (I know, that sucks, but at least you know for certain that it's necessary).

--You can confirm if the command ran by trying to run it again- it should give you a warning dialog box saying the object already exists. You can also go into the registry and check for a value in the extensionlist at key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\Search\Applications\6519b45e-2869-4f5a-9bb5-ec60370309fb\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList. If it's there, then the script worked.--

Once the server rebooted, I needed something to test to confirm if rtf ifiltering would work. So I uploaded a rtf file with unique text in it:

Then I ran a full crawl (you can wait for the server to do it itself).

An example of how to do that using STSADM:

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart

[remember that to use a PowerShell or STSADM command to do a full crawl with SharePoint 2010 be sure the account you are logged in with owns the search database (yeah, I kid you not)]

People may say you need to restart the search service (net stop spsearch4 then net start spsearch4) before doing the full crawl, but that is not necessary- rebooting the server, by definition, restarts the service.

To test if the full crawl worked, after the master merge has been completed (you can see two entries in the Applications Event log under the category "Content Index Server"), I went to the SharePoint site where I uploaded the RTF file, and did a search using a word in the title of the file. When it came up in the search results, I saw two things. 1) it proved that the full crawl was successful, because SharePoint was at least able to index the metadata for the file's title. 2) if under the title of the file in the search results, a little summary of the text in the file is displayed, then SharePoint was able to index the content inside the file, meaning the rtf ifilter did work.

And, of course, the true test- doing a search on the site where the file is located, using one of the unique words in the rtf file itself- if returns the rtf file in the search results, then it worked. And in my case, it did.

So the bottom line:

-Do not let anyone tell you that SharePoint Foundation 2010 cannot index/search RTF files. It can. Out of the box, with only two registry entries and a reboot.
-Do not let anyone tell you that you must BUY and install an RTF ifilter in order to be able to index RTF files. Spending money is NOT necessary, the file should already be in the system32 folder.
-The suggestions made to get SharePoint Server 2010 to index RTF files (namely, just registering the rtffilt.dll) do not work for SharePoint Foundation 2010. Just because that fix doesn't work for SharePoint Foundation does not mean SPF cannot search rtf files. That's just silly, and I've proven it. Thanks for reading this far. :)

A little thing about reliability monitor- a note to self

2011-11-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

Hi there everyone!

I've been a busy server grrl over these last several months, and am trying to catch up on my blogging. Lately I've been doing a lot of online livecasts and presentations. In order to do them, I've found myself doing much more in my facebook SPF group and twitter than here. (btw, the link for my SPF group in facebook is: www.facebook.com/groups/callahanspf for anyone interested)

My apologies for the delay in getting back to this venue. I plan to rectify that over the next few weeks.

To start, I was talking with someone at a conference in Sweden last week (that SEF 2011 event I mentioned in the sidebar). I'd just finished a monitoring session, and wished it could be longer because there are so many free and useful tools to monitor a server (SharePoint Foundation or otherwise), that it's hard to even mention them all in just an hour.

One of the tools I didn't get to talk about, because it required extra set up, was the Reliability Monitor. I brought it up because Performance Monitor for server 2008 can display a bad link in it's opening interface that refers to a Stability Monitor that doesn't exist in Server 2008 (or 2008 R2), and that what's left, the Reliability Monitor, doesn't work on the server out of the box.

I'd written an entry about it in my server edition blog on livespaces, but that was deleted by Microsoft while I was editing the SPF book. (yes, all that work gone...) So I thought I'd quickly rewrite it here.

What is Reliability Monitor anyway?

The Reliability Monitor pulls data from the Windows event logs concerning the performance and stability of the server. It ranks stability from 1 to 10, with 10 being very stable. It doesn't just graph the stability of the machine from day to day (or week, or month, however you want it displayed), it also displays the events that occurred in that time period, which you can click on to view additional data (should you need to act on those events). It also displays a list of events below the graph. You can even click a "problem report" and just see a window filled with a listing of problem events that have occurred (such as a firefox plug-in not working properly). Microsoft may be able to offer solutions for listed problems, but don't bank on it.

First thing you might notice is you can't find the Reliability Monitor anywhere. It's not under Administrative Tools, Accessories, or System Tools. It's actually listed under the Action Center in the Control Panel, as "View reliability history" (just to give you an idea as to how far this nifty tool has been deprecated)

Once you've click on the "View reliability history" link in the Action Center (it's in the Maintenance section), it will open a window displaying nothing useful- because it's not on by default.

To get Reliability Monitor to work, you need to:

Change a registry setting from 0 to 1
Change a scheduled task's "One time" task to the current date and time
Run or enable the task

Once you've done that- you're good to go.

To demonstrate:

Go to the registry (type "regedit" in the start menu's search field, then click on the regedit object that comes up in the start menu list.

open the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Reliability Analysis\WMI\WMIEnable

Change the value of WMIEnable from 0 to 1 (then click OK to save the change). It has to be 1 in order to be enabled.

Then close out of regedit.

After that you can start the Reliability Monitor's scheduled task so it checks the logs regularly for stability information.

To do that, open the Scheduled Tasks (start menu search field, type Task scheduler-- you can just type in the first couple of characters if you want to avoid typing out the whole thing-- and then select the Task Scheduler icon in the list).

The task is hidden, so you need to go to the View menu and enable "Show hidden tasks."

Open the Task Scheduler library folder on the left side of the window, then open the Microsoft, then Windows folders. Scroll to the RAC folder and select it.

Select RACtask and go to its Properties. In the properties of the task, select the Triggers tab.

On the triggers page, select the "One time" event, and click the Edit button. Note that it's date is probably sometime in 2008. Even though the task's settings state that it should run as soon as possible if its start date has passed, it will not run until you change that date to, essentially, now.

To do that, just change the time and date to the current date and maybe a minute in the future. And click OK.

Back in the Task Scheduler console, make sure the RACtask is select (I make sure the one time task is selected as well, just to be sure) and click Run to start the task. That should enable the task.

Be sure the task is not disabled, should you run into any problems. Also, for domain controllers- if the task still won't start, try changing the account to the System account, not Local Service. On non-DC's local service works perfect for me.

Then wait a few minutes, seriously only a few minutes, and then open the Reliability Monitor again.

It will display at least enough information to let you know it's working. Another interesting feature of the Reliability monitor, in addition to it's list of reliability details (most of which can be viewed in detail it their own window), is the View all problems report. It will display all problems, even those reported by 3rd party software and drivers, so you can see what might be effecting (or have ever effected) the stability of the server.

If you double click one of the items listed, it will open a more detailed report about the issue, with information you can use to find out things on the internet, or contact the provider for a solution.

So that's it-- Reliability Monitor a hidden little tool for monitoring your server that most people don't know they have or can't use because they don't know how to start it.

The final issue I have with it is accessing it. I don't like having to hit the start menu and search for it every time I want to use it. But trying to get a shortcut to it has turned out to be impossible (at least the easy ways that I know of). The best I could do is go to the Action Center in Control Panel and drag the flag icon in the address bar to the desk top, which will create a short cut (you knew you could do that, right?).

Then, at least, I can click the shortcut for the Action Center, then click the Maintenance heading, and then click View Reliability History to get to the Reliability Monitor.

I know, I know, it's not ideal. But remember, I didn't create this stuff, I only use it- just like you.

That's Reliability Monitor. Another thing you know, in case you might need it.

Argh, where have all my blog posts gone?! (and other things)

2011-09-15T20:26:00.000-04:00

So things have been busy at casa Callahan, and I have been writing blog entries using live writer, and posting them up to this blog with a scheduled publish date. I have been bad in that, after uploading, I didn't check the blog to make sure they took.

And now I've gotten my comeuppance, when coming to the blog and seeing that at least six blog entries have not actually been publish.

Argh!

Okay, so there should have been a detailed blog entry about how to enable PDF ifiltering and associating the correct PDF icon to PDFs in SharePoint Foundation 2010 (there was some confusion that it couldn't be done. Ppfftt). There was an entry following TechEd about the hands-on labs that were available to TechEd attendees (with one I wrote for multi-tenancy), my wanting to go to SharePoint Conference 2011 and what an "Unsung Hero" is, then an entry about me actually winning a slot at SPC as an "Unsung Hero". There was also a post about my upcoming events, such as the wonderfully fun User Group Meeting in Cleveland (those folks are great!), and SharePoint Saturday Columbus (well, I was afraid that Multi-Tenancy session might not be popular (I had one student)). Things happened, I chased storms and attended SharePints. Much fun was had by all.

Now what I have going on is this:

SharePoint TechDay, San Francisco
Organized by: PAC IT Pro
Date (currently scheduled): September, 23rd, 2011
Time: 10am-5pm (apx)
Speaker: Me
Cost: $99

Pac IT Pro is sponsoring a SharePoint TechDay featuring Me as the speaker. The session is currently listed at the incredibly low price (for a custom, 6 hour, essentially day long class) of $99, and scheduled for September 23rd (rain date of October 18th, if necessary). It's going to be a "Kitchen Sink" session, covering as many topics as I can fit in 6 hours (and those who know me, know I can pack six hours with a lot of info). The main point of the class is going to be "say you inherited an existing SharePoint Foundation installation-- what would an admin do to get up to speed that first day?" or "a day in the life of an SPF admin". The content is going to include everything from, "how can you tell what type of installation this is", "what kind of permission/group/user structure does it have", to managed paths, web application security, monitoring the server, what's it's disaster recovery look like, and more. In addition, at each point, I'll cover what these things are, why you need them, and some pros and cons on how they *should* be set up in most situations. I'll also be hitting some basic points, for better understanding overall, on common things like the difference between web applications, site collections and sites- for those not sure which they should really use, when. The session is going to be a practical, almost entirely demo experience, where the attendees can walk away with a real sense that they saw real work be done and with a good set of tools to better understand what they have, and what they might need to do when they get back to the office.

The session is primarily for SharePoint administrators who are relatively new, or have been around for a while (maybe they were thrown in the deep end of an implementation) and need a clearer understanding of the full picture of how to administer SharePoint, what it is, what it does (and doesn't do), and other essentials. Advanced administrators (particularly those advanced in a large enterprise environment) and Developers are welcome, but the content is geared to an audience of IT pro admins that need a more solid grip on the ins and outs of SharePoint.

The catch to the event is I needed at least 30 people to register before the event could be held (they pay for my travel and hotel from the attendee fee, not enough attendees, no me). Right now there are about 28 people registered. So, really I need two more people to reach my 30 person goal. However, keep in mind that the room can hold more than 60 people (or so I am told), so there will absolutely be no cut off concerning registering. Register right up to the day of the event, I'd be happy to have you there. Remember that the fee for the event is $99-- cheaper than even some of the other, shorter TechDays that have been held this year.

After the TechDay in San Francisco on the 23rd, I will then be preparing to go to Anaheim California to work the Hands-On Labs at the SharePoint Conference 2011. I am really psyched about going, because there was no way I could afford to simply pay to attend. I lost my MVP just at the time they were doing the call for speakers, so I couldn't even apply to speak at the event. If I did not volunteer for the event, I would definitely not get to go. But the volunteering process just didn't seem to be open to people like TechEd is, so I could not figure out how to get in. Then I got told about the "Unsung Hero" contest. It sounded "interesting"-- and the reason I put that in quotes is, the unsung heroes would not simply win a pass to the event, no. They would win an opportunity to work at the event for free in exchange for a conference pass. So that was how to volunteer for the event.

There was no guarantee that I would get in, competition was pretty fierce, but I managed to win a slot as an Unsung Hero, and although the hotels are ridiculously expensive out there (my credit card is groaning), I am going to SPC 2011. Woo hoo! I will be working the SharePoint Hands-On Labs, and proctoring the post-conference administrator's deep dive session. So I hope to see you all there.

Finally, to top off the year, I am going to do my first speaking engagement in a country whose natives don't speak English as their first language-- Sweden. I am pretty nervous about it. For those who know me, you know I have food allergies that are kind of specific-- namely gluten and corn. In the US, those are two things that are in everything. But it turns out that Sweden is very gluten-free friendly. Especially the city I'll be in, Stockholm. The McDonalds there even offers gluten free burgers and fries. They don't even have that in the US (but they should).

So the event I'll be working is the SharePoint and Exchange Forum 2011 (known as SEF 2011, which seems to be a very popular acronym in Sweden). I'll be doing two sessions, chosen by the organizers: SharePoint Design Fundamentals, and Monitoring your SharePoint Foundation server at no extra cost. The first session's title worries me-- because it's not necessarily only about design. It's really about what you are designing, and suggestions on how to design it. Like what kind of implementation should you do (given your situation), then what kind of namespace, permissions, comparing web apps, to site collections, to subsites for organizing people and content. Using AAM, managed paths, and more. All in an hour of course, so it won't be as deep as a six hour course (like the one I'm doing to the TechDay in San Francisco). I hope that my title is okay on that. If you have any suggestions for a better title, please let me know as soon as you can. Maybe I can ask the organizers to tweak it on the website.

So that should catch us up. I'll be churning out the PDF iFilter article in a few days, I may post it to it's original date though-- but I'll also give you all a heads up on it in case it slips out of your RSS because of the date. Other things I am looking into, besides all of the travel I am doing these days: I put in proposals for speaker sessions for the Cincinnati SharePoint Saturday. It'll be a long drive for me, but I had to cancel on a user group meeting I was supposed to speak at, and I'd like to make it up to them. In addition, I'd like to get back to doing live (then recording) sessions online again. Freebinar, now called AnyMeeting, didn't really work that well for me, so I am considering livestream. It doesn't have all the tools that AnyMeeting does, and I could go back to that in the future if necessary, but at least the livestream records well and does do live chat during the event (just like anymeeting).

Thanks to all for your patience. I'm still here, chugging along, believe it or not...

My "Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010" book is releasing for purchase on Valentines day!

2011-02-14T02:01:00.010-05:00

UPDATED UPDATE:
Just a quick update-- the book, Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, is in stock and available on Amazon, Prime shipping, two day delivery. (Yay) Interestingly, almost as soon as they had some in stock to sell, they were down to one book. I have to assume that is because of the pre-orders. And if that is the case, big thank you to all of you who pre-ordered.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Microsoft-SharePoint-Foundation-2010/dp/0470626380/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IW4IHPKD5J3PF&colid=1DPHWYF9PWK9R

Due to the difference in the name on my SharePoint books, the WSS book has "C.A. Callahan" on it, and the SPF book just has "Callahan", Amazon has had some confusion concerning the byline for the books, and which book goes to what author page. They are sorting it out, but if you do notice there is some oddness there, they are working on it as we speak.

In addition, we have sorted out the tiny, little mistakes in the original product description of the SharePoint Foundation book, so now it more closely represents the content inside.

UPDATE:
Turns out that the book is available from the Wiley site to purchase today (Valentines day): http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470626380,descCd-tableOfContents.html, but it is not yet available on Amazon (I must admit, I was a little disappointed). I will be updating this post with the actual date the book will be available for shipment from Amazon as soon as I find out.

.....

The day has finally come. As of Monday Feb. 14th, 2010, Valentines day, Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010-- the book I've been working on for at least a year-- has been printed and is available for purchase (and shipment).

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Microsoft-SharePoint-Foundation-2010/dp/0470626380/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IW4IHPKD5J3PF&colid=1DPHWYF9PWK9R

The cover of the book has gone through a few incarnations. First, it was going to look like my previous Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 book; a white Mastering Series cover with burgundy and black text, and a compass on the bottom half of the cover. Kind of classy.

Then, I discovered that the cover had been changed, showing a stark, white server room with people in motion, and an orange box in the middle containing the title of the book.

But, as of last week, I noticed yet another cover for the book- hopefully, this is the cover that will be the final one- of a person standing at a workstation in front of a server rack (in a room full of servers apparently), all in silhouette, with a green box in which the name of the book is located. I rather like the look, and green is my favorite color.

The first part of the description of the book, something I did not write, is not entirely what the book is about (the publishers do try). This book is basically the updated version of the last- so it is a comprehensive look at SharePoint Foundation (as much as I could cram into about 1300 pages) from the ground up:

From how to plan and prepare for SharePoint Foundation, to both types of installation (a chapter is devoted to each)
To how to use SharePoint (from the interface, to web parts, to lists, libraries, sites, subsites, workspaces, site collections and web applications)
To how to administer SharePoint (users and permissions, maintenance, monitoring, and disaster recovery)
To more advanced topics, such as a detailed, step by step look at how to migrate from WSS 3.0 to SharePoint Foundation, to an introduction to PowerShell for SharePoint, and a quick reminder of how to use STSADM (SharePoint's command line administration tool)
And finally advanced installation and configuration- covering detailed step by step information of how to, install additional servers for the farm, with a detailed overview of how to load balance them (using Windows Server's own network load balancing service as an example), as well as how to set up SSL, Kerberos, external data types using Business Data Connectivity (or BCS for some people) and SharePoint Designer 2010, and finally, a quick look at what an administrator needs to know about installing Office Web Apps.

As you can see, this book contains far more information than just what has changed since the last version (and doesn't really go into Exchange Server at all). Instead it is a one stop shop to help server administrators master SharePoint Foundation, giving you the grand tour, cover to cover.

And keep in mind-- there are bonus chapters on the web for the book: one is a lot of extra material, things I wanted to keep in the book but didn't have space, concerning extra coverage of web parts, lists and libraries. The other is about 24 pages of tables that go along as an addendum to the PowerShell and STSADM chapter. It is an extensive and convenient list of PowerShell and their corresponding STSADM commands, organized loosely by where their equivalent setting would in Central Administration. This bonus material is being completed and uploaded as we speak (well, you know what I mean), so feel free to stop by and grab them (the link to the content is listed in the introduction to the book).

So if a thorough and detailed book intended to give IT administrators mastery over SharePoint Foundation (and deep preparation for the foundational functions of SharePoint Server 2010 as well), then this book may be for you.

Special thanks to all of my reader reviewers and loyal attendees over this last year. The reader reviewers read every version of every chapter, giving me precious feedback, and answering my questions about if the information I was covering was what the readers want and if how I covered it will work for them, given the fact that all of this stuff had to be fit into just 1300 pages (or less-- the last book, without all the new features of SharePoint Foundation, was 1100 pages). It was a long, rather arduous labor of love for me, and is flatly all written for the audience of the WSS 3.0 Mastering book and all the students, attendees, and others who need a thorough, practical explanation of SharePoint Foundation. I tried to give you all what I would have needed if I was looking for a book to teach me, as server admin, what I needed to know to get my server up and running, and keep it running through thick and thin. Remember, this is not in any way a book for developers. There is no coding (except, maybe, when explaining how to use PowerShell), this is just for administrators who actually manage SharePoint, from top to bottom.

There should be a link on the right side of this blog that takes you to the Amazon page for ordering Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, for your convenience. Feel free to give it a click and take a look (you can see if the cover has changed again, for starts...).

Something to remember: Now that the book is done, I will be posting a lot more on this blog, as this is the way I keep in touch with my readers concerning changes to the product due to service packs, new things I've learned, and any presentations I am doing-- particularly the free ones, I want to do a lot of free presentations in relation to the book.

Please feel free to leave me comments or post to my errata account (servergrrl.wss at gmail dot com) if you find any errors or issues with the book. I was, by far, not the only person who worked on the book (it turns out it takes a village to write a book). And between me rushing to finish (or rushing my contributors), and the technical editor, developmental editor, copy editor, proof reader, production editor, compositor, and even indexers, things I wrote, and pictures I took, may have changed far outside of my control by the time the book is printed (notice the number of editors, they are in charge of editing sentence structure, grammar, layout, capitalization, and more, and can do so without me). If there is an error, I really, really want to know personally-- so I can fix it here for you and all who might need to know the correction before they come across it too.

I'm happy to have done this work for you. I hope you enjoy it.

SharePoint Foundation 4 Admins session- the remix.

2011-01-31T13:55:00.002-05:00

Hi there everybody,

An observant anonymous reader of this blog discovered, not too long ago, that Microsoft had deleted the recordings of the sessions I'd done last year. I had them posted in a previous blog entry, and I apologize to those of you who might have tried to access those links.

To make it up to you, I am going to re-record those sessions, by offering them, live, for free, again. This time I will be using Freebinator to broadcast the events. This product is free, runs in the browser (no client to download and install), but it does use flash heavily, so be forewarned. In addition, the reason it is free is it is ad driven, so be prepared to see advertising. I know that's unfortunate, but it has a bunch of features that are really nice (such as giving me control over my recordings).

My first re-recording session will be tomorrow, 2/1/2011, at 1p Eastern time (until 3p, or whenever we're done). The topic will be "Preparing for SharePoint Foundation and Standalone Installation." I will post the registration link here. Please realize this is the first time I will be broadcasting using this product, so I will be expecting feedback concerning performance.

http://www.freebinar.com/PIID=ED52DE8589

Please note that I am testing out the registration form, and there will be a survey form after the session as well. This session and all others will be recorded. This includes not just my shared desktop, but the text chat where your can make comments and ask questions. Please keep those comments and questions safe for work. Thanks.

SharePoint Foundation 4 Admins series, session recordings

2010-12-10T23:28:00.001-05:00

Well, the holiday season is upon us, and the year draws to a close.

My SharePoint Foundation 4 Admins, free, live, online training sessions are done. I did four scheduled sessions and two ad-hoc sessions.

Of the six sessions, I did manage to record four of them. Here they are:

Session 2, Complete Installation and Configuration
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/view?id=Z6662P

Session 3, Users and Permissions
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/view?id=M62SS5

Session 4, Business Data Connectivity (probably my favorite session, lots of fun)
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/view?id=NH45P6

Session 6, Multi-Tenancy (watch me type out every command, no smoke and mirrors here)
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/view?id=KRQ2N7

Keep in mind that these sessions were done for my peeps during a time when I was really working hard meeting deadlines for the Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 book, so I didn't get much time to prep (hours in most cases). The sessions were run from my laptop (with my iphone headset for a mic), in my dining room, using VMs from the server I am/was using for the book. They are about as live and candid as a session can be.
So if you missed the sessions and would like some free training, feel free to use the recordings. The recordings will expire about a year from the date of the sessions (so by the end of autumn 2011, they'll no longer be available).

Thanks for reading the blog. Thank you for those who attended the sessions, and have a happy holiday.

Live SharePoint Foundation Presentation series: Session 3, Users and Permissions, this Thursday!

2010-11-09T01:45:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd get a jump start on letting you all know about the third session in my four part SharePoint Foundation for admins series. These sessions are completely free, live, and online. So if you're (or someone you know is) interested in free SharePoint Foundation training, the third of my sessions will be held on Thursday of this week (11/11), at 3 pm Eastern.

The session will be recorded (if the technology gods allow it), and it will be for 90 minutes (give or take). The contents essentially map to the Users and Permissions chapter of my upcoming Mastering SharePoint Foundation book, and will delve into Users, Permission, Permission Levels, Groups, Inheritance, and more. From Central Administration and Farm Administrators, to breaking inheritance, with a touch of PowerShell, this session will give you some simple, clear insights into what is often a muddy subject.

Because the sessions are live, participation is encourage (otherwise, why not just record it?). Come one, come all to the third of the four SharePoint Foundation sessions for admins I'm offering this year.

The link to the session is: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=M62SS5&role=attend

The facebook event page-- if you have a facebook account and would like to RSVP for the event (so I have some idea of how many people will be there), get extra info, see who else is attending, and follow up on the event-- http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174037039280378

Live SharePoint Foundation Presentation series: Session 2 - Complete Installation & Configuration Today!

2010-11-04T12:40:00.001-04:00

Howdy all!

For those of you interested in some free training, the second of my four LIVE, online sessions will be held today at 3pm Eastern. The session will be primarily live demonstration of how to prepare for a Complete, farm installation of SharePoint Foundation, from preparing for managed accounts, to how to set up outgoing/incoming email, Business Data Connectivity, etc. See how to set up a web application and the first site collection.

In addition, get an insight to the Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 book itself, as the virtual machines used for these presentations are the same ones used throughout the book.

Since the presentation will be live, you can ask questions and interact with the presenter (well, me). There could even be a few hilarious bloopers you can't get in a recorded webcast.

Come one, come all the the free session today. Link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=Z6662P&role=attend

For those interested, here's the facebook page for the event if you'd like to chat with other attendees, leave comments, and get extra information (requires a facebook account): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107804215952877

Callahan's SharePoint Foundation Live Presentation Series starts tomorrow!

2010-10-27T09:06:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone!

I am currently editing the Mastering SharePoint Foundation book, and felt I needed to get out there and give you all a chance to see what is in the book, live, in the form of four 90 minute sessions loosely mapping to chapters in the book. (I could do more if there is interest, I've got a lot to talk about.) They are currently scheduled to occur every Thursday for four weeks starting with this week.

The first session will start tomorrow, Thursday 10/28/2010 at 3:00pm eastern time. The session will start with an introduction, of course. I'll want to make sure everyone can see and hear everything. I prefer to do pretty interactive sessions, so although all the audio will be me, I will be expecting Q&A comments, and status updates from my attendees so I can work with them during the session. Try that with a recording. ; )

Following the introduction will be a look at how to prepare and plan for implementing SharePoint Foundation. Once we've got that covered, we'll do a standalone installation of SharePoint Foundation, live, so you can see exactly what happens when SPF is installed, from prerequisites, to configuration. Then we'll take a look at the interface itself (time permitting).

Keep in mind that most of the session will be real, live demos of SharePoint, I don't really do a lot of slides (there will be some, for reference, but I'm more of a "show it to you rather than talk about it" kind of person).

The second session will cover how to do a Complete installation of SharePoint Foundation. Exploring more deeply how to create a web application and site collection, as well as manually configuring services that the Standalone installation did automatically.

The third session will cover users and permissions. This session addresses managing users, groups, permission levels, breaking inheritance, as well as quick glance at farm administration and the new delegated administrators group for Central Administration. See what has changed in terms of permissions and what hasn't.

The fourth session is actually still open to a certain degree. It will be an advanced session, mapping to chapter 16 of the book, but the attendees will decide (I'll be polling) the topics. The options are topics like Business Data Connectivity service, creating and using external content types, external lists and lookup fields using SharePoint Designer, introduction to Multi-Tenancy, Install, configure, administer Office Web Apps, and more.

If you have a facebook account, you can sign up to attend by visiting the event's facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139913466056832&ref=nf

There is no obligation to sign up, it just makes it easier for me to get a ballpark idea of how many people are going to attend, it lets you know who else is attending, and it lets you make and receive comments and updated information about the session. Later, because the session will be recorded, I can post a link there for the recorded session (I don't control the file location).

The direct link to the event is: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/join?id=F3F92M&role=attend

The sessions will be live meeting events, so be prepared to install live meeting 2007 client in case you don't already have it. These sessions are hosted by Microsoft through my MVP account. I will gladly do as many as my attendees (you) would like until the end of December (unless I am renewed, then I can do more). At this point, I've only got four planned. There will be audio, so be prepared if that will bother your co-workers.

I would love to see you all there.

Do you have a Windows Live Spaces blog? They're going WordPress now...

2010-09-29T20:07:00.002-04:00

Howdy everybody,

I saw a tweet about Live ID blogs going to go over to WordPress, and had to check it out. Here's a post on the Windows Live blog about it:

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2010/09/27/wordpress-com-and-windows-live-partnering-together-and-providing-an-upgrade-for-30-million-windows-live-spaces-customers.aspx

I've got two Spaces blogs, one about Windows Server stuff and one about Windows 7 stuff. The Windows Server blog is actually the resurfacing of my first blog. I've not been there much this year because all I've been doing is writing the Mastering SPF book.

I like my Spaces blogs (and liked my first blog there when it was msn spaces, remember when?), and will be sad to see them go WordPress (or go away entirely by next spring). I didn't really like wordpress, back in the day when I was checking out different blogging options online.

Keep in mind this "upgrade" will literally change the URL of the blog (but they'll keep the Spaces redirect so people's links, favorites, RSS feeds should still work). If you have stuff hard coded, be sure they still work after the change.

I thought if any of you have a Spaces blog (or two) you might want to be given some warning. Apparently a lot of people don't realize that Microsoft is making this change.

If you sign in to your spaces blog, you will immediately be taken to a page that leads with "Windows Live + WordPress." They don't absolutely demand that you move your blog to WordPress right away, but they do state that the "clock is ticking" if you don't "upgrade" and that the deadline is March 2011.

(if you don't want to upgrade, you can temporarily continue to use the blog as is, download all your blog entries as html files, or just delete your site now...)

I am disappointed that Microsoft is basically pawning off 30 million people's blogs to WordPress (if they'd wanted to be there, they already would be). It would have been great if Microsoft had invested a little on the blogging capabilities of SharePoint and maybe moved those 30 million people to SharePoint online instead.

Some of the things you lose in the "upgrade" are your drafts, your theme, gadgets, guestbook, and lists (I spent a lot of time making and updating my lists...).

Nonetheless-- for those of you who haven't logged in for a while, I thought you should know-- It is not a ruse, you haven't been hacked-- your Spaces blog is going away next spring, the clock is ticking, unless you "upgrade" it to WordPress.

Now you know.

A bit of a worry-- ASP.NET vulnerability and SharePoint

2010-09-25T18:34:00.002-04:00

A security advisory has been released concerning a known ASP.NET security issue and the danger it can pose for those of us who have SharePoint deployed (which uses ASP.NET, and therefore can be compromised).

The problem, in an oversimplified example, is that due to this vulnerability, an attacker can send information (cipher text) to the server, and see if it was decrypted correctly based on the error messages that are returned, until they know that they can get in and get private info.

Microsoft does not yet have a fix for this issue, and if you are worried (say, if your SharePoint implementation is internet facing), they offer some workarounds until they do have an official hotfix or patch you can download.

The workaround is detailed at: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2010/09/21/security-advisory-2416728-vulnerability-in-asp-net-and-sharepoint.aspx

The official (and not super helpful) security advisory is at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2416728.mspx

A blog by someone named Scott Guthrie, who seems to be super knowledgeable about this security issue, has two entries concerning it:

The first, as of Sept. 19 is: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/18/important-asp-net-security-vulnerability.aspx

The follow up, Sept. 24, is: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/09/24/update-on-asp-net-vulnerability.aspx

My environment, right now, is completely isolated, so I am going to hold off messing with the settings until I finally finish creating new material for the book. But I wanted to let you all know about the issue now, in case it compromised your environment.

It started with not being able to activate wiki page home page feature (or issue with features if you load balance your site...)

2010-09-10T11:49:00.010-04:00

I am currently super, super busy finishing up chapters in the SPF book, but I needed to write this down somewhere...

So I finished writing the first draft of chapter 16. It involved, among other things, installing a second server on the farm and enabling load balancing so the readers could see it in action.

That meant that, at this point, my virtual machine of my SharePoint Foundation installation has two SPF servers load balancing content.

I was reading over some edits of one of my chapters and needed to see the home page without it being a wiki page for a moment. Now, there are a couple of ways to do that, the easiest being deactivating the wiki page home page feature (yeah, funny name) , the next easiest being deleting the Home.aspx page from the Site Pages library real quick (restoring it from the recycle bin takes seconds).

I am really, really behind on my edits, so in my rush, I just deactivated the feature.

I checked the stuff I needed to check, then went back in to re-activate the feature-- and it failed. I went to the other server in the set, and it failed there. I did an IISRESET on both, still failed.

I dropped to the powershell console and tried a get-spfeature command (it brings up a long list of features available for the farm at the moment). Wiki page home page was listed.

So I marked the ID of the feature (okay, so I am an old skool admin, not a developer, and it's just easier for me to grab the ID than write a bunch of pipe stuff. I keep it easy)

I then tried to enable the feature for the site manually, using the enable-spfeature command:

(EDITED TO ADD: blogspot deleted the tag I wrote originally about the identity value.. sorry for those of you who thought you could just leave -identity could be empty. Darned blogger...)

enable-spfeature -identity (paste marked ID here) -url http://theurlofmyrootsite

And it failed, saying " Enable-SPFeature : The Web application at http://spf2 could not be found. Verify that you have typed the URL correctly. If the URL should be serving existing content, the system administrator may need to add a new request URL mapping to the intended application."

What?! I know that site exists, and that I typed it's URL correctly, I was just on it.

I tried an IISRESET, no luck, on both servers, still no luck...

So I tried the same command on the other server, thinking maybe it had something to do with it. Nope.

Then I realized something. I had changed the default zone of the site to be the load balanced address.

::head smack:: Doh!!

I then reran the command but with the load balanced address. (in my case that would be http://sharepoint)

enable-spfeature -identity (paste ID here) -url http://sharepoint

And it worked perfectly!

So what does that say?

It says that in the GUI, ie in the Manage Features for the Site page, when you hit the Activate feature button, it points to the site's original URL when the site was created-- so if you change the default zone for the web application of the site you are activating features on, and you don't include the old URL in AAM to point to the web application, the Activate button might not work.

Bottom line: Either plan to activate or deactivate features via PowerShell if you remove the original URL from AAM for the site, or always include the original URL in AAM for a site (even if you don't want users to use it).

You use TechNet/MSDN? Did you activate Office 2010 before May 1st? You need a new key...

2010-08-24T13:19:00.002-04:00

I had to stop by and let any of my readers who are using TechNet or MSDN product keys for Office 2010 know: I just received an email from Microsoft (apologizing for the inconvenience of course) saying that if you got your product key for Office 2010 earlier than May 1st, 2010, you need to get another one.

It appears that if you activated Office 2010 with a PID key pre-dating May 1st, "certain product features may not be enabled."

For a list of the features that won't work with the pre-May 2010 key, see KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983473

So if you've got Office 2010 installed and activated using your MSDN or TechNet key, and you simply can't get features to work-- get a new key from your subscription, and try again.

Edited to add: BTW, to change the product key of an Office 2010 product, go to Programs and Features in the Control Panel. Select the Office 2010 product you have installed, and click Change. This should trigger an Office 2010 installer screen. One of the options listed is to Enter a product key. This will give you the opportunity to enter your new product key. Good luck.

I tell ya, if ain't one thing, it's another.

Found something odd with documented SharePoint Foundation URL limits

2010-08-13T02:16:00.003-04:00

I haven't had time to post much, as everything I am writing about SharePoint Foundation is going into the Mastering book, but I've discovered something that can't go in the book that I've just got to get off my chest.

It's about Microsoft's published limits for URLs (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff919562.aspx). I've seen the info all over the web-- "SharePoint can only support 260 character URLs."

It's supposed to include the protocol, server name, path (with folders and file name), and parameters (stuff added after a question mark to the end of the path).

Well, just messing around with subfolders, file names, and views, I've discovered something.

If I just open a file (with a long file name) deep in a nested subfolder structure, the URL fails to open the file after 340 characters. I am using IE 8 on Server 2008 R2. I am sure that, instead of folders, I had a long path of subsites, or a combo of both in the path, it would amount to the same thing. The point, I think, is maxing out the characters.

If I have a URL with parameters appended to it, like opening the create view page on a library in a subsite with a long name, it can exceed 1600 characters and be fine.

So I think SharePoint's limit for URLs without parameters is actually 340 characters to see a file, and with parameters it depends on the browser you are using-- IE supports more than 1660 (actually more than 2000 characters for IE 7 & 8).

This is just my experience using SharePoint Foundation 2010 RTM, on a Server 2008 R2 VM, using the built in IE 8 32 bit.

If anyone could check this, I'd like to know if you got similar results.

EDITED TO ADD: Just got a chance to test the URL limit on a Windows 7 Ultimate client (IE 8), and found something interesting that didn't happen on the 2008 R2 server using IE 8. I can browse to a file that is well past 260 characters. I got to the file that was at a 340 character URL (with filename), and tried to open it.

This time I got an error of sorts. It warned me that the URL to the file had too many characters, that it could cache it to the local computer and then I could save it under a different name.

Interesting. When I clicked OK, it opened the file in the browser as it was supposed to. No problems. So my 2008 R2 server was opening the file without the error, Windows 7 showed the error, but opened the file- albeit after caching.

When I took the characters out of the file name to get its URL back down to 260, the same thing happened. However, at 259 characters, there was no error on the Windows 7 box using IE8, and the file opened as it is supposed to.

So now you know. The bottom line, the server doesn't seem to mind going over 260 characters for a URL. The Windows client however, wants URLs just under 260 characters.

Something else to keep in mind (that I did put in the book), if you are going to use Send To for libraries or the Links list, or any other list or library field that contains URLs-- the single line text field limit for characters is 255. Making that the practical character limit for URLs on your site. Regardless of whether you're opening something on the server or client. 255 is all a single line of text field can take (like the Links URL field or the Send To Destination field).

This may not be a show stopper, but I just had to say it somewhere. Thanks for listening.

(and yes, this is what I do with my time. Click every button and challenge everything I can. It's my job. ; P)

SharePoint and Office 2010 Official Launch-- May 12, 2010

2010-05-11T17:18:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow, May 12th, is the official launch date of SharePoint/Office 2010. There is going to be an online launch event at www.the2010event.com. If you want to check it out.

I know that a lot of us actually downloaded the release to manufacturer copy of SharePoint Foundation around April 22th, but for the rest of the world (that doesn't have TechNet or MSDN), this will be the day they can run out and buy SharePoint server or Office 2010 for the first time.

This date is also significant because it is the date that a whole lot of data about SharePoint should start trickling out of Microsoft, like reporting services for SharePoint Foundation (at least, that's what I am hoping).

Be sure to check out the online launch event, and try to catch the live, in-person launch events in your area. I am sure they are going to have insider info that may not be available online or in book form yet.

MVP chats

2010-04-27T18:05:00.001-04:00

Hey all,

Just wanted to stop by for a quick blurb before the event.

The SharePoint MVPs are currently hosting live SharePoint chat sessions over at the MSDN online chats (yes, for your IT Pros, it is suspiciously hosted at the developer site): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx.

Even though it is at MSDN, there are going to be a number of IT Pro/IT Pro-Dev. combo MVPs (as well as many developers) there who can answer your questions about SharePoint past and future.

These chats are going to be regularly scheduled, the most current ones are tonight at 7pm Eastern (4pm Pacific), with another one running tomorrow at noon Eastern (9am Pacific).

Remember, these chats are live, the MVPs are just sitting there waiting to answer questions. This is a great time to ask things you want real answers to.

There's a big line up of MVPs who will be answering questions at the chats this evening and tomorrow. Also, if these events are well attended, it just makes it more likely that they will hold them again and again. So, for more information about what MVPs will be at the chat, and more information about upcoming chats in the future, go to the the MVP award blog at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/mvpawardprogram/archive/2010/04/23/join-28-sharepoint-mvps-in-a-live-chat.aspx.

SharePoint Foundation RTM (and Designer too) available from public Microsoft download site

2010-04-22T16:30:00.004-04:00

I told you that I'd let you know when the SPF bits would be available for download.

Oddly, although they are currently not available for paying TechNet subscribers, the whole world can download--

SharePoint Designer (32bit) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=d88a1505-849b-4587-b854-a7054ee28d66)

SharePoint Foundation (only comes in 64bit) (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595). Remember to check the system requirements on the download page to be sure you're ready to install.

I'll wait a few days for everyone to get the bits, then I will probably start posting bits and pieces about new things, things that bother me, gotchas, and general stuff about the book. : )

Mind you, I am going to be super busy trying to get all my chapters changed over to the RTM version of SPF, so bear with me if I lag here. I am probably going to be fairly distracted...

Edited to add--- By the way, SharePoint Designer comes in 64 bit or 32 bit flavors. That is important, since if you install SPD on a machine that is also running Office, the architecture has to match.

Right now the title of the page for both versions of SharePoint Designer is the same.

Here is the link for the 64 bit as it is at the time of this edit (4/22/10). http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=566d3f55-77a5-4298-bb9c-f55f096b125d.

The installer for the 32bit version of SharePoint Designer is 254.1 MB.
The installer for the 64bit version is 279.0 MB.

Edited to add again (the day after): They have fixed the SharePoint Designer download page titles. They now read SharePoint Designer 2010 (XXbits-- depending on the page you go to).

It's the little things. : )

Some 2010 RTM (RTW) bits and bobs available right now on TechNet

2010-04-22T12:52:00.005-04:00

Hi there ladies and gents,

I thought I'd give those of you with TechNet subscriptions a heads up. Although I am sadly still waiting on SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Designer, the RTW (or release to web, kind of like release to manafacturer without having to burn DVDs, lol) version of SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010 (Professional Plus) are available as of today for download.

Feel free to download now. : )

For those of you still waiting for SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint Foundation, I feel your pain.

As soon as they are up, I'll post about it...

Office/SharePoint 2010 Launch Events

2010-04-06T22:12:00.001-04:00

So, SharePoint Foundation 2010 is releasing in mid-May (as are SharePoint Server 2010, Office 2010, and Visual Studio 2010). And to celebrate the release, as they always do, Microsoft is having Launch events.

Unlike they always do, and possibly in response to the economy, the locations where the day long events, full of swag and experts, will be sadly limited.

To see the planned agenda for the event and get your seat first (before they run out), go to https://microsoft.crgevents.com/Register2010/Content/Event_Selection.aspx. You'll find a list of the cities hosting launch events. To sign up you'll need to pick a track, IT Pro or Developer.

And, what about the folks who don't live anywhere near these lucky cities (like myself)?

Well, I found out today that there is a scaled down, half day, less stuff, less content, but still Launch focused "Launch 2010 Highlights" launch event being held at other, less popular cities.

--Basically look at it as the Tier 1 cities, with the higher population, the ones that spend the most money with Microsoft, get the full day real Launch events, and lower tiers get the "highlight" reel. Money's tight everywhere.--

Nonetheless, to register for at least the short (fun sized) version of the 2010 Launch event, go to http://www.microsoft.com/business/2010events/Highlights.aspx. That's what I did.

Besides, I'm am a little busy writing a book. Maybe I shouldn't spend a whole day away from my desk. Maybe a half day event is perfect for me.

Here's hoping, whichever event you can get to, that it'll be perfect for you too.

So many things, so little time

2010-04-01T15:02:00.001-04:00

Howdy all. You may have noticed there's been little to no action around here. My apologies for that. Since December, I've been revising the "Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" book, now to be called "Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010". To do that so early, I've been working on the beta version.

I was also renewed as a SharePoint Services MVP for this year as you may know (yay!), so I have access to some beta stuff that the average person doesn't have (and I am desperately, desperately grateful, because it helps me with the book).

And because I have access to some stuff that everyone else doesn't-- I can't talk about the stuff I've found, the new stuff I know, and the stuff I think you really need to think about. Thus, the radio (well, blog) silence.

I'm bursting at the seams to talk about SPF, and as soon as I can (if I am not to overwhelmed with the book), I will be posting madly here.

In other news, I was just accepted to work at TechEd this year as a product expert in the SharePoint track. YAY! Last year I also worked a booth, but they assigned me to a track that I wasn't an expert in (although it led me to be qualified to eventually do a Windows Server 2008 R2 firestarter events, so it was all good)-- this year that is not the case.

So if any of you are going to TechEd, please feel free to stop by the Office/SharePoint booths. I'll keep you all informed as to exactly what booth I'll be working. Regardless of which booth, I will likely be outnumbered by SharePoint Server developers and would be grateful to see someone who works with SPF/WSS. : )

I also might be doing a Birds of a Feather session or two. I haven't decided on what I want to talk about, so if you have suggestions, please post them in the comments. : )

Thanks all. Please keep in touch because in a few weeks I'll be able to rant and rave about a lot of things SharePoint Foundations. In addition, I might need to query all readers concerning the book. It's getting so big (with all the new features and changes in the new version) that I might have to cut content because it can't be bound if it has too many pages.

I know, I know, who wants to lose any content? I've been thinking about that too. And what I think I'll do is just put that content that will be pulled here. The catch is, how to decide what you want here and what do you need to have in the book? Stay tuned for more on that as I continue the long, laborious task of writing each chapter (then rewriting them with the release version comes out...).

And finally, a big shout out to my reader reviewers; Bob, Doug, Trudy, Liam, and occasionally John. You have been life savers. Thanks for your support and kind reviews. I appreciate your efforts. The book, should I be the one who finishes it, will be better because of you. : )

Stupid shortcut tricks, or how to get an elevated shortcut to open a command prompt window in the SharePoint root folder on 2008 R2...

2010-02-06T01:36:00.001-05:00

So I'm writing the SPF book, and I always create a shortcut to the SharePoint hive (now called SharePoint root) BIN folder on my SharePoint VM so I can quickly get to STSADM if I need it.

I tried to do so this time (in a hurry and not expecting problems), and I ran across a "known feature" of 2008 R2, where if you create a shortcut for the command prompt, and have it start in the long path to the BIN folder, it will work-- as long as you don't set it to run with elevated privileges (and STSADM won't run in a command prompt, regardless of your login, unless you run it as administrator). If you set the cmd.exe shortcut to run with elevated privileges-- it always only starts in the system32 folder. That's supposed to be safer.

Safer? To specifically open to the system32 folder if you are running an elevated command prompt? Wouldn't it be safer to have an elevated prompt open many other folders than system32?

Am I missing something?

But, regardless of that shortcoming, I still need a quick way to get to the BIN folder from the desktop.

So here's what I did...

...I created a batch file that opens the command prompt to the correct path, then a made a shortcut to that, and set the shortcut to run as administrator.

To do the batch file, I just used notepad, saved the file with the BAT extension (make sure you don't have hide extensions on, or the file will have a hidden TXT extension) - then I typed in notepad:
@echo off
cmd /k cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN"

Then I saved the file and closed it.

Then I made a shortcut of it (right clicked it and selected create shortcut). Then, to set the shortcut to run with elevated privileges, I right clicked it, went to properties on the popup menu. In the dialog box, on the shortcut tab, I clicked the Advanced button, then selected "Run as administrator". then I clicked OK to save the change, and OK again to close.

Now all I've got to do to get a command prompt that is running as administrator and starting in the BIN folder, is double click the shortcut.

Just thought you should know in case it happens to you.

Speaking of email... continued background book stuff

2010-01-15T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody,

Speaking of the VMs and configuring them for the book, there is a pretty big shortcoming to using server 2008 R2 as the OS for the VMs-- No email services. Yup, Server 2003 (and 2003 R2) had built-in SMTP and POP3 capabilities in the form of IIS and a POP3 service that could be enabled.

But with 2008 R2, POP3 support is no longer available. (you've gotta love upgrades that are not an improvement...) Also, let's not forget, a built in email client isn't even supported in Windows 7...

Except I need to be able to demonstrate (and screenshot) alerts and incoming email (and if I do DMS, I need to be able to demo email there as well). What will I do?

Well, I rebel against using anything that costs extra money on these little VMs. They're just for demo purposes, so I don't want to pay for a full email server package when, after the book is done, the VMs are likely to be shutdown and archived, and not used again. Not to mention that I won't really be sending email to anyone from the VMs, heck most of the accounts I create there won't be sending email either. And let's not forget that, as a frugal admin, I already paid for a server. I hesitate to spend more money after that, that's one of the reason's I like SharePoint Foundation (or WSS).

You might think that, because I do have TechNet and MSDN subscriptions, I could install Exchange on one of the VMs as well. That would give me an email server. But have you tried to conserve resources on a laptop running VMs and use Exchange on one of them? Can you imagine how long it takes to start or shutdown a VM running Exchange? Not to mention the fact that, if I included any email server configuration, I'd be implying to the readers that Exchange might be required. Which is exactly not what I want to do.

So, no Exchange.

So, should I roll back to Server 2003? Can't. SPF will only install on Server 2008 or higher. That means, exploring other options.

Free options. Options that take very, very little storage space, RAM, or processor resources. And, they have to be easy to implement and manage-- because I don't have time to waste learning a one time, one use product.

I started with hMail Server (http://www.hmailserver.com/). It didn't work on my DC1 VM no matter what I tried. I'm sure it was just a little configuration glitch that, if I'd had time, I could have fixed. But, it just wasted too much of my time-- so hMail Server was out.

Then I tried SmarterMail, by smartertools (http://www.smartertools.com/). It installed easily, was super easy to set up (once I figured out the obscure configuration button to add users), and it worked flawlessly. No tweaking, no learning curve, no lengthy configuration, no fiddly install requirements.

But, poor SmarterMail is a memory hog. It just kept taking more and more RAM for a server that was to be the leanest of the bunch, the domain controller.

So SmarterMail had to go too.

And then I stumbled up MailEnable, (http://www.mailenable.com/standard_edition.asp). This little program does require some fiddly pre-install steps. It was written more for 2003 than 2008 or later, so you have to add web server role, IIS 6 compatibility, and asp.net support, just to install properly, but that's it.

Once you have it up, it works. It has a webmail interface that actually functions (well after I removed then reinstalled the webmail bits, a single button click btw, from the default web site in IIS, and then rebooted the server), and it even support Active Directory.

Yeah, it actually supports AD authentication and accounts. Most of those free mail server say they do, but don't really work that smoothly with AD. But imagine my surprise when it did actually create a new user in AD based on a user account that was created in the MailEnable admin console. I was stunned, but there you go.

And best yet, MailEnable is taking up very little RAM or hard drive space so far. So I think I found a winner.

And because you're reading this blog, and you're getting the behind the scenes info about the making of the Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 book, even if no screenshots are ever done of the email server on DC1, you will know that, in the background, the author was using MailEnable to do the email for the book. And if anything looks funny, you'll know why. ; P

Oh, and speaking of the screenshots for the book. Anything email related will, more often than not, be shot from the client machine. So what am I going to use for an email client if I like free things that don't take up many resources?

If you thought I was going to do live mail, well, you're out of luck. Thunderbird? Good idea, but it can be slow, clunky, and a bit of a resource hog for just getting and receiving a little email.

Now, a lot you know that I've been using portable apps (http://portableapps.com/) since I started working with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. Money's tight, so I had to make do with everything on one laptop. That means that the machine I'm using for beta testing, presentations, and writing the book are all one machine. If you've been reading my server edition blog, you know that my laptop is running Windows 7 with a 2008 R2 vhd boot. I'm actually writing this blog entry from the 2008 R2 vhd boot. As a matter of fact, I'm spending most of my time on the 2008 R2 partition because it's where all my hyper-v VMs are.

But, that vhd has only about 25GB of storage. That plus the fact that I need that OS to run lean, so all resources go to my VMs, means you can see why I am reluctant to install anything on the OS itself.

Therefore, to have my favorite amenities while I'm logged into the 2008 R2 VHD, I'd have to find them among the portable apps. That and I need them to be free, of course.

To that end I'm running VLC and XMplay for my audio and video needs (and using my fave, Audacity, for recordings, portable version of course). I can also run Firefox portable as well, but I've already got IE on the image, so it's not really a requirement. I just use it for some sites and downloads. I'm using Xnews for NNTP newsreading, but I'm not really crazy about it. Using Lightscreen for screenshots-- that'll work until I actually have to edit them, then I'll probably have to install Snagit or something. Filezilla for FTPing files to and from the publisher for the book. Infrarecorder for burning DVDs (not super crazy about it), Foxit reader for PDFs, and pidgin for IMs (on the very rare occasion I use IM). I'm also experimenting with Open Office portable (particularly Writer) for writing the book. Wiley has some OO templates that I could use, to avoid installing big, bloated, slow Word, but I am spoiled by some of the nice extras Word offers. Darn you Word! ; P

I am using Thunderbird for email, portable version of course. I was also using the calendaring and task support features (task integrated with remember the milk) in Thunderbird, but Thunderbird really, really, really lagged with the add-ons, so I just use it for email and a few newsgroups. Instead, for calendar and tasks I use Rainlendar2. It's a little quirky, but I really like the skins, countdowns, and weather widget. I'll try to post screenshots of my desktop so you can see it-- very HUD (heads up display). All these apps are conveniently used from my portable apps popup menu, nice feature that.

Of course, that brings me back to trying to find a free, skinny email client for my Windows 7 VM for the book. As you know, I've been using Thunderbird (version 3, still in beta but pretty sweet), and I've been trying to find something better than Thunderbird for simple email that is fast, dependable, and portable. So far, my two big contenders are i.scribe (otherwise known as Scribe) and sylpheed. And honestly, I prefer iscribe, with it's pared down simplicity, but that's just personal preference. But both are less heavy and slow than Thunderbird.

So the W7Client VM used for the book will probably have email screenshots from i.scribe.

And now you know, and you know why.

A bit of an insider's view of the making of the Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 book. Just so you know.

Little things about the SPF book

2010-01-15T16:12:00.001-05:00

Howdy all.

I am hard at work on installation chapter of the Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 book. This is only supposed to be a "revision" book, which means that I am supposed to only revise what's in the original Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 book, not rewrite it from scratch. But there's a lot of new stuff in there.

; )

But as you know, there are so many things that are different with this version of SharePoint, that what I am doing is using as much of the old layout, organization (well, whatever is best for the data I have now), etc., as I can, and simply writing from scratch what I can't. So there will be a lot of new things, and maybe some improvements that I wanted to apply to the first book and couldn't, and so on.

I will be using essentially the same domain and server names. I will be primarily working in three, maybe four VMs-- DC1, RR1, SPF1 (or SPF2, depending on where I am in the book-- SPF1 is the standalone install, SPF2 is the complete install), and possibly the W7Client.

The configuration of these VMs are as follows (in case you want to install your own matching lab):

All servers will be running Server 2008 R2 as their OS, and Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit for the client.

DC1-- domain controller (of course) and mail server.
RR1-- RRAS, SQL server 2008, SP1 with CU2 (of course, otherwise SPF is unhappy)
SPF1- WCF hotfix, SPF2010 installer, Standalone install
SPF2- WCF hotfix, SPF2010 installer, Server Farm, Complete install
SPF3- WCF hotfix, SPF2010 installer, Server Farm, Complete install (for load balancing demos)
W7Client- Windows 7 Ultimate, Office 2010, Firefox 3.5 (or higher by the time the book prints)

I may also have an SPF4 to demo a Active Directory Account Creation mode install.

Speaking of ADAC, something I have to think about in the coming months is what was formerly chapter 15, the advanced stuff chapter. I am going to start running out of room in this book, so I may have to omit things that were in the previous version in order to include new features. I am wondering if maybe Directory Management Service (DMS) and ADAC should be omitted in order to include a complete section on Business Data Connectivity and maybe Office Web Apps (depending on how the licensing turns out)?

What do you think? Did a lot of you use DMS with WSS 3.0? How about ADAC? I mean, it was good to know, and no one else was writing about it, but do you need them to be updated and included in the SPF book?

Yay! I got renewed. SharePoint Services MVP 2010

2010-01-01T13:30:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year everybody!

I hope you all had a great holiday season.

I just wanted to touch base and let you all know what's going on.

To start, I am beginning the first chapter of the Mastering SharePoint Foundation 2010 book this weekend/week. I'll be posting regularly to let you know how it's going. For those of you that I begged to help me, there may be emails in the near future with requests as to whether or not I am making sense with this or that, etc.. And for those of you who would like to help me with the book (in a purely voluntary capacity of course, book advances aren't what they used to be), feel free to comment here.

For most of December I was working on a Server 2008 R2 deep dive, Firestarter launch event. It had a lot of live demos and moving parts, and overall was crazy fun to do. If anyone needs a 2008 R2 launch event in their area, I am looking to do that sort of thing at least three times in 2010, so feel free to comment here (or contact my errata account).

It was fun to stop working on SharePoint for a moment and focus on my roots, the Server, for a little while. Especially now that I know more about Branch Caching than I ever expected to, LOL. It also gave me insights into some of the new features of WS08R2 that I otherwise wouldn't have messed with. I know I'll be rolling those new skills right into making the VMs for the book, and will probably find myself using them again and again throughout the year.

On to other news:

As a lot of you know, I was honored with the MVP award in SharePoint Services last year. However, that year was slated for other things, and I was really worried that I would not qualify for renewal this year.

You see, you get an MVP award if you prove you are an expert in a Microsoft product and you do a lot of work supporting the community with that expertise, like newsgroup answers, blogs, wikis, event presentations, podcasts, etc. You earn the award at a certain time, based on the work you did the year (12 months) before, and it's only valid for one year. I'd earned the award in 2009 for work I'd done in 2008 (and to be honest, in 2007 as well).

In order to keep your MVP (in otherwords, to be re-awarded), you have to continue to do community work (for free) throughout your award year.

The award is in effect for only one year (like Miss America). So if you want to be awarded the following year, you need to continue to work for it throughout the year as if you didn't have it yet, sort of working today to have the award tomorrow. And at the end of the year, you need see if what you'd been doing all year long was enough to keep your MVP status. It's sort of a leading game, where the work you did last year gets you an MVP for this year, which you need to work on to get renewed the following year, and so on.

I'd feared, because I was doing less written work, and more presentations, that I would not be renewed.

But, I guess I did enough presenting (about one event a month, ten months out of the year) and other work, to keep my MVP.

Yay!

I know there are folks out there that knew I was worried, and I wanted to reassure them that I will now be able to put that acronym on a book I'm writing for the first time. I am pretty happy about that.

Also, just for those who are interested, the publisher has informed me that the book will list my name as "Callahan" this time as well. Since that's what I go by, not "CA", it is a welcome change, and I look forward to seeing it. It's not often that a publisher will let you put a name on the cover that's only one word. So here's hoping it looks okay. : )

So that's my news for now. Currently I'm exploring what Business Data Connectivity (formerly Business Data Catalog) can actually do in SharePoint Foundations (WSS 4). It's been introduced in this version of SharePoint for the first time, with limitations. I am, of course, exploring what those limitations are, and we can do with what parts of BDC we do get. It's been a bit of an adventure, and I'll probably be writing a note or two about it soon.

And in other news-- SharePoint public beta has, well, gone public...

2009-11-18T16:44:00.002-05:00

In a somewhat anticlimactic state of affairs, after all the hoopla of the public beta being released to TechNet/MSDN customers first, Microsoft sent out the email invitation to download the new beta to the many, many (thousands and thousands of?) people who signed up for the beta a while ago.

So congratulations, those of you who applied to be in the SharePoint public beta, the bits are available for download. And also, congrats because you are going to get to play with the new beta without spending the money a subscription to TechNet/MSDN would have cost you.

That appeals to the frugal admin in me.

(unfortunately, I'd already renewed my TechNet subscription...)

Welcome to the beta adventure! I spend a lot of time doing beta testing, and it's nice to know, at least this time, I am not alone. : )

In the coming months I will be writing about things and stuff concerning SharePoint Foundation 2010. Feel free to visit and even suggest things that you've found that might need a closer look.

SharePoint Server 2010 beta 2 is available on Technet/MSDN- but where's SharePoint Foundation?...

2009-11-18T12:22:00.005-05:00

You may have noticed that I have been really quiet about the release of the SPF 2010 beta 2 to the public. This is because, as an MVP, I have under NDA not to peep about it until today-- even though the bits were actually made available on TechNet/MSDN for those with a subscription since Monday.

Now for those of you who might have a subscription (like I do), you might've been looking for the link to download SharePoint Foundations 2010 to mess with it and see what has changed, and more importantly, what has been taken away.

You might have gone to the site (TechNet or MSDN, name your poison), selected Downloads, and looked for SharePoint Foundation 2010 under servers-- only to find it missing.

Check it out, you'll see (unless MS changes it) I'm right.

Early in the evening on Monday, November 16th, 2009, SharePoint Foundation 2010 was listed under Servers to download from TechNet or MSDN, as is posted by Jan Tielens SharePoint 2010 Public Beta Available on MSDN. However, that is now not where the download bits for SharePoint Foundation 2010 are located anymore.

SharePoint Foundation-- the product, meant to be installed on the server that is the foundation of the SharePoint Server 2010 product-- is now to be found under Applications, just like SharePoint Designer.

So if you are looking to download SharePoint Foundation 2010 beta 2, go to Applications or Updated Products on the left side of the screen, and scroll. It will be listed right beneath SharePoint Designer (sigh).

Or you can do what I did, and do a search among the products. Regardless, you will find SPF 2010 listed somewhere other than with SharePoint Server 2010.

Think Microsoft's trying to tell us something?

Content Editor Web Parts, Standard Personal Views, and lists don't work together, Or "Something Sandy discovered..."

2009-10-26T16:15:00.025-04:00

I started tweeting in July, to celebrate the SharePoint Saturday Baltimore event. Around July 28th, I noticed a tweet by a nice lady in my neighborhood named Sandy Ussia saying she was having a problem with List Views. I checked it out and discovered she's right.

Here's what happened.

She wanted to create a personal view on a list in SharePoint. In that personal view, she wanted to add a content editor web part.

But when she created a personal view of a list and then edited the page so she could add a content editor web part, things went wobbly. The list itself disappeared from the page and the content editor web part could not be edited. If you left edit mode on that view-- the page would be empty.

It happened for her, it happened for me, it was crazy. It didn't empty all the time, only if you edited the page and tried to add a content editor web part from the Site Actions menu. If you edited the page in personally, from the Welcome Menu, it would keep the list view web part, but would never, ever, ever, no matter what you did, let you add that content editor web part.

Let me show you,

I decided to simply work with the easy and ubiquitous "Announcements" list, but it seems just about any list will do.

I went to the Announcements list, showing the standard "all items" view.

I then clicked on the View drop down and selected Create View. I then selected Standard View as my type of view.

On the create view page, I named the view (MyView1) and set it to be a personal view. I kept the default fields and settings for the demo, the important part is that it's personal, and clicked OK.

And, unsurprisingly, ended up back on the list page, in my new view.

I then went to edit that view so I could add a content editor web part (otherwise known affectionately as the CEWP). Now there are two ways to get into edit mode on this page, from under Site Settings, or under the Welcome menu, Personalize this page. But when I try to edit it in Shared View, the list view web part disappears-- which makes sense, since the view is private. Therefore, to edit this page, I am using the Welcome menu, Personalize this page.

In edit mode, click on Add a web part.

In the Add web parts list, scroll down and select Content Editor Web Part and click Add.

Back on the List page, you'll see that now you can edit the CEWP that you just added.

Click on the link in the new web part so you can you can open the tool pane and start editing the content editor web part. Keep in mind that at this point the new web part has absolutely nothing in it, so of course you'd want to add data...

...but when you do, you'll get an error saying you can't edit the web part you just added (and the list view web part might disappear right then)-- "The web part you attempted to change is either invalid or has been removed by another user.". If you try to exit edit mode, or refresh, like it says in the tool pane, it drops out of edit mode and the CEWP just goes away as if you didn't try to add it.

If you try to edit it using Site Actions, edit page, the list itself goes away and you are left with an empty page that doesn't even have a list view box to click on (although I have a very battered install, so that might not happen to everyone).

(what I did to get out of that, was go to the Welcome menu, and select Show personal view. Then, in that view, since the view list showed up, I went back to all items...)

It looks to be a pretty bad bug, and one no one else seems to even think about (I wonder if it'll be in the 2010 version?).

You've been warned. To recap-- don't try adding a content editor web part to a standard, personal view of a list.

Thanks Sandy.

(and you may have noticed a sudden rise in posts, particularly about past things. Well, my health's been a little sketchy, so while I'm okay, I'm trying to catch up. Expect more, especially as I do more with SPF 2010 when the next beta build comes out)

A little something I'd forgotten- addtemplates. (when you absolutely positively have to have that template handy...)

2009-10-26T11:30:00.015-04:00

So, I've travelled all over the US doing presentations about WSS 3.0, and particularly things that stretch the boundaries of the out of the box capabilities of WSS without spending a penny.

One of the sessions is a follow up about creating a site template out of the nifty site that had been modified and made more useful in the previous sessions. It showed the pros and cons about site templates, some of the things that need to be considered, etc..

Now when you create a site template, it is made into a template file, or package, with the file extension .stp. Site templates were meant to be added to particular site collections where you'd like the template to be available.

Therefore, it stands to reason that site templates would not normally be available to be used for the first and top level site of a site collection-- because the site collection must already have a top level site in the site collection to have a site collection gallery to put the .stp file in.

However, there is a work around.

Did you know that you could use the "STSADM -o addtemplate" operation to allow any site template to be available as a top level template? Yup. Not only that, but if there is a site template you'd just like to have available everywhere without having to add it to each site collection's gallery, addtemplate is your friend.

It is a farmwide, or global operation, meaning that the template is added to the farm and is available for every web application and every site collection within those web apps. So top level to bottom most subsite, the template would be available.

To add a site template to the farm so it will be available everywhere, including to be applied to top level sites, use the STSADM -o addtemplate command (here's the command syntax and parameters):

STSADM -o addtemplate -filename -title -description

So, in my case I'd like to add the User Group Edition site template from the SharePoint Community Kit from Codeplex (codeplex makes free stuff for the community). I've always liked that site, for numerous reasons, but have not liked that, to use it, I needed it to be a subsite of an existing site collection. I'd like to take that .stp file and make it available as the first site in a site collection I can dedicate to a user group.

So first I, moved the stp file to my C: drive for easy access. Then I opened a command prompt and navigated to the bin folder in the 12 hive where STSADM is kept.

Then I typed in the STSADM command that would add the user group edition template I like so much (cks_uge_1.0.stp) to the global templates available for the whole farm. I am also going to add a title (remember the title) and description (remember that, for the sake of this demonstration, I put the template in the root of the drive):

STSADM -o addtemplate -filename "c:\cks_uge_1.0.stp" -title "User Group Site" -description "User Group Edition site template"

After running the command I was prompted to do an IISRESET, which I did (I like doing iisreset /noforce, but that's just me).

Now that the template has been added globally to the farm, I can create a site collection in any web application within the farm and the template will be there. That means that I can apply the User group edition template to the first site in a collection.

To delete a template you only have to specify the title:

STSADM -o deletetemplate -title "User Group Site"

Somethings to note-- don't delete a site template that's being used, it can cause issues. Don't delete a site template and then try to add it back-- it can cause errors as well.

Over all, measure twice, cut once. Only add templates you don't intend on ever removing, and remove them with caution.

I also rather like the simple little timecard template that Microsoft offers as part of it's Fantastic 40 templates. I often add it to site collections so I can tack it on to demos and examples as I go.

To avoid having to keep adding the file to each site collection's gallery (and having to remember which site collection already had it), I just did an add template with it:

STSADM -o addtemplate -filename "c:\apptemplates\timecardmanagement.stp" -title timecard -description "Site to track hours and tasks"

After that (and an IISreset) I could easily go to any web application on the farm, and any site collection in those web apps, and easily select the template to apply to any subsite (or top site for that matter) that I wish.

If you ever need to check to see what templates you've added to the farm, you can do:

STSADM -o enumtemplates

Which will show you what templates you have available (this screenshot, like the one above, is from a similar deployment, but it's not identical, the UGE template is "UGE" here and not "User group site", for those of you watching closely).

I want to give a shout out to Mario Fulton (who is a Microsoft Certified Master in SharePoint 2007), out of Columbus, who so kindly mentioned adding templates globally after attending one of my sessions at a Columbus. I had totally and completely forgotten about it. He was a kind and generous guy, who was extraordinarily gracious in mentioning the command (which, among other things, I didn't have time to talk about), rather than shouting it out during an already busy session and playing stump the speaker.

Interestinger and interestinger...

2009-10-21T11:39:00.003-04:00

A few posts ago I'd listed a few of my disappointments about SharePoint 2010. In particular I'd mentioned that SharePoint Templates Packages, or .stp files-- the file type for list and site templates, would no longer be supported in SharePoint 2010. And how, obviously, that would leave those of us with custom site templates, and the 20 Fantastic 40 templates from Microsoft itself, in jeopardy.

Well, I happened to be monitoring the End User SharePoint live coverage twitter feed for the SharePoint Conference because I am not happy about missing all that critical info because I'm not there, and I came across a link to a blog post about one of the sessions. The presenter of the session was none other than Laura Brown, who is Product Manager of SharePoint over at Microsoft. Listed in the blog post was an intriguing sentence:

"The Fantastic 40 templates will be fully upgradable to SharePoint 2010"

Hmmm, does that mean all of the templates (since half of them are already .wsp or "solutions packages" and therefore supported by default in the upcoming version of SharePoint), including .stp's? I am hoping so, because that means that all of the custom templates I use for my book and my presentations will be portable. Hundreds and hundreds of list items won't have to be painstakingly remade, custom views, fields, lists, libraries, and more, all safe to import into a bold new world...

...Well, at least into a new install of SharePoint 2010, and ready to be presented to a new audience in the future.

So for Liam and the other attendees of my sessions of the last year, here's hoping that Laura is saying that, somehow, .stp files, and those who made them, won't be abandoned come SharePoint 2010's release date.

You can see the blog entry I am referring to here.

Want to get your hands on the SharePoint 2010 beta?

2009-10-20T15:01:00.002-04:00

Howdy all,

I've had access to the early, early beta 1 bits of SharePoint 2010 (and of course, focused on WSS, or "SharePoint Foundation") since early this summer.

But, just like you (I know, kind of ironic), I've been waiting for the Beta 2 bits to become available for me to play with (and write books based on). For some reason, only TAP participants (Microsoft's Technical Adoption Program-- only available to large, large early adopting businesses), have gotten any of the more recent (ie, actually working) bits. This means that MVPs are in the same boat as the general public when it comes to getting to work with the most recent beta release of SharePoint 2010.

The beta 2 release is basically considered "feature complete." I have been given to believe that this means that all the features of the release version of SP2010 are there, however, it may not be as snappy, resource lean, or, well, functional, as the release version (c'mon, it's a beta).

If you would like to sign up to get a copy of the SharePoint 2010 beta 2 release, you can sign up here http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/try-it/Pages/Trial.aspx.

Good luck. : )

SharePoint Conference, SharePoint 2010, and more...

2009-10-19T15:58:00.006-04:00

Howdy all,

I had to take a brief break from blogging due to health issues, both mine and my equipment unfortunately. But I am back now, with a vengence, lol.

So, to start, SharePoint 2010.

I didn't get to go to the big, sold out SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas this year, but I did get to see the keynote, and have had access to the beta bits since earlier this summer. However, I was not allowed to tell you about the new version of SharePoint until today.

Today, timed to coincide with the SharePoint conference, the Non-Disclosure agreement against talking about SharePoint 2010 has been lifted.

A few points, just to give you a taste.

The new version of Windows SharePoint Services, what would have been WSS 4.0, is now been rebranded as "SharePoint Foundation 2010." No one has absolutely promised me that, with this rebranding, it will remain to be free. I will keep you posted.
Like Server 2008 R2-- SharePoint will not be available in 32 bit. In otherwords, SharePoint only comes in the 64 bit version. So if you haven't upgraded your current 32 bit systems (hey, don't fix what ain't broke, right?), you can't upgrade to the 2010 version of SharePoint.
SharePoint Foundation 2010 (or what I'm going to call SPF) will offer lots of new things, and take away some old, beloved things. They've made home pages of team site automatically wiki pages-- and removed the option to have a wiki site out of the box. Active Directory Account Creation mode and Directory Management Services are still supported (much to my surprise).
Currently there is no longer a Site template gallery at the top of each site collection. STP files are no longer supported. So all those cool site templates you've created (or downloaded from Microsoft)? Not gonna fly with SPF 2010. Now, site templates are packaged as "solutions." We'll see if there is going to be any support for converting STP's to WSPs, as time goes by.
There is a new site template out of the box (oob) for SPF, Groupboard. This site template is very much like a team site template, only it's focused, it seems, on tasks that a receptionist or administrative assistant might need to do to manage a team. I'll be showing that to you soon.
Some Business Data Catalog capabilities have been surfaced for this version of WSS (I mean SPF). Also, the limited data analysis features have been broadened with the Health analyzer and better monitoring.
File/document management has some improvements, like Documents sets (something else I'll be showing you at some point).

Things I am not thrilled about:

The ribbon. Now it takes three or more clicks to do what I could with one thanks to the new, context sensitive Ribbon. With SPF, instead of clicking on the link for the document library, and while the page is barely finished loading, clicking new, you now have to wait for the page to load, the tabs to be drawn, to click on the document tab, wait for that ribbon to populate, then click on another link to start a new document.
Although STSADM is still going to be supported, MS is throwing everything into PowerShell. That means that there are, apparently, 500 new cmdlets (command-lets) for managing SharePoint in PowerShell. However, when I've used PowerShell to do things, it's much, much harder to do. We'll see what comes of that as the release data for SPF approaches. I don't have high hopes though.

And for those of you going for certification, well, that's 500 more things to learn.

Edited to add another change to SharePoint that I really don't like with this next version--- The WID,windows internal database, or SSEE, SQL Server Embedded Edition, will not be what SPF installs if you use a Basic, single server installation. Nope-- SPF is taking a step backwards and going to use SQL Express for the database if you do a single server, basic install. I guess the WID worked too well and was valid competition for SQL? So for those of you using WSS 3.0 in a basic configuration-- and database size could be an issue-- do not upgrade. Don't even think about it, unless you want to invest in new hardware, software, and licenses to go full SQL Server. I've been mad about that for a while now, and had to get it off my chest. (that and not supporting all those Site Templates I've made, and taught people how to make, over the years)

Beyond the SPC conference, I am also prepping for two SharePoint Saturdays: One in Cleveland Ohio, Nov. 14, and one in Richmond, Virginia on Nov. 21. And, as I have been doing for months, I am still trying to find a venue in which to present the TTT content for a Windows Server 2008 R2 FireStarter event (right now a possibility in Pittsburgh on Dec. 9th).

That's it for now. More later. : )

SharePoint Saturday, Baltimore continued

2009-07-30T14:07:00.003-04:00

As promised, I've got my presentation slides (in PDF) for the Frugal Admin Series: Session two- How to create a Dashboard (without code or SharePoint Designer) available temporarily for download. The session was intended to be about an hour in length.

SharePoint Saturday, Baltimore

2009-07-28T23:04:00.004-04:00

I finished my adventures in Baltimore over the weekend and wanted to give a shout out to the wonderful organizers, attendees, and fellow speakers. I had a great time and, once again, the SharePoint Saturday audience was the best audience ever. I wish I had had more time to teach more stuff. I'm really greatful for all the appreciation they showed for the work I was doing. It makes all those hours prepping content worth it.

Speaking of content, please stop back in a day or two as I will have (until it's posted on the SharePoint Saturday Baltimore site) the slides for the Dashboards session available for download. It'll be in PDF form, ready to be read like a tips and tricks, recipe book for my faithful attendees.

Thanks again for attending. In the future, barring unforeseen circumstances, I expect to be presenting at the DC, New York, Cleveland/Columbus, and Pittsburgh SharePoint Saturdays. I wanted to give you all a heads up, as the Baltimore event filled up 12 hours after registration opened.

Also, for those of you who end up wait-listed. There ended up being less people that expected by mid-day in Baltimore. Now the mechanism for keeping track varies by site, but for those of you waiting to see if you can get in on the day of the event-- if you're turned away in the morning, check back later, there may be an opening for you then. I felt really bad that there were people from my area that wanted to go, but stayed away because they weren't sure the drive would be worth being locked out anyway.

And for those of you who have never attended a SharePoint Saturday-- these events (as I listed under the Happenin' Things heading in the right column of this blog) are FREE for attendees. They are put together and offered by volunteers in locations all over the US, as well as abroad. Check out http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/ for more about all the events going on.

IF you find an event that you plan on attending-- register as soon as possible, because they are filling up as more people know they're happening. The sessions vary by location (depending on what presenters can attend). Methods concerning wait-listing, registering, location types, etc., also vary per site- so check that site's website for real details about the event.

The vast majority (if not all) of the presenters are MVPs, so the quality of these sessions is top notch. These things are not some cheesy, marketing oriented, low quality shlock. This is serious, grassroots, community oriented, free information sharing from those of us in the community who know SharePoint and believe that you should know it too. There's developer stuff, admin stuff, power user stuff, etc., depending on who's speaking there. Always check the particular SharePoint Saturday site's sessions to see what's happening that you'd like to learn.

And please remember, we the speakers are offering our services for free, at our own expense, at these events. We're are doing this for you between our day jobs and other commitments. So if you like what we're doing, please let us know. It's what makes it worth it, and encourages us to do it again at the next location. : )

BTW-- I started Twittering (is that the right word?) especially for the Baltimore event, but plan to keep twittering for all events I work from now on. If you'd like to follow me, my Twitter username is: cacallahan.

Some sneak peek info about the next version of SharePoint, SharePoint 2010

2009-07-13T11:49:00.004-04:00

This morning Microsoft posted some preview info about SharePoint 2010 on their SharePoint site: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx. This site has several videos, one for a general overview, one for IT Pros, and one for Developers. In addition, there's data on what kind of specs the new SharePoint will need.

What isn't covered, and this isn't surprising, is what exactly will be in the new Server edition, and what will be available in good old SharePoint Services 2010.

As far as details, well, they're being held of until October, for the SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas. Apparently, it's at that event that SharePoint 2010 is really going to be unveiled.

Now, I can send in abstracts for the event and possibly speak there. However, I am not sure what people would like to see. So if you've got ideas for sessions, questions about the new version of SharePoint Services that might be a good session topic, or otherwise think it's a good idea for me to present at that event, please let me know. : ) I've been spending the summer doing Frugal Admin stuff, and could use some brainstorming.

A few SharePoint-y things going on

2009-07-11T19:53:00.005-04:00

I've got two things going on this month involving my sessions that I thought you might want to know about:

1-- The SSWUG folks are rebroadcasting every, single session I've ever done for them (including the ones that are not my favorites, lol). If you're interested (and you are/or want to become a member of that online SQL user group), the sessions will be streamed essentially back to back on the 22nd and 23rd of this month (July 2009). I'll be there for the live chats if you'd like to come visit. To see what those sessions are, check out their blurbs in the "Happenin' things" section of this blog on the right of the page.

(Some inside knowledge for my readers, the frugal admin series of sessions were done this year. The camera set up in the "new" studio was a bit awkward for me, but otherwise I was pretty well rested, familiar with the situation, and healthier. However, for the sessions that are being repeated from 2008, I wasn't so lucky. I was completely new to talking to a camera in an otherwise empty room, had a bit of food poisoning that day, and was suffering from a touch of undiagnosed clinical hypothyroidism (it's since been taken care of, but at the time I was struggling to do the hours and hours of presentation in the new environment). The first presentation of that set (and still my favorite content to do, ever) was about exploring (and exploiting) the free templates available online at Codeplex and Microsoft (namely the fantastic 40 templates). Since then I have expanded that session for the frugal admin series to include a bunch of nifty free tools... but I digress. That freebie session, as it were, is the best of the 2008 sessions, because it was the first one. After that I was so completely exhausted I was grey. So if you'd like to see me working under duress, feel free to stop by and check out those additional 2008 sessions... ; )

2-- On July 25th, I'll be in Baltimore (actually at the UMBC training center, 1442 South Rolling Road in Halthrope Maryland) at the free SharePoint Saturday event, presenting the Dashboards session of the Frugal Admin series. I am not sure exactly when my session will be that day, but I am hoping it'll be in the afternoon, for those of you wanting to drive up and check it out. I'll be giving away a free copy of my book (I only have three copies for giveaway there)-- and, of course, I'll be glad to sign it for you. This is a live and in person event, at no cost to you (except for travel), so if you can make it, I'd love to see you there.

In August I hope to have more time to finish creating the fall and winter Frugal Admin sessions. This will also be the time I put the spring sessions to pasture and offer them for free on my site (making those videos will take some time, so they'll be up no earlier than the end of the month). So stay tuned, this busy summer should soon be winding down, which will give me more time to post things here (and I do have all kinds of ideas).

Post TechEd stuff

2009-06-27T12:05:00.005-04:00

Howdy all!

My apologies for not posting sooner, but once again, my life has gotten busier than a fox in a crowded hen house. Since January, I've been travelling to conferences and summits every month (sometimes, several times a month). Recently I did SharePoint Saturday in DC, May 2nd. Then, two weeks later, went to LA for TechEd, then a week and a half after that, I went to London for two weeks. So I have been busy, away from my computer, and distracted. My apologies, gentle reader, if you felt neglected. I've been thinking of you, when I had the rare moment available for contemplation.

To start-- TechEd.

Well, I got some training on Sunday, the day before the event actually started (although there were some pre-conference sessions going on). I had to register to get a conference pass to be allowed into all the rooms I needed to access.

Normally, during registration, the attendees (and volunteer staff) get their goodies for the event; t-shirt, bag, pen, etc. This year, for some reason, the staff were given the bag, with the event catalog, some junk mail type stuff, advertisements for exhibitors, exhibitor contest stuff, etc., but no event T-shirt. Yeah, expensive bag, but no collectible Tee. Supposedly they did that to save money, but I'm not seeing it.

I also got to go to the pre-event MVP stuff. I didn't know that MVPs got a little extra training, like MCTs, during the event. That was really nice. Thanks guys.

Now, for those of you that had been following my story, getting to go to TechEd was a bit of a rollercoaster ride for me. I had originally applied to work the event as an MCT, as I have been doing for years. Last year I had been assigned to work in the Certification area of the conference (both weeks, whew). I'd had misgivings because I had dedicated so much time to Windows SharePoint Services (both 2.0 and 3.0) in the past years that I'd fallen behind on the Certification front. I did some work prior to the event to learn how certifications had changed in the interim, what they meant, etc. It turned out that I *loved* the certification area. The attendees were really cool, and I really felt like I was truly being helpful. It made the time I was working fly by. So this year, on the application, I flatly requested to be assigned to Certification. I'd also worked the MCT booth, but I just didn't feel as helpful there and were prefer to do Certification again.

Well, guess what? They cut the entire certification part of the conference for "budgetary reasons." Thus, my application was rejected. Maybe I shouldn't have been so adamant about really only wanting to work in that area, lol.

For the first time in years, I wasn't going to qualify to go to TechEd (and no, I really couldn't afford to simply go out of pocket).

Then I got an opportunity to apply as an MVP. I'd never done that before (obviously, since I was awarded for the first time this year), and had assumed that, since I was applying as an MVP, I'd be assigned work that applied to my area of expertise. I was really looking forward to it, if I was accepted, because I'd be able to talk to people all day for five days about SharePoint.

And, surprise, surprise, I was accepted! Yay!

Then I read the fine print. It appeared that I was chosen (rather late in the game as well, maybe I was a third round pick?) based on some secondary stuff I could do with the server (I had coauthored some Server stuff for Mark Minasi, Vista with David Pogue, travelled around the US doing presentations on server security and deployment for years, and beta tested all the server OS's since 2003).

So I wasn't going to be talking about SharePoint Services with anyone at TechEd, officially. Apparently, they didn't need me for that. Instead, I was going to be working a booth the Windows Server area.

I, of course, needed some additional information, as I've never done that particular job at TechEd before, concerning what exactly I'd need to do; responsibilities, expectations of the attendees concerning the booth's content, etc.,. It turned out that, out of all the booths there, I had to pick which one I was qualified for-- of course, that means I needed to know what all the booths were about. Unfortunately (and those of you who attended know what I'm talking about), the titles of the booths didn't really tell me what they specifically were going to cover, and I couldn't seem to find anyone who could give me any help in that regard.

Even more unfortunately, during the time in which I was trying to get this information, was also the time of the big layoff of Microsoft employees before TechEd (very bad timing in my opinion). The long and short of that story being, I ended up at a booth that required me to know everything new about Windows Server 2008 R2, but I really didn't know that until I showed up.

**Did I mention that all I've been doing since the summer of 2006 was SharePoint Services? I mean, yeah, I had beta'd 2008 (I was on the 2008 R2 beta, but couldn't spend a lot of time on it), and could install WSS on it, but really I was doing SharePoint all the time.**

So there I was, Monday morning, bright and early, standing at my booth, desperately learning everything I could about 2008 R2 (Huge shout out to Joey Snow, who wasted his valuable time loading demos on my booth computer and giving me content to learn), and, because it'd been a pet peeve of mine before the event even started, what each booth on the conference floor did.

It turned out that most of the Server booths at the conference covered most of what you needed to know about 2008 R2 (except security, because, strangely, the security people kept sending attendees to my booth), but there seemed to be no coherent idea as to where all that knowledge was actually located. There was no map of what topic was covered where for the sake of the attendees or staff, until I made one (hand scrawled on some sheets of notebook paper). So my booth ended up covering the following information:

-- Windows SharePoint Services administration (yes, attendees, despite my incognito location, still found me to ask questions, bless their hearts. Big thank you to them for making my week)
-- Active Directory Recycle Bin (my fave!)
-- Power Management (cool, Mark Minasi mentioned some things that you can do at the command line that are nifty)
-- Directions to the correct booth when attendees where led to my booth with questions no one else seemed able answer (the answer is out there, it's just a matter of finding the expert in the sea of people).

I did a lot of directing. I also had particular moments of fun, like when an attendee, who wandered by the first day, ended up helping me read the several pages of directions when I went through the Active Directory Recycle bin demo for the first time. We learned together, and that was fun. Every time after that that I did the demo, I thought of him. Thanks, whoever you were, for your patience and support.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time that week doing nothing but server 2008 R2. It was fun. It gave me something to think about besides SharePoint. It also gave me ideas about SharePoint on 2008 R2 (okay, I really couldn't completely stop thinking about SharePoint). It also gave me a real, in the trenches, look at R2's Hyper-V.

Also, during the conference, thanks to meeting Joey Snow, I got exposed to something called "Firestarter events." Firestarter events are community focused (meaning free, and underfunded, think user group), driven by the speaker, who wants to present, essentially first look content, to the people in their area. The speaker, such as myself, would have to find a venue, get the word out to the community, maybe some sponsors, etc., as well as have the equipment to run the demonstrations.

I really want to do a Firestarter event in my area on 2008 R2 using the demos I had at my booth. I think it'd be fun, interesting, and really educational for my neighbors. My hometown isn't what you'd call tier one in Microsoft's eyes, and because of that we tend not to get the big launch events here. It'd be nice to do something for my peers that feels like an important pre-release event just for them.

Mind you, it's not SharePoint, but while I am waiting to get my hands on the beta for the next SharePoint release (yes, sadly, I still have bupkiss in terms of a beta look, and I'm a SharePoint Services MVP), I could be doing something else for the community. You know, still keep my fingers in the pie, technology and community-wise, in the interim.

One of the big things that would make or break my being able to do a Firestarter event, is if I have equipment that can run the pre-made, Microsoft official, Virtual Machines set up specifically for the Firestarter demos. If I can't run them on anything I own (and I am not ready to buy anything else this year), then I can't do the event.

That's why I've spent the last week installing Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 on my Macbook Pro. I needed to see if I could do it, how it ran, and if I could run Hyper-V well enough to do the Firestarter demos.

And of course, being me, I documented everything I did in my other blog, Adventures of a Servergrrl-- the Server Edition, over at msn spaces (or is called Live Spaces now, I can't keep track). So if you want to see what I've been so busy with that I wasn't writing here, or if you'd really like to see what it's like to install Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 straight up on a Macbook Pro, check it out there.

** I decided to put all that elsewhere, since it's not really a SharePoint thing. I used to have one blog with everything in it, but it got kind of unwieldy, containing virtualization, server, SharePoint, and miscellaneous stuff. So I broke it out, for the sake of the audience, into topics. Thus there's a WSS blog, a Server blog, and a miscellaneous, personal stuff blog.**

Bottom line, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 do support EFI, meaning it will load and boot on an intel based Mac. There is a trick to getting the Windows 7 64bit or Server 2008 R2 disc to boot on the mac (it's a bug in the way the iso was made, not a flaw in the OS itself), but it all works... well except for some 64 bit drivers, but that's to be expected. Hyper-V is also easily supported as well.

I'll let you know if I do get to do any firestarter stuff (and let me know if you're local Microsoft office or user group might want me to travel to your area to do demos).

Now, on to SharePoint stuff.

I will be in Baltimore on July 25th (well, I'll actually be getting there the 24th, and leaving the 26th, but anywho) to do a SharePoint Saturday event. I'll be doing an hour long, basically standalone version of the "How to create your own dashboards," which is the second session in of the Frugal Admin series. I did the third session "How to create your own custom site template" in DC in May, so if you caught that and wanted to see the drill down as to some of how the site got to be customized before you made the site template, stop on by.

Check the "Happenin' Things" widget on the right side of this blog for details about the event as I get them (like exact times, address of venue, etc.).

After that I am hoping to have some downtime to catch up on doing blog things (I have so much stuff to podcast, vcast, and blog about that's WSS related it's not funny). I am also working on the next three sessions in the Frugal Admin series.

So please stay tuned, as I continue my servergrrl adventures.

TechEd 2009

2009-05-10T12:38:00.004-04:00

So I made it to TechEd this year. It was touch and go up to the last moment, so my apologies for not telling you I was going sooner.

Nonetheless, I'm here. I'll be working in the Windows Server area if you'd like to stop by.

Los Angelos, so far, is pretty cloudy, kind of cool (temps in the 60's) and ironically not that much different, except for the smog, than when I visited Seattle last March. The event is supposed to be smaller this year, according to rumor, reflecting the current economy, but I can't wonder if it's also because of the location of the venue. Nothing against LA, but for those who were hoping for New Orleans, well, it's hard to compare.

If there are any SharePoint related adventures to be had, I'll keep you all posted.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T14:00:00.005-04:00

Howdy everyone!

It's Earth Day today, http://www.earthday.gov/, and in a bit of interesting timing, it's also the first day of the SharePoint VConference (virtual conference) over at the SSWUG site: https://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring09/sharepoint/.

Participating in virtual events are a great way to be green, as you save money on travel, hotel, wear and tear on your luggage, clothing, you, etc.

This time, for this vconference, I did sessions concerning getting the most out of WSS, seeing as many of us (all of us?) need to be able to stretch our time and dollars as far as we can. The sessions start with exploring the built-in web parts available with WSS. The point of the session, for me, was to give you an idea as to what's available in order to have you consider how useful they can be for you. Exploring, very, very quickly, the settings, views, zones, and configuration of the web parts. In addition, I have to admit that I was also focusing on getting the audience to understand web parts so they can use them for dashboards.

Why? Because the second session took those web parts, well at least the list view and content editor web parts, and make them into dashboards. I created two dashboards, one for users and one for management, during the session, securing them as well, then added them to the quick launch. Part of what I was doing with the dashboards was preparing you for the idea of having the resources of a site self-contained in that site.

Why? Because the final session was how, after setting up nice web parts and good dashboards, you can create a template out of the site itself. So it helps to show you how and why, first hand, centralized resources are useful in a site.

The final session, of course, covers how to create a site template out of the site used in the previous two sessions. It starts with what to consider, self-references, how to maximize the size limit for templates, how to create the site template, how to apply a site template, and then how to check to see if it really works and how to tweak it to be appropriate in the new place. I focus in particular as to what you might want to do with a site template, and what to worry about.

(and, because I had one minute and thirty seconds left, I tossed in a "contact us" page and showed an example of using google maps in the content editor web part by using the source editor-- just for those who stuck it out for all three sessions)

Now, for you, my dear readers, I will give you some insights into the sessions from my view, behind the scenes. Last time I recorded vconference sessions, I was really, really nervous and was suffering from a bit of food poisoning (had to eat at an airport on the way there...). This time, I had some real problems on the flight there (lost luggage, delayed flights, then cancelled flights, then a really, really late arrival-- 3 am my time), didn't get to sleep until 5am my time.

Needless to say, I was pretty groggy while at the studio. Sigh.

For the session slides, I was torn. I could have a few graphic filled slides and all demos, or I could have text that could be used as notes so attendees could use them later and a lot of demos. I went for word filled slides, and simply stated that I wouldn't be reading them all during the session, just hitting the highlights. I did try to go over as many as I could to a certain extent, but I also did simply do much of the content, then just gave some slides a mention.

Also, I was really afraid, because I was going to be going so fast to build web parts, dashboards, then site templates, that I was going to lose the more inexperienced viewers. So I might've gone too slow during the explanation portion of the session (tell them what you're going to do, tell them/show them how to do it, tell them what you did). If so, please forgive me, dear readers, I meant well. ; P

Finally, my big issue is, I am used to presenting exactly 1, 1.5, 3, or 6 hour sessions. For this vconference, I had fifty minutes. That's it. I lost ten minutes out of my carefully crafted Frugal Admin content.

And it did kick my butt a little. But, I tried to avoid compromising the content as much as I could.

So now you know, this is where I was while doing my sessions for this conference. I was exhausted, distracted by the truncated time, worried about not giving enough backstory so the attendees could follow along, worried about pacing (because of the loss of the ten minutes and my exhausted habit of rambling-- made worse when I am alone in a room instead of having a live audience), and determined to give you as much hands on proof of what works and what it looks like as I could.

If you want to see what I am talking about, my session are going to be broadcast tomorrow, Weds., April 23rd, 2009. If you are interested, feel free to register (not free, but pretty cheap) for the vconference at http://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring09/sharepoint/. Feel free to use my tell-a-friend code VCTAF502105-0, or the discount code SPVCCASP09. Keep in mind that you can also sign up for the on-demand feature, meaning you can download the videos to see review later.

Another thing to keep in mind concerning sessions you've downloaded, is you can pause and rewind the video so if, during the live session, there was a bit that went too fast, with the on-demand version, download it, and rerun the session, pause where you need it.

Just a thought. : )

Happy Earth Day everybody!!

Okay, NOW the book is on Safari

2009-04-02T19:02:00.004-04:00

I've been recovering from the flu for the last several weeks (man, that fatigue never seems to go away...), so I've been a bit behind in keeping up with my emails.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from Safari Books Online saying that my book is live on their site.

So, with great fanfare I would like to report that my book, "Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" has been available on Safari Online, http://www.safaribooksonline.com/, since the 26th of March (meaning it's definitely there now).

If you've been looking for it, feel free to use this link: http://techbus.safaribooksonline.com/9780470127285.

Safari books online offers digitized versions of technical books for use as part of a subscription service. In some cases, depending on the publisher, the books can be downloaded in part or whole.

So for those of you looking for a digital version of the book, this might be the place for you.

As for those of you that simply wanted to buy my book in PDF format directly from Amazon or Wiley-- well, the publisher still can't seem to figure out what happened with the digital version of the book...

...Meanwhile, the people over at Safari books online went out of their way to laboriously digitize 1100 pages of WSS goodness themselves. I am grateful. : )

Let me know what you think of the digitized version by the way. I for one would simply be glad for an easier way to search for content than what's available in the hard copy book now.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Yolanda and Asif, who both pinged me with updates concerning my book's digital debut delays. I bet your help, especially Yolanda's, were essential for the eventual availability of my book online. Thanks.

More things for the Frugal Admin to talk about-- SharePoint Designer is now free

2009-04-02T18:51:00.003-04:00

Howdy everybody.

As of today, SharePoint Designer is available as a download for anyone to install-- for free. That's right, free. Download it here (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointdesigner/FX100487631033.aspx).

And because it's free, I can add it to my Frugal Admin series.

So far the series currently consists of sessions that focus on getting the most out of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for free. Some of the sessions build, such as how to get the most out of the built-in web parts, then how to make dashboards out of those web parts, and then how to create a site template out of the site you just set up with all those nifty web parts and dashboards.

I also had standalone sessions, like how to exploit the internet for great, free WSS related stuff, how to setup Active Directory Account Creation Mode, and tips and tricks concerning setting up external access, portals, etc.

Now I can also add the icing to the cake to get more out of WSS-- using SharePoint Designer 2007. I hope to have sessions up for the last two quarters of 2009 concerning using SPD to customize WSS (branding, master pages, etc), increase the usefulness of lists, web parts, workflows, and more. Stay tuned for more info on these sessions and were to see them later in the year.

Darned docx and other trials and tribulations...

2009-02-03T23:27:00.007-05:00

I have been doing a lot of beta testing in an attempt to get on top of the new OS versions coming out (Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2). I am going to have to do a lot of work in them once they release, so I felt it important to work on the different features while they were in beta, so if I needed support there'd be lots of it.

And I know that once WSS goes into beta, I will be very distracted with testing that and no longer spending time on the OS's.

When I beta test an OS, I spend a lot of time building various iterations of virtual machines containing different types of installs and configurations. Also, I tend to spend a lot of time on the desktop of said OS, installing things, doing work, trying to see what works, what breaks, and what's significantly changed.

This also means that, while I am on these desktops, life goes on. I get emails with attachments, read the newsgroups, etc.

But, because those test machines, no matter what I do on them, can be wiped at any time and reloaded, I need to avoid installing anything that takes a lot of time, or requires a lot of licensing.

This means that I tend to avoid installing Office, because of the need to activate. Even Word Viewer is rather annoying because I have to install it, then the darned file converter-- and still it can't seem to open all docx files cleanly.

So what happens when I am working on one of those test machines and I receive an email with a docx attachment?

Well, I can pay for, download, and install a docx converter. That works pretty well. But that means that the file is now a .doc file, and I can't save it as a docx file to send it back (like the case of an application-- in docx of course-- that I had to fill out and send back, pronto).

I tried open office, I tried star office, abiword, and google apps. No such luck.

Then I stumbled upon a simple online word processor that I'd tested years and years ago, along side Writely (which was bought by Google)-- Zoho Writer.

Simple, innocent Zoho Writer, not fast, not elegant, can easily open and save docx files without fuss. Yes, some of the formatting is lost, but most of it, the parts that count, stay.

So if you absolutely, positively have to open that file and read it (and even edit it) right away-- then zoho writer (http://www.zohowriter.com/) might be the choice for you.

((and it's also nice because I don't need to install anything, anywhere. it's all online, so if I can activate the machine, I can read those pesky attachments))

It's those little things we find that become the most useful. Especially if those things are free, which zohowriter is.

Speaking of free, and things that can be installed easily on machines that may be wiped and reinstalled at will-- I also have been messing with portable apps (http://portableapps.com/). I've known about them for a while, but really didn't get into them that much because I often work with virtual machines that don't support removable USB drives and the like. But Windows 7 has driven me to it.

I am not really against IE8, but it is really, really slow to download anything. And, in their infinite wisdom, MS has removed the built-in email, calendar, and newsgroups client from Windows 7. So if I want to have those things to use, I am encouraged to install Windows Live, which I really don't like.

So Windows 7 doesn't have email, calendar, contacts, or newsgroups capability. And IE8 is an okay browser, but really bites for download management.

What's a grrl to do?

Why download the portableapps suite of course. It contains, among other things, a portable version of Abiword (a simple word processor), Mozilla Firefox (which has a download manager), Thunderbird (email), Sunbird (calendar), as well as a Sumatra the PDF reader, Clamwin (a simple antivirus program- no realtime protection though), CoolPlayer + (a media player), and even some games.

The point of portable apps is they are to be installed and run from an external drive or USB stick. That way you can save stuff, pop out the stick (or detach the drive), go to the next machine, and use it from there. Nothing left behind on the other machine except the portableapps menu app.

You can also add a bunch of other apps to the menu for your use-- all open source of course. I personally love and use Audacity, as well as VLC media player. There are literally dozens of useful, small, free apps that you can have access to at a moments notice from any machine running Windows.

For those of you who work with VMs that don't support USB devices, I just created a vhd file as a "second drive." I add it to the machine I need for, and remove it when I am done. Then, if I need it for a different machine, I add it before booting up. I can't hot swap, it's true, but it still works as far as not losing anything. Just remember to save files to the portable apps drive, not to the local "My Documents" (why is the "My" back with Windows 7? Who wanted that?). That way they go with you to the other machine when you move the drive.

Now I know that none of this has anything directly to do with WSS, but they're still nifty things that I thought I might share, for those of you who might find them handy.

Woo hoo! My book's going on Safari!

2009-01-19T19:59:00.004-05:00

Howdy,

I know that there have been requests made on this blog, and sent to me directly, requesting a digital form of the "Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" book. And on that front I have no news.

My editor is working on it...

Meanwhile, I got a request from someone concerning Safari Books Online (http://safaribooksonline.com). They wanted to know why my book wasn't available there.

So being a good girl, I called Safari Books Online to find out. After a few messages and callbacks, I am happy to announce:

Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 will be available on Safari Books Online as of the end of February!

So for those of you who have a subscription, or would like to get one, my book will be available through them very soon.

I consider this a step in the right direction concerning those of you who want my book in digital form.

((please make note, I have no control over how the book is digitized or displayed by the safaribookslonline people. I have no idea what it'll look like, but I'm sure it'll be nice to be able to do a search for terms, rather than thumb through the index.))

Thoughts, plans, hopes, and dreams. Hello and welcome to 2009.

2009-01-15T14:53:00.015-05:00

Howdy Everybody.

My apologies, again, for falling behind on my blog.

I'd finished all the work I needed to do for the SSWUG vconference in November, and was working on a two part vcast (of which I have the first half done and mostly edited) that I'd mentioned in one of my last posts, when my video card crapped out. Since, in my case, my video card is part of the motherboard of my machine, I had to wait weeks and weeks for it to be fixed. Falling weeks and weeks behind on blog entries, podcasts, vcasts, and work of any kind that required my trusty laptop.

Then the holidays came. Pushing my productivity down even further.

Then, on January 1st of 2009, I was sent an email congratulating me on being awarded an MVP- SharePoint Services.

Yup, for the year of 2009 at least, I am an MVP! Woo hoo.

That means I will be able to go to the infamous MVP Summit, visit the Redmond campus, meet the program team for WSS in person, and more. This is particularly important as the next version of WSS is right around the corner (well it may not be out til 2010, but there's got to be some beta testing to do), my timing is pretty good.

And now here I am, working on doing some more sessions for the spring SSWUG vconference (more on that in a second), planning for travel to the summit, and trying to get back to my vcasts and other things for this blog.

Concerning working on content for the vconference: I've been thinking of doing a full series of sessions, in part at the conference, or in whole. I may only be able to prep for about three for the conference, and may do the rest here.

You see, I have a problem coming up with titles for my session proposals (which are often, if accepted, used as session abstracts). The content is easier for me, describing just what I am going to do in the session and why that might be interesting. I can do that. But catchy titles? Not so much.

Because I was recently made an MVP I was able to send in some session proposals for TechEd 2009 (of course, I got the MVP code the day of the deadline, so I only had time to send in two). However, I really just didn't feel I did a good job with creating a catchy title for the proposals-- ones that popped, ones that really effectively sold what I was cookin' (so to speak).

Troubled, when I was asked to do some more sessions for SSWUG's vconference in the spring, I wasn't confident that I could really generate some good titles. And everyone knows it's the title that attendees (and the curious) click on. If the title isn't right, no one will bother to read the description.

So I hemmed and hawed, and hemmed some more. I thought of "Super Duper Admin Tricks" and "The Secret Life of WSS: things that even MOSS can't do". But they didn't quite fit for me.

Then I thought of something. Really, a lot of my motivation with sticking stubbornly to evangelizing WSS (instead of MOSS) is because I cringe at the idea of paying out the nose for something that isn't entirely going to be used. There are so many things that WSS does, for free, that there are good, solid reasons to never install MOSS. I like getting the most out of my servers, and their features for the money I spend, before I spend another penny.

And if I need to spend more money, I want to know why, exactly what I need to buy, and exactly what it needs to do before I write any checks.

And that's why I like doing presentations about WSS. Because I like to show you what you can do with what you have. Help you get the most out of the free product before you have to buy the server product, the standard CALs, and even the additional enterprise CALs. Push the envelope, think outside the Admin box.

In the very least, show you it's limits so that you clearly know where the line is, and when it's time to pay for the server version of SharePoint.

In a word, I like to be frugal.

And because that sums up the point, the underlying motivation of a lot of my sessions, I've decided to do a "The Frugal Admin" series (well, if I don't get any feedback telling me not to).

Ideas I have for the series (please let me know which you like):

The Frugal Admin, How to get the most of the built-in web parts: Don't just accept that your home pages are boring. Put some life into them without spending a penny. Explore the existing web part templates and broaden the horizons of existing list view web parts. Push them to the limit and turn your bland, hum drum home pages into the spectacular, useful, web part pages they were meant to be. Wow your users, impress your boss, and never wonder if you could have built yourself what you just paid some one else to make. Know for sure what your options really are, without any additional cost.

The Frugal Admin, Do it yourself dashboards. or maybe How to make your own Dashboards, without being a developer or SharePoint Designer: Dashboards are easy, depending on what you want to do with them. Why pay for one when you can roll your own. Come see the secrets of the simple dashboard; how to create the views, the web parts, and the web pages that make a site's home page more relevant from management to worker. See how far you can go out of the box before you spend a dime.

The Frugal Admin, Make your own Custom Site Templates. So you think only Microsoft can come up with useful site templates? Think again. Don't be trapped into thinking that if you want a nice site (especially one you'd like to deploy in a few places) you have to pay a developer to create it. Come see how we wrap up this three part series by bringing together the fancy web parts and dashboards to create our own unique site templates. Filled to the rim with useful goodness. With tips and tricks concerning workflows, resource libraries, and more. Learn how to make your templates self referencing, so they can pack up and go without having any extra files to worry about. Elevate your status, become that much closer to a WSS expert by seeing how it's really done-- all without special developer training or expensive additional software. Create the templates you wish Microsoft had thought of after attending this session.

The Frugal Admin, Exploiting what's out there. So you need to create a new user group site, or your managers want you to create a time sheet site to track each department's hours on sharepoint related projects. Maybe your IT department want's their own helpdesk site. Well, before you start either trying to create those yourself, or find someone to pay who will-- consider looking online at the resources already available from Microsoft and Codeplex. With the Fantastic 40 templates, Groupboard 2007, and the Community Kit for SharePoint, you've probably got all bases covered, and then some-- for FREE. So before you start making promises to anyone, stop by this session and get a glimpse of the good stuff, and discover all those pre-made templates before the need to make your own wears you down.

Stepping back a bit--

The Frugal Admin, So you're considering installing WSS? A quick run down on what you need to install WSS, tips concerning licensing, Authentication (AD, and a few of its cheap alternatives- AD Account Creation Mode and Forms Based Authentication), Planning, and a quick overview about Design. Consider who you want to use SharePoint and how they're going to use it. Know what you're getting into before you start, and you'll always save money in the end. Don't be surprised, plan ahead. (for those experienced admins, you might want to stop by to get some insight into why, sometimes, it is a good idea to install SQL and SharePoint on the same server... for those tips and more, stop by the session, it'll be worth it)

For those experienced Frugal Admins, I'd like to go into detail about getting more out of SharePoint doing Intranet/Extranet deployments (not always the cheapest thing to do, but I'll show you how to squeeze every penny out of it), The nitty gritty on ADAC, the inside scoop on Directory Mangement Services (and why it's rather a wet balloon), and more. There are also some interesting tools for those admins- for free of course- that's I'd like to explore, such as the administration kit for Sharepoint, and some of the solution accelerators, as well as good ol' Search Server Express.

So what do you think, would these sessions be worth attending? Anything you'd like to see that I haven't mentioned? Feel free to comment. Kthxbai. ; )

Hmmm, something fishy about importing subsites to be top-level sites

2008-12-01T12:44:00.007-05:00

I was working on some vcasts for this site when I stumbled across something I wish I'd put in the book (see I am still working on it, almost a year after printing...). So without further ado, here's the thing:

You see, I have a subsite that I like to use in my conference presentations to demonstrate this and that. It's a contracting site that I've filled with custom lists, fields, columns, content types, dashboards, views, and lots of data. I like to demonstrate how to create nifty site templates with it, how to manipulate data, connect lists, and more.

So it was a natural progression that, when I wanted to demonstrate custom permissions and how to work around applying an .stp file (the single file that a site template gets packed into) to a top-level site, I'd make an export of that contractor site and use it for the demo.

So I exported the contractor subsite (and the two child subsites off of it-- one for a blog and one for a wiki).

I then made a new site collection and imported the export file to it... and found that not only did none of my workflows 'port, but that the default, three-state workflow was deactivated for all sites in the collection.

?!

I knew that workflows and alerts don't port well, but I was surprised that the default workflow for WSS was disabled. That was unexpected.

But here is why it happened in my opinion (with a shout out to James Finley, who patiently listened to me rant and kindly repeated himself over and over, with screenshots, before the issue was resolved):

When a site collection is made, the top-level site gets created and a site template and site collection features are applied (in the case of WSS 3.0, that means the three-state workflow).

In order to import a site, you must already have a site address to import it to (it doesn't create an address for itself). Because it is going to be applying the template and settings it used previously, there is no need to have a template applied to the new site because it's going to be written over. As a matter of fact, usually, importing to a completely clean new site address offers the best results. Generally, having no artifacts left to write over is cleaner and safer. This has always worked for me when moving subsites and what I tell people...

(( in contrast I must admit, I have very successfully imported over an existing site completely with no problems-- much to my dismay. ; ) I have also had a few hiccups when importing to a site with an existing template-- in front of a live audience-- as well.))

When you export and then import a subsite as a subsite to an existing site collection, the site collection features are already active, so they're available for the imported site.

And when you want a subsite to be the top level site of a site collection of its own (ie, working around not being able to apply a .stp template to a new site collection), you would normally use STSADM to do a createsite without a template, then import your exported site to it.

BUT, if you do that you run the risk of having no site collection features.

Why? James and I surmise that applying the template to a top-level site is what activates the site collection features for the entire site collection. No features at the top-level site means no features in any subsites either.

Think about it, you are importing a subsite to a top-level site-- when that subsite wasn't the one that had those features set originally, it depended on the top-level site of the its collection to do that. Therefore, that import file doesn't have the necessary hooks to start features. Without a template pre-applied, when you import, the site collection workflow doesn't activate at that site address when you import. Instead, you have to go to that top-level site's "site collection features" and activate it manually after the import is complete.

The solution (without manually having to activate the feature every time you import)? If you are going to apply a import to a new site collection's top-level site, apply a template to it first if you want the built-in site collection features. At the command line it's really easy. In the GUI it's even easier, you can't create a new site collection without applying a template.

((or, do what I did once, create a fully functioning site there first, then import over it. It made me sad, but the site collection features were active...))

An example of the commands I am referring to:

a simple export of a subsite: STSADM -o export -url http://wss2/contractors -filename file://dc1/backups/contractors.cmp

a simple site collection creation (with the standard team site template applied): STSADM -o createsite -url http://wss2/sites/contractors -owneremail person@sample.org -ownerlogin domain\siteadmin -sitetemplate sts#0

a simple import of the subsite to the new site collection as the top-level site: STSADM -o import -url http://wss2/sites/contractors -filename file://dc1/backups/contractors.cmp

((note that the export, import, and createsite commands have many more parameters than I am using here, this is just the simplest examples possible))

That also brings me to an old but interesting thought-- as to why MS decided to offer their fantastic 20 sites for site collection administrators as templates instead of import files? Why, in the end, did they end up having to split up the way those sample sites (site admin and server admin) were installed-- making them harder to adopt and apply?

There had been some speculation as to why MS did that. Site templates have shortcomings, one of which is the 50 to 500MB content limit. Also, there are things that don't move well, that work better with export/import.

But, those fantastic 40 templates (even the 20, less fancy site admin templates) were meant to encourage people to extend the use of SharePoint, and especially to purchase and use SharePoint Designer. That meant that Workflows had to 'port intact, for anyone who wanted to use the those sample sites. That means the sites for site admins had to be packaged as templates and not imports, because the workflows won't travel easily any other way.

((of course, an off-shoot of that is if a site is packaged as an .stp file, it can be installed by someone with only site administrator permissions-- hence the categorization. remember, it's not an unexpected or unfortunate shortcoming, if you can consider it a feature...))

And it explains why there are 20 site admin templates that are simple .stp template files, and why 20 are packaged as full solutions (with an additional application template core). Some of the sample sites were just too fancy to package as templates, and had to be offered with separate moving parts instead.

Getting back to the point of this post-- The subject, as to why importing my subsite as a top-level site deactivated the three-state workflow, bothered me. And because of that, I felt it important to let you know that it happened, how it happened, and how to fix it.

It's just one of those little things that might become a big thing at the end of the day on Friday when you thought it would be a piece of cake to move that nifty subsite to a top-level site like your boss asked you to...

.. so you've been warned. As always, check your site features, site collection features, security, versions, and alerts before considering the job done. You know workflows and alerts will be a problem, but check everything, just in case.

Things I've been up to

2008-11-03T12:07:00.005-05:00

Howdy everybody,

I've been crazy busy this month, but I wanted to catch up with a few things.

This Weds, Thurs, and Fri (Nov. 5th, 6th, and 7th) is the SSWUG Vconference (virtual conference). I did three sessions for the event (see the "Happenin' Things" widget on the left of this blogs homepage to access the link and check out the event). Their schedule may be changing in the next day or two, so I'd rather you checked the conference site than putting it here.

Although the event is primarily for the SQL Server Worldwide User Group members (shout out to the SSWUG peeps), anyone can sign up to attend the sessions. They aren't free, there is a fee (somewhere around a hundred bucks, US) to see all the sessions you can handle, all day, everyday, from the morning of the 5th to the evening of the 7th.

The sessions were recorded, live, in a tiny little studio in AZ. I did mine in September. It was a weird, exhausting, and pretty uncomfortable experience for me, I must admit. I teach people, not cameras set up on tripods in an otherwise empty, black room. It had a very make-believe, surreal feel to it. I am not sure how well I did, performing in front of no one, but I had pretty solid content. The sessions were rushed; essentially all one take, all three sessions back to back, in one day. So my first time out trying this new medium, was the only time. Please be gentle. ; )

I have learned that I am not necessarily a one take girl-- especially since it was the first time I ever tried to perform in that environment. I am pretty sure I have it down now though, so if asked to do it again, I might go for it. If circumstances permit.

For those of you who don't know what a vconference is about, here's the scoop. It is a conference that is presented online instead of live and in-person. The presenters present in a recording studio, in front of cameras, and do essentially live recordings of their presentations (they were supposed to be about an hour in length, some are a little shorter, as the presenters learned that, without the distraction of students, the sessions go faster ). The presentations are then prepared for viewing (minimally, to keep that "live" feeling). Then, during the period of time selected for the conference, they are made available to the viewing public during certain times and dates. The viewing public pays a certain fee and uses the username and password they create to "attend the sessions".

After (or even during, I'm not sure) the sessions, the speakers are available, real time, in session specific chats so the attendees can ask them questions concerning their sessions, just as they would be in a physical conference.

The point of having a virtual conference, as opposed to a physical conference, is for the convenience of the attendees. They don't have to waste money, time, or resources travelling to a location, paying for that travel, housing, food, and other expenses, or spending time locked into the conference itself. They don't expose themselves to the press of humanity, and instead can get the sessions without leaving their home. These vconferences are being advertised as being "green" because they are not as wasteful as a full-blown conference would be.

So if you are interested in attending a virtual sharepoint conference (there are also tracks covering business intelligence, SQL, and more, as well), experiencing numerous interesting and informative sessions, right in the comfort of your home or office, then I suggest you check out http://www.vconferenceonline.com/SharePoint/. It's a really cheap opportunity to get in some additional training, learn some useful stuff, and get to see me possibly embarrass myself in an empty room.

--For my loyal readers, here are some embarrassing things to look for: the lighting was not meant for a 5'3" person, so it magnified through my glasses onto my face in an interesting way during all of the sessions, also, if you watch closely, you might get to see me unintentionally stepping off camera (I was instinctively trying to give camera 2 a better view of the slides behind me) at least once during the conference... good times, good times. : P--

Which brings me to what I have been focusing on concerning this blog-- more recorded material. Because I had such an interesting time recording for the vconference, it made me more interested in using the internet as a more active medium, and recording material in general.

I still had to finish the Richard Series podcasts, and I really felt I needed to do more with the content I had recorded for the vconference.

(The podcasts were originally started because my book was delayed and Richard needed to come up to speed on WSS 3.0-- in the interim the book came out, making the rest of the series moot- but what the hey, I might as well finish them.)

To that end, I recorded the second Richard series podcast, "Introduction to WSS 3.0, Planning Site Collections and Web Applications" (which was something of a nightmare due to my beloved logitech headset breaking, two additional headsets being too low-quality to use, and finally just using a stand-alone logitech mic).

I am still going to finish the series with a podcast for capacity and performance planning, and disaster planning, but I wanted to take some time to try to reproduce and improve on my performance in the studio by doing more video presentations.

Currently I am working on some WSS focused videos. I was given a better mic-- a Snowball from Blue Microphones (http://www.bluemic.com/), which should help with audio quality. The first video 'cast should be out by the end of the week, and should be part of a series covering the implementation of the User Group Edition site template from the Community Kit for SharePoint.

These podcasts and videos should supplement the continuing entries for this blog, so expect intermittent additions as time permits.

Altogether, these last couple of months have been all about exploring the options of spreading the WSS 3.0 word beyond written material and some screenshots.

So that's the latest update on what's going on in the world of a WSS servergrrl. If you decide to attend the vconference, please let them know I mentioned it to you. They like knowing stuff like that.

Podcast- Introduction to WSS 3.0, part 2 (second posting)

2008-10-04T14:09:00.011-04:00

This podcast continues my introduction to WSS 3.0, containing introductory information about web applications and site collections, especially as they pertain to design planning. It covers a lot of details, and is almost 30 minutes in length (25MB).

The podcast covers topics such as:

Web Applications and Site Collections are in terms of planning and design
Concepts on the hierarchy of administration
Suggestions concerning design planning for WSS 3.0.

To access the podcast, be sure you click on the Title of this blog entry.

(I have discovered that, if you read this entry from Amazon, you can't just click my post title to access the podcast. So for you, click here for the podcast. Also, for those coming from Amazon, this is the second publishing of this post-- it was originally pulled because it lacked this link and I needed to replace the mp3)

My sincerest apologies for the delay (of several months...), but life got unexectedly busy.

I've also been having some technical difficulties. Namely, my old and trustworthy Logitech headset was starting to go south, so I experimented with several new ones. All of them sucked in comparison. Sad really.

So this recording was made on a stand alone microphone (logitech). I am not crazy about the tinny, low volume, distant quality of it, but it's okay. I'll probably invest in something better in the future.

I used Audacity (1.2.6) to record it, but I tried the 1.3.5 beta version to try to clean out the background hums and crackles. I have noticed that at about 12 minutes, the recording changes pace and pitch, speeding up. I suspect, because this has happened over and over, that this an Audacity problem (some people have posted the same issues). I will be probably ditching Audactiy in the future.

Please keep in mind that these podcasts are done on the fly, for free, when I have time. They were not intended for (and expressly should not be for) commercial use.

Thanks for listening. There will be a lot of activity on this blog in the coming days and weeks, now that I have time. Please stay tuned.

Pics of people at TechEd 2008 with Macs

2008-07-14T16:42:00.004-04:00

Don't let it be said that Microsoft Professionals only use Dell, Acer, IBM, or Alienware laptops. They know good hardware when they see it.

So without further ado, let me introduce some Microsoft Professionals, both developers and IT pros, who were using Macs at TechEd. Let this stand as proof that there are people out there uninfluenced by the hype, who bought and use machines that simply work for them:

(my apologies for the blurriness, I was using a BlackJack II for these photos and the fluorescent lights were too much for the crappy camera to handle. Also, some of these photos had to be taken really really quickly because I was working and was risking reprimand as it was...)

The two guys that started it all. I found them working, each on a Mac laptop (the third guy was also working on a Mac but had gone for coffee or something), on the first day of the Developer Week of TechEd. They inspired me to take pictures (they even let me use their nice digital camera) of Mac users at the conference, as proof that they existed.

Their names, by the way, are Jeff Julian and Jerod Crump and they are the guys that drive the GeeksWithBlogs website . Thanks guys. : )

Two guys coincidentally both using MacBook Pros at TechEd.

Someone with a white Macbook hanging out on the couches behind the MCT Lounge during Dev' week.

A really nice guy with a MacBook Pro that let me set up his TechEd bag to lend a point of reference. ; ) It was a little blurry (of course), but because the text is in blue on the bag, you can tell he was attending the IT Pro week. Dev' week's logo was orange.

I got a chance to darken this photo so the apple on the MacBook Pro could stand out a little more...

One of the few nifty black Macbooks that I found at the conference. I've always wanted one, but I needed more horsepower for my presentations, so I had to go for the MacBook Pro. Still, I like the sticker embellishments... I noticed that embellishment on laptops was more prevalent during the Developer week than IT Pro (the attendee in the picture is from Dev' week, you can tell because of the orange lanyard for his conference pass). That said, I have a sticker on my MacBook pro, I wonder what that says about me?

More MacBook Pros being used during the TechEd IT Pro week.

Not only a MacBook Pro being used, but admired while at TechEd. ; ) As you can see here, the fact that the laptop was a Mac was a non-issue. It's what's running on the Mac that was of interest.

'Loved this guy. He totally grokked what I was going for and truly got into the spirit of the moment. "Yeah Baybee, I've got a Macintosh laptop. Oh, yeah. Check it out..." (And he was in the MCT Lounge, meaning he was an MCT too. Yet no one yelled at him. I guess my peers were probably getting exhausted by that point... <eg>)

Last but not least, another MacBook user, happily posing for the camera.

So there you go. Macs do exist in the world of business, being used to do work at home and away. And, thanks to Bootcamp (or Parallels), they're not just for people running the Mac OS anymore...

So many things to say...

2008-07-12T23:43:00.005-04:00

Wow, my apologies for the delay in posting, but I have been having adventures. I am back from TechEd. I, finally, took some time off to recuperate, but I have not forgotten my blog. I have so much catching up to do...

TechEd as a gig

To start, I went to TechEd for both the Developer week (6/1 to 6/7) and the IT Pro week (6/8 to 6/14).

For the first week, I worked in the Study hall area, helping people get certified. Supporting them with Learning Plans, certification information, paths, study materials, etc. I also pulled some additional shifts proctoring the MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) community lounge. There I had a split role of both informing the public about what it takes to be an MCT and why they might want to be, and encouraging MCTs to stop in and hang out, thereby fostering the community.

Mind you, that week I did a lot of certification support- for developers. I am not a developer, so I had to do a lot of studying and prep to be able to help the attendees successfully.

For the second week, ironically, I didn't do much work in the Study Hall (despite the fact that I am an IT Pro and would have been more qualified), and instead spent most of my time at the MCT Lounge. And, although I love my fellow MCTs, I missed the Study Hall and the work I did with the attendees (time flies when you're really needed). So next year, if I work TechEd, I am definitely going to ask to be assigned to the Study Hall area more often.

And thank you, by the way, to the Hynesite people who approved my application and allowed be to one of the few people who got to work both weeks. I will always be honored and grateful.

TechEd and my battle scarred laptop

While at TechEd, I got considerable flack from my fellow MCTs about bringing and using a MacBook Pro. They said things like I was being disloyal, that I was "biting the hand that feeds me," etc.

I have to admit, the criticism stung. I was proud of buying the best hardware I possibly could at a good price. I don't use the Mac OS on it, only Windows. I've done all of my Windows Connections presentations on it, and wrote the Mastering book on it.

I don't see where, when I use Microsoft on a MacBook, that I am being disloyal to Microsoft (not that I really, really feel compelled to be that loyal). Microsoft sells software, not hardware.

So anyway, feeling slighted, I found myself reluctant to even use my laptop anywhere near the MCT lounge for fear of another rantfest. Then, looking around at the attendees working on their laptops, I was delighted to discover over the course of the two weeks, that many people in the industry, at TechEd, were using MacBooks. Now you have to assume that these people are inherently pro-Microsoft if they're at TechEd, right? That they probably aren't secretly MS haters or linux zealots. And yet, there they were, openly using their Apple laptops to do work at a Microsoft Conference.

And, no one was yelling at them.

So, I began to take pictures of them. That's right. I took pictures of about a dozen or more people I saw using MacBooks. And mind you, I spent most of my time tethered to either the Study Hall or MCT booth, I wasn't roaming the mile long conference center looking for these people. Chances are really good that there are dozens more people using Macs that I didn't see.

And when I asked them, every single one said that they were using Macs to do Microsoft work because it was the best hardware they could find, for the money, to do what they needed to do. Period. No disloyalty, no big rant, no particular affiliation. Just doing what needed to be done, without fanfare, to get the job done.

I will be posting their pictures as soon as I get them off my phone so you can see for yourself. Microsoft professionals using Apple technology at a Microsoft conference.

Birds of a Feather at TechEd

Also, at TechEd, during the second week, I hosted a Birds of a Feather session titled "Windows SharePoint Services 3.0; the less costly path."

Thank you, everyone of the over a hundred people who signed up for it-- and the 17 people who actually attended...

... yes, a little over ten percent showed. And I think I know why-- the session was scheduled during the best party of the week. I am sure that, at the start of the conference, when attendees were filling out their schedules, they optimistically were certain that they would be attending the session. But when the day came, and they'd learned about the great party that was to happen at the same time, well they chose the party.

Heck, I was disappointed I'd being missing the party, and I was leading the session.

Regardless, I think it was a decent session. I really wasn't entirely clear on the format of the session-- how I was supposed to lead and discuss WSS stuff, but I was also supposed to basically also just let people talk... but I think it went okay. People asked questions, answered questions, got to make comments (I did a lot of soliciting feedback, but I'm not sure that was bad). I think people learned some things... I hope.

(and at this point I'd like to give a shout out to Michael Mesich (did I spell that right?) for being so kind as to attend my BOF session and buy my book. It was good meeting you. Also, thank you to James Finley and Shannon Bray for attending just in case things got out of hand, and your guerilla book signings and loyal advertisements.)

My book at TechEd

And finally, about the Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 book itself. Well, the Wiley (Sybex) booth never did get any copies of the book delivered to the booth (they swear they ordered copies, but they didn't arrive- you know how it is...). They had everything Mark had ever written, and every single book Wrox could fit, but not a single copy of my book.

So that's no copies of my book from Wiley/Sybex at the IT360 conference, and now, no copies at TechEd. And they wonder why I am concerned about the lack of Marketing support? LOL...sigh.

But, all was not lost at TechEd concerning the book, oh no.

You see, I am an MCT, and a pretty active member of the community. Many MCTs knew, last year, that I was writing the book, and many knew about the trials and tribulations I went through to see it to publication. So at this TechEd, they of course, were curious about what happened. When I told them it had published, but had had no marketing, well, they went into action.

With MCTs working all of the Hands On Labs, Certification areas (including Study Hall), Instructor Led Labs, Ask an Expert, and more, they blanketed the conference and were very kind to mention my book to anyone who might need it.

TechEd also has an independent bookstore-- and thank goodness for it. The manager (whose name I have forgotten but will, nameless, always have my gratitude) chose to order and stock copies of my book. And, during the IT Pro week, sold out by Wednesday (which is unfortunate, as the guys had schedule some guerilla book signings for Thursday that weren't that successful because no one could get copies of the book). Woo Hoo, my book sold out, my book sold out. ::Happy Dance:: It sold out at the IT360 conference earlier this year too. Maybe someone, somewhere, might realize it could be worth marketing. ; )

So for those MCTs that mentioned my book to the attendees-- thank you for getting the word out. I am sincerely grateful, you guys (and gals) rock! And for those who actually bought my book and contributed to the bookstore selling out-- thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you are reading this and realize that I am not some unapproachable name on the book cover-- I'm out here continuing to write about WSS.

So that's basically it about TechEd. I met a lot of people, went to parties (usually late because I was working and had to eat dinner before partying), did work, learned things, and generally survived 14 days on concrete floors in a humongous (did I mention one mile long and a quarter mile wide?), windowless, conference center.

To the Orange County Convention Center staff; security, greeters, and food service-- Thank you. Seriously, thank you. Thank you for trying to feed me every day, for being so courteous and kind, and always patient. And for those young red shirt greeters at the South entrance every one of those fourteen days, I am glad you took my advice and are now jellin'. Your feet will thank you a decade from now, I swear.

Up next, a few articles about some things I learned and some things coming up, and finally, some recordings that should have been done months ago (the podcast is done, I just need to package it and get it stored online)...

Updates all around

2008-05-19T22:53:00.022-04:00

Howdy everyone,

You might have noticed that my blog has lagged to a halt over the last month or two. My apologies.

I had a few distractions to contend with:

I was distracted by the preparations required to present at a conference in Toronto.

Then I was distracted by the pneumonia I came down with the day before, and suffered with during, the conference.

(I'd like to give a shout out to the wonderful, patient, and sympathetic folks who attended my sessions at the IT360 conference. Thank you for your kindness while I wheezed in a fever-induced daze through my four presentations. I promise that I will be building camtasia videocasts of my virtual server and data protection manager sessions just for you, so you can actually get that information sans delirium.)

Then I was distracted for about a month, recovering from the pneumonia that never wanted to leave.

Eventually though, I have gotten over those distractions enough to continue my work here, however haltingly. I'm, ironically, not entirely over the pneumonia, but I am getting better.

This catches me up to today, delay-wise. My worry is that, in two weeks time I will be in Orlando, Florida, working the MCT Community Lounge for the TechEd Developer's week and the IT Professionals week (yes, fourteen days of technical goodness, feel free to stop by if you're attending). So I really, really need to kick this lung infection thing before I get there. As it is, convalescence has really cut into my preparation time for the event-- not to mention all the things I wanted to do for this blog.

Meanwhile-- other news:

I got the Birds of a Feather gig! :: insert sound of crowd going wild here:: Thank all of you who voted for my session, I am truly grateful. Now I get a chance to really speak one on one with people who are interested in WSS in my native territory-- a technical conference . Please come visit my BOF table on Wednesday night of the IT Professionals week, at about 7:25 to 8:30p. There'll be food and other refreshments there as well, so don't worry about having to go get food then come back after the breakout sessions that day.
I am currently working on the second podcast in the Richard series, introducing WSS 3.0. The second session is going to touch on a little about WSS architecture, as in what web applications, site collections, top level sites, and subsites are; what you might want to consider when planning for them, and thoughts for backing them up in case of calamity.
I needed a good place to offer videocasts to my attendees from the IT360 conference, so I have decided to offer the 'casts both at my callahantech site and here, just in case the attendees had a preference. Another reason, frankly, for the placement of otherwise non-WSS material on this blog is my web host provider has become very flaky in the last few weeks, crashing entirely over the weekend, causing me to go off topic here in order to have my stuff available in more than one place (basic disaster preparedness...). What this means to you, gentle readers, is that, although you might not necessarily be interested in anything not pertaining to WSS, you will get access to my other stuff if you are so inclined.
And for those of you who have sent in comments, I haven't forgotten you. I will be responding soon (hopefully tomorrow, but at least by the week's end).

Because of my sudden need to find an alternative to my current host provider, I have been doing a lot of research into other hosts. In doing that I have been rather inundated with all the features they offer. Of those features, Joomla and Mambo seem to come up quite often.

Now, I'd heard of Joomla before (there was a Joomla booth at IT360), but I've been too busy to really check it out. I'd never even heard of Mambo, but both sounded interesting-- being open source content management products apparently similar to SharePoint. Because of this you might end up getting some insight into these products, and how they relate to WSS. I might even test a new host by implementing either joomla or mambo (or if I can, both) at an alternate domain. If I am allowed to let public users in, I'll post the address so you can check it out. Otherwise, I will at least screenshot it so you can see what they're all about.

Understand that I don't consider this being "unloyal" to SharePoint. I think, as a professional, I need to know what's out there. If something else is better, then it behooves me to learn it and offer it to my clients, peers, and friends as an alternative. Their success is my success. And if something else makes them more successful, well, I'd rather be the one that suggested it. Besides, knowing how it directly relates to WSS helps me better explain to people why they might want to stay with my focus product. See, I am not being blindly loyal or biased, just professionally interested. Yeah, that's it, interested...

Mind you, before messing with those other products, I need to first catch up on my 'casts here. Then I need to prep for TechEd, do TechEd, and then (inevitably) recover from TechEd. After that, expect more stuff about these SharePoint alternatives, as well as another thing I am interested in-- Search Server 2008 Express (especially as it relates to WSS, of course).

Thanks for being here so far, and stick around, more things are to come in the continued adventures of a servergrrl.

Holy moly this problem used to plague me-- or "Update conflict has occured..."

2008-05-19T21:00:00.004-04:00

During the final chapters of the book, I occasionally would run into an error when making changes to AAM or adding a subsite; "An update conflict has occurred, and you must re-try this action." Nothing I did seemed to fix it. Because I was really, really desperate to meet my deadlines and didn't have time to deeply troubleshoot anything at that point, I just gave up on that action on that VM, shut it down, opened a different set, and continue work from there.

After the book I immediately started revising courseware for Microsoft, so I didn't get a chance to catch my breath and try to troubleshoot anything. Following that, I immediately needed to prep for a conference, at which I came down with pneumonia, and well, now here I am.

Meanwhile, MS has just come out with a revised version of KB article 939308, which finally mentions the problem and its solution.

Bottom line? "This issue occurs if the contents of the file system cache on the front-end servers are newer than the contents of the configuration database."

Mind you, MS is assuming this problem is occuring only when a configuration database has been recovered and that's why it's out of date. But, it has happened to me on slow networks as well.

So what is the fix? Clear the file system cache on all servers, of course. Yeah, it's a pain, but it at least gets everyone back on the same page.

For more details visit KB article 939308 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939308/.

So now I know (and you do too).

Are you considering going to TechEd 2008?

2008-04-02T15:48:00.010-04:00

Well, it's official-- I am going to TechEd 2008. And, in order to be able to get in touch with my readers (both blog and book), I entered a proposal for a Birds of a Feather discussion session concerning WSS 3.0. The title is "The less costly path, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0." and the content is essentially:

"Are you supporting a small business or non-profit company that is interested in SharePoint? Considering installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0? Join the author of "Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" to discuss the best practices, tips, tricks, and gotchas before you deploy WSS in your environment. Topics of discussion can include everything from what kind of installation to use (including Active Directory Account Creation Mode); to user management, tips on security, Directory Management Services, cost effectiveness, and more. Feel free to join us as we explore why, when, and how to implement Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a small/non-profit business environment."

Mind you, this is going to be an open discussion, so as long as your questions are general enough to be useful to everyone (I don't intend to do free consulting), you can ask things outside of the proposed topics. So that means if you are managing or considering a deployment of WSS 3.0 in a medium or large business environment, you are more than welcome to stop by.

There is a catch though-- I entered my proposal for the session, but that does not guarantee that the session will happen. Once sessions are approved to be proposed, they have to be voted on. That's right. If you are considering going to TechEd (you don't even have to be registered yet), and would like to join me in a discussion about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you need to vote for my BOF session. No votes, no session.

To vote for my session, go to: https://www.msteched.com/itpro/voting.aspx. Scroll through the list to the title of my session"The less costly path, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0", and click the checkbox next to it. That will put it in the selection box on the right of the list. Then (and this is important) scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Save Selections" button. Only then will you have voted for my session.

The reason I wrote the proposal the way I did was, after reading all the others, it seemed that there was no love for the little guy-- the guy who doesn't have a 2 million dollar budget. I wanted to have at least one Birds of a Feather session that addressed saving money openly. That invited the little guy, the less than a million users guy. Also, I wanted to have a session out there presented by someone who wasn't actually selling their own product. I am there to talk about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (service pack 1), I am not selling anything.

But remember, if no one votes for my BOF, it won't happen. So if you do go to TechEd, and see that I am not on the schedule, that's why. ; )

Adding PDF icons to WSS 3.0-- and what went wrong when I tried it...

2008-02-27T13:59:00.015-05:00

So I received a comment from someone on my "how to index PDFs" entry last month. Flattered, I went to take a looksee at what they wrote.

I was a little confused when the commentor mentioned that they had tried to make changes to the docicon.xml file and still couldn't get their search to work.

Hmmm, I don't remember touching the docicon.xml file when I enabled pdf indexing. I just downloaded and installed Adobe 8.x, added some registry entries, and did the necessary restarts to get sharepoint to index the files anew.

While trying to figure out why he thought docicon.xml had something to do with indexing filters, I realized that I forgot to do something important-- change the default pdf icon.

Ahh, that's what using the PDF ifilter from adobe has to do with the docicon.xml file-- to associate the correct icon for the pdf extension. I guess he thought the two processes were one in the same.

Yes, I know it's just a prettifyin' thing and not essential for search to work on PDFs, but what the heck, it's easy.

So if you don't want that pesky default blank paper icon to show up next to your PDF files in your libraries or search results, do the following:

Download the icon file from adobe (or whereever, some people have better ones). Make sure it's small (the default from adobe is 17x17). http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html#pdficon

Save the icon to the c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES folder. I renamed it "icpdf.gif" myself, just so it matches the format of all the other doc icon files used in the DOCICON.XML.

Open the DOCICON.XML file in notepad (the DOCICON.XML file is located in the c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\XML folder).

Once in the DOCICON.XML file, go to the "<ByExtension>" section (see figure above) and add the tag: "<Mapping Key="pdf" Value="icpdf.gif" OpenControl=""/>"(minus the quotes, they're just there to tell you what you are supposed to type-- again, blogger hates it when you add non- html tags)
The tag means that the icon "icpdf.gif" (or whatever you named your pdf icon file) will be mapped to the .pdf extension. I do not have an open control (like using Word to edit a doc file) for pdfs, so I left it blank between the quotes.

Save the file, then drop to a command prompt and do an IISRESET. This should let sharepoint know there has been a change and repopulate the pages with new icons appropriately.

--- Important note: I could not get the pdf icon to work for the longest time. So pay heed-- the capitalization of the words "Mapping Key" OpenControl" and "Value" in the DOCICON.XML file is important. I did not capitalize the word "value", and no matter what I did, the icon would not work. So when you are working in the DOCICON.XML file, capitalizing the text in the tags is important.----

Once you have done an IISRESET on the WSS server (where, of course, all of this is taking place), you should be able to go into the library where pdf files are listed and see the correct icon next to them:

And when you do a search, the pdf files in the results should show up with the correct icon as well:
So that's what the DOCICON.XML file is for, and how to add the correct little icon images to the file extensions you use in sharepoint. Thanks Ravie.

How to use WSS 3.0 to search more than one site collection in one go

2008-02-14T09:38:00.004-05:00

I have been working on some courseware for Microsoft, and in the process have come across something interesting.

Search queries the content database of a web application for data, right? And search is supposed to confine it's search to the site collection the user typed the query into, right?

But search does search the site collection path from the point where the query was made (be it at the top-level site, or at a subsite) downwards through the path.

So what if you were searching from the top-level site of the root site collection in a web application? Theoretically, all site collections from there are on its path and therefore available to be used for search results.

So, theoretically, searching from the top-level site of http://sp2/, you could search http://sp2/sales, http://sp2/marketing/document1workspace, http://sp2/sites/saffronsblog, etc.. Even though saffron's blog is a different site collection altogether it's still on the path.

What makes that possible (or generally impossible- garnering the standard that searches are site collection-centric)? Most site collections have different user accounts in them. They are usually user boundaries, created to give different people access to different data. But if you have an account on the root site collection of a web application that is also a member of the other site collections on the path, then that person can, in fact, do a search at the top-level site of the root site collection, and get results that are located in the other site collections.

Search is generally limited by site collection due to security filtering. The other site collections on the path are omitted because the user doing the query doesn't have the right to see those results-- not because search doesn't go out to those additional site collections.

What stops search from accessing additional site collections is the caveat that the account must also be a member of the other site collection(s) in order for this to work. But if you have someone, say an IT staff member, who is a member of other site collections in that web application, then they can do this cross site collection search trick.

Try it. Break the site collection search boundary. So far, over and over, it has worked for me.

And if this is a security issue, giving the wrong people the right to search where you don't want them to-- well, you shouldn't have made them members of the other site collections...

Podcast- Introduction to WSS 3.0, part 1

2008-01-07T01:45:00.000-05:00

My apologies to Richard, this should have been done sooner, but with the contract gig I am on and the holidays-- time ran away with me.

This podcast contains some introductory information about WSS 3.0. Covering topics such as:

what WSS 3.0 is,
what the difference is, especially in terms of licensing, between WSS and MOSS,
some foundational knowledge about the services WSS uses under the hood,
the basic concepts of the difference between basic and server farm installs,
why sharepoint uses web applications, service accounts, and more.

To access the podcast just click on the title of this entry.

Richard, I also wanted you to know that I was startled during the recording of the podcast and accidentally stood up and yanked the laptop off the table by the headset cord, and consequently, the pitch of the recording did change. Please let me know if it is seriously noticeable-- because I will be bummed that I damaged my laptop usb connector/headset.

Tomorrow I have a conference call or two, and will be building slides, but feel free to email me with comments and/or questions.

Thanks for listening and giving me reasons to do podcasts. : ) And for those of you stopping by and checking out the 'cast, feel free to comment as well. Just please be gentle, these podcasts are being created as time permits between work and sleep, and for free.

Maybe later, if these things turn out to be useful, I'll invest some money into it. ; )

-callahan

And now for something completely different-- Searching PDFs, or Using Adobe's PDF IFilter with WSS 3.0 sp1

2008-01-05T00:09:00.002-05:00

(Actually it doesn't matter about the version of WSS 3.0 (whether or sp1 is applied), what matters is the pdf ifilter. )

You may have installed WSS 3.0 on a server or two and had no problems with Search. It works great, indexing content on a tidy schedule with no mishaps-- users can search for anything in a site collection, from announcements to the contents of big Word documents. But, when the users try to get fancy and introduce PDFs to the mix, things get tricky because WSS doesn't search the content of those.

You see, WSS 3.0 can search standard Windows File types (meaning Office file types and text files mostly). Supposedly it can also, out of the box, identify characters in OCR'd TIF files. However, it cannot search PDF files.

Why? Because MS only offers index filter files (files that teach the WSS indexing service how to gather data ) for their file types.

However, you could get an index filter file (called an ifilter) by downloading it from adobe if you wanted to be able to index PDF file contents.

And that worked for versions 5 and 6, but when version 8.0 came out, things changed. You see, you used to be able to download the older ifilters straight from Adobe, but suddenly, you can't for version 8.0.

Why? Because the ifilter file is now bundled with Adobe Reader. So to get the ifilter, you have to install Adobe Reader (8.0 or higher) onto the WSS server that will be doing indexing.

However, not a lot of people know that. Which is why there are people in the public newsgroups having problems indexing their pdf files in WSS 3.0 (or higher). So either people don't realize that they need a pdf related ifilter or people do download and use the older Adobe PDF ifilter files, thinking that'll do it.

But people who download the older ifilters find they can only index PDF files of that version and lower, not non-adobe pdfs or higher versions. To index older version, non-pdf, and newest versions of PDF, you need the newest version of the ifilter (currently 8.1.1)

Of course, a company called FoxIt capitalized on people's confusion about getting and using ifilters by offering their PDF IFilter-- for a pretty penny of course.

But Adobe is still offering their ifilter for free. The only price you pay is having to install Adobe Reader on the server. And if that is too steep, then, well, it's good to know now before going any further.

There are a few tricks to getting the ifilter to work with WSS. Basically WSS needs to know it's there and what extension to use it on, so a few registry changes are in order.

Namely you will have to edit the registry to add the PDF file type to the Extensions List for WSS search, and to map the extension to a particular ifilter.

To do that go to regedit (go to Start Menu>Run> type regedit, hit Enter). Once in the registry, open the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Applications\{ANYGUID}\Gather\Search\Extensions\ExtensionList

The extension list is full of all the extensions that the indexing service (the Gatherer as it were) should recognize, listed as the string values of consecutive numbers, containing value data that indicates the extension.

To add PDF to the list, you simply find the highest number in the list (it goes in order, 1,2, 3, 4... up to the last of them), add a String Value that is the next higher value (so if the highest value was 37 for example, the string value you would add is 38), and enter "pdf" for the Value Data.

Then go to the next key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension

Here should be listed the file extensions with a CLSID (class ID) for the ifilter used to index the extension. If .pdf is not listed, add it (it should have a multi string value). In that multi-string value, you need to add the CLSID for the ifilter added by Adobe Reader. This file is called, for version 8.1.1. "AcroRDIF.dll." You can look up it's CLSID by doing a Find under the CLSID key (under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT).

[[ Edited to add-- the CLSID that you are looking for to do filtering is under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ --I mention this because there are other CLSIDs that relate to other functions for acrobat in the registry. The one we need has the Reg SZ value of "PDF Filter".]]

Or, because, conveniently, the CLSID is posted on the web in several places because it is the same for version 8.1.1. as it is for the 8.0 version of Adobe Reader, you can just type it in:

{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

Mind you, if you are using a different, newer version, this CLSID may not work and therefore you'll need to find out the ifilter file name for your version and then search for it in the CLSID key in the registry. I find using the true filesystem path and the file name is better than just using the file name, sometimes the dll can be listed in a few places. You may need to experiment.

Anyway, I digress-- Once you've either found or added the .pdf key, enter the CLSID for the value (be sure to include the fancy brackets).

To let the server know where the Adobe Reader executable and its associated files are, add its path to the evironment variables of the server.

(Start Menu>right click My Computer>select Properties>go to the Advanced tab>click on the Environmental Variables button and scroll down the Path variable>select it and click on the Edit button> and add the path ";C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader" (be sure to use the correct version if you are using something newer than 8.x)>then click OK to apply and close)

Finally, to let WSS know that it needs to index PDF files now, you can do one of two things:

1) reboot the server (seems to always work, but may not be possible in your environment). Instinctively, I guess because I am old school, I reboot when making changes to the registry.

OR

2) First stop and restart the Windows SharePoint Search Service (at the command prompt, use "net stop spsearch" then "net start spssearch." And then force the index service (if you don't want to wait for it to index on its preset schedule) to do a fullcrawl by, using STSADM:

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstop

(again that's a bit of instinct there, I am figuring if it happens to be in the middle of a crawl I want it to stop and start over using the new ifilter)

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart

Remember that the stsadm command is in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN folder (if it isn't already set as a an enviromental path variable).

Regardless of which you choose, it may take some time for the pdf files to be indexed properly. I have found the second option to not be as guaranteed to work as simply rebooting and waiting for it to index on its own. But, no matter how long it initially takes, I found this free and relatively easy solution to indexing PDF files with WSS 3.0 to work, every time.

Errata on Mastering WSS 3.0

2008-01-03T18:39:00.004-05:00

The book is not yet out and I am finding little things that bother me about the it.

Now mind you, I did not write the book alone. I had numerous editors, both to proof the words and to check the technical accuracy. To add to the madness, I had several coauthors, individuals with their own way of saying things.

Together though, that can create some chaos. Let me demonstrate.

Chapter 14-- For some reason Ron, who had to use the SharePoint installer, SharePoint.exe, to install WSS 3.0; called it "SharePointServices.exe." I don't know why.

Folders-- folders were mentioned in chapters 5 and 6, but, believe it or not, were going to get serious coverage in chapter 11; which is the chapter about permissions, and is where I feel folders come into their own. However, because of one thing or another, the entire "A good reason to use Folders" sidebar (a good sized chunk of text I might add) was omitted. I will be adding it as an article here for those who might be looking for it.

Content Types-- I had wanted to do more with content types, I mean, c'mon, I covered connected web parts didn't I? But, due to page constraints I made due with something of a cop-out by covering it to add a template in a library. I will be doing things with content types here that I intended to do in the book. Mind you, I was given to believe there were several other books by Wiley that would cover content types, but as I have never seen them, I am not going to depend on that.

Sharepoint Designer-- There were supposed to be three chapters about using SharePoint Designer (SD) to customize WSS 3.0 as an IT admin, but they had to be cut out due to time, coauthor issues, and page limits.

Chapter 11 (written by bill chapman, reworked by charles firth)-- "site groups can be made at the subsite level"-- while technically true could be worded to be more true.~~ I mean that yes, you can use the new group button to add a group and use it at a subsite level if it is not inheriting permissions, but that group is actually in the list for the site collection as if it were created at the top level site. -- That's the point of the groups list for the whole site collection-- to list all the groups in the site collection. That includes those subsites that were created from the start not to inherit and therefore have their own groups. So actually, even if a site group is made at the subsite, it might appear as if it were made at the site collection level. Site groups are just named groups that could contain people, and then the permissions used at a site collection or lower level are applied to the group. So groups can be made anywhere in the site collection hierarchy, it doesn't really matter where. The difference is, there are no permissions being applied to the group at any level but the site that made it (modified it or is using it). See, that's what is really implied with "permission inheritance." ...well, more on that, in detail, later in this blog.

Server 2008-- Because the book is printing so, super, incredibly late, server 2008 will be out by the time it hits the shelves. The book was entirely written on server 2003. So what does that mean? Well, I could have stopped production and scrapped the book altogether (it was late enough to cancel at this point... one more delay and bam, right in the kisser), but I found that only certain features are different. So instead of scrapping the book, I decided to publish as is, and instead I'll write the changes here.

Those changes are, namely:

-- IIS 7.0 management. Oh, it says that it supports IIS 6.0, but not really.
----IIS Web Sites and Application Pools are backed up and restored differently.
--Reliability and Performance Monitor.
----So creating alerts and logs are going to be different.

I will be rewriting those sections to reflect the step by steps necessary to do those tasks in 2008. As a matter of fact, if I can get time to install camtasia, I'll just demo them. However, keep in mind that, out of a thousand pages, there were very few big differences.

I had to make the decision as to whether to publish or not, and decided to go for it. Please forgive me if that doesn't work for you, and email me to let me know why and what can be done to fix it.

Please, feel free to comment here with other errata (or use the errata email address listed in the errata widget near the top right of this page). I worked really, really hard to make sure everything I said was correct, but as with any project that has many chiefs, unexpected errors can happen. I am serious. I am depending on your to let me know if anything in there is misworded, misnamed, or misleading. I really don't like the idea that anyone might be misinformed by any written material, and always I want to fix it, if possible.

More notes on what I find that might be improved as I find them...

Edited to add More Errata (July 2008):

I was glancing through the book, trying to get ideas for sessions at the EMEA TechEd conference in Barcelona, when I happened to notice a sidebar (pages 347, 348, and 349) called "seeing is Believing." Disregarding the bad layout of the sidebar starting at the very bottom of the initial page, and the fact that the figures could have been shrunk a little to better fit the sidebar, the second figure in the sidebar is incorrect. The sidebar contains two copies of the same picture, when the first one should indicate the library with the "shareadmin" login, and the second picture, which in this book is a repeat, should show "saffron" logged in and the document in question should be missing. Unfortunately, the sidebar makes far less sense with two copies of the same picture than it would if the second picture were correct.

You have my sympathy and apologies if this made no sense to you too. The copy I sent in had the correct pictures listed. It appears that something was lost in translation...

Ah-- found another problem-- on page 251, in the "How to Avoid Blank Date Values, the figure it refers to in "You might have noticed in figure 5.38..." should be figure 5.39. Figure 5.39 displays the list with a record that has a blank Expires field. 5.38 is a picture of an email being used to add an item to the Announcements list.

Since the template the publisher required could not do automatic number, every sequential set of numbers (like figures, step by step lists, etc.) had to manually entered, and updated, every single time there was a change.

Yes, that is painfully ineffective (imagine dealing with it for a thousand pages), but that's the publishing biz for you. So during edits, a figure was added, removed, or moved around, without changing the reference in the text, causing the error. My apologies.

Windows SharePoint Services with Service Pack 1

2007-12-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

It's here! It's here! It's finally, finally here.

After being released and then pulled for more work, Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 with Service Pack 1 has become available for download.

This version of WSS 3.0 is the only one able to be installed on Server 2008 Rc1 and higher. And can also be installed, of course, of server 2003 service pack 1 or higher.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ef93e453-75f1-45df-8c6f-4565e8549c2a&DisplayLang=en

Here's the standalone service pack for existing WSS 3.0 installs:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4191A531-A2E9-45E4-B71E-5B0B17108BD2&displaylang=en#filelist (remember to choose the right architecture).

More on what actually happens when it is installed when I get it installed...

Edited to add: The page describing what SP1 does is up:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936988

...And it is very interesting, particularly note all the things fixed that weren't even mentioned in any other KB article or addressed with any previous hotfix.

Another thing that seems interesting is that there are only three changes, three programmatic improvements that I can see so far:

(note newly published content for Dec. 3, 2007)
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/WSS/en/library/700c3d60-f394-4ca9-a6d8-ab597fc3c31b1033.mspx?mfr=true

which specifically points out that there are three new STSADM commands:

mergecontentdbs-- let's you (finally) specify what content database a site collection will be in among content databases attached to a web application.
renamesite-- let's you rename ONLY Host Headered site collections. However, at least you can now rename them programmatically, because we know you were holding your breath for that one, weren't you? You cannot rename path addressed site collections, only host headered ones, and you can't change a host headered site collection URL to a path or vice versa....
tzmove-- An interesting command that I will have to work with but here's the scoop; do you remember last spring when the new daylight savings time change occurred, post Bush's changes? Remember that there were all kinds of problems with timer jobs, time stamps, and versions? Well, tzmove is supposed to allow you to "update data that is affected by a change in the start and/or end of daylight saving time (DST)." Basically it lets you specify the date values for all things that occur in the future to reflect the change in the daylight savings time, without having to manually edit the Timezone.xml file (which is what we had to edit manually last spring). See KB939809 for more about it (and tzmove too).

That last command makes me think that DST is never actually going to work right-- and what worries me is that it doesn't really address the problems we had with one time timer jobs, like backup or restore sessions.

As of now I have successfully installed the standalone service pack 1 onto a working WSS 3.0 installation on server 2008 RC0. Worked fine. However, I could not install the slipstreamed, WSS 3.0 with SP1 onto a fresh 2008 RC1 server. It failed at the end with a "failed to register windows sharepoint services" error...

...I'll be applying the service pack to an existing 2003 installation as soon as possible.

More to follow...

Here goes-- first test podcast on this blog

2007-12-09T17:40:00.000-05:00

Here it is-- my first mp3 podcast.

I created it using Audacity, exported it as an mp3 using the lame encoder. I uploaded it (it's about 2MB and about 4.5 minutes long) first to box.net but that turned out to require you to leave this site and log into their's, which I don't want, so I put it on my hosted site (not a permanent solution, btw).

I added the file's address to the "Link" field for this article. I am also going to link it within the body of this post, just in case.

I am going to test it to see if it works, then I might add it to feedburner, just to test.

This podcast is a test podcast, so please be kind. I need to know if it is good enough quality.

Testcast 1
By the way, I am not going to be streaming the podcast at this time, so it is download only.

EDITED-- Okay, it seemed to not allow me to download the file whole hog, but instead triggered quicktime to play it in my browser... interesting. This means that to stream or not to stream is a function of the client not the server. Nice to know.

Also, that link field that I entered the URL to the file in made the title of this entry the link to the podcast.

So this worked pretty well and only storing my podcasts (and later, videocasts) is an ongoing problem... That leads me to believe this just might work out... what do you think?

-callahan

I've been thinking about podcasting

2007-12-05T14:58:00.000-05:00

So I've been considering podcasting, or more precisely, videocasting, some of my complicated stuff for this blog.

I have a friend, who is a busy, busy MCT, who would like some good, foundational knowledge about WSS 3.0. And as my book is still (don't get me started about that...) not out, I thought I'd give him a head start with some audio and audio/video podcasts.

I've done some research for podcasting from blogger, and I think it might be doable.

Here are some hurdles to overcome:

Where to store the podcast/videocast files?
What software (and, in my case, what OS) to use to create the audio podcasts?
What software (and, in my case, what OS) to use to create the video podcasts?
What hardware is required, and what can I make do with until I decide whether or not its worth it?

Also, is Blogger the best place to even host podcasts?

In order to explore these issues I am first going to install Audacity, a free audio recording product-- http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.

Using it, on my Macbook pro with a logitech headset, I am going to create an introductory broadcast.

Then I plan to try a few hosting possibilities, such as google video, youtube, archive.org, or just hosting the file on a static server, no steaming software installed...

Then, when I pick the one I like, I will use feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home) to create a good feed for it, and even try to add it to itunes...

During the whole process I'll keep you posted. The whole point of this is to give my buddy some good WSS 3.0 info in an easy to understand, portable format. We'll see how I do.

Argh-- WSS will no longer be a server role for Server 2008

2007-11-18T18:29:00.001-05:00

Argh. Well, it's official. I knew, as of the release of the most recent build for 2008 (beta), that WSS 3.0 wasn't there as a server role, but I'd hoped it was something internal-- that it would come back.

Well, no. It seems that Server 2008 will not have SharePoint as a server role like it is for Server 2003 R2. This means that, when Server 2008 is released, WSS 3.0 will require a download and manual install, with all of the prep that would require.

Here's one of many blogs about it:
http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2007/10/29/windows-server-2008-and-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-update.aspx

and a tiny peek at what you'll have to do to install WSS 3.0 on 2008:
http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/10/30/installing-windows-sharepoint-services-3-0-on-windows-server-2008.aspx

It worries me for several reason. One is it implies that WSS is going to go through a version change soon, rendering my book somewhat obsolete months after it prints. Also, it implies that my existing implementations will soon require extensive upgrades as well-- so much work it boggles the mind. And it doesn't make me feel as if Microsoft is particularly confident about WSS as a product if they aren't willing to add it as a role to their new server product. What are they doing? Is it possible that there may no longer be a free, server role version of sharepoint in the future? (yes I know the blog seems pretty positive about offering WSS for free, but these are early days, and what exactly do they expect to have happen as part of the "development process"?) Is this a sign that MS regrets having both WSS and MOSS at one time and would like to eliminate WSS as a standalone product?

Man I hope not. However, I felt it necessary to give you the heads up. More on how to install WSS 3.0 on 2008 in detail soon, as well as ongoing information about what to expect when using it on server 2008.

IIS 7-- the adventure continues....

2007-11-16T12:24:00.000-05:00

So I've done some more research about trying to backup sharepoint in IIS 7, and I am becoming more frustrated. Everywhere I look I am reassured that backups can be done using APPCMD, but that's just the metabase!! Sharepoint has to be able to backup the configuration files for the web sites because metabases are server specific, they cannot be restored to other servers. If sharepoint could only backup the metabase data for its web applications, then how is it possible to restore sharepoint to a different server? It's not. Therefore either it can't be restored to different servers (because it has to backup the metabase, not the configuration files), or it can be restored to a different server, and therefore, somehow, sharepoint is backing up the configuration files.

So which will it be?

Again, how do I backup individual configuration files in IIS 7?

Further, for those of you (like me) want to be able to do backup/restore in the GUI, someone has created a "module" (because IIS 7 has become "modularized") that adds backup-restore to the console. Here are a few links to get you started:

The blog post I prefer to help me set it up:
http://blogs.msdn.com/rakkimk/archive/2007/11/04/iis7-backup-restore-ui-module.aspx

THe IIS.net entry that backs it up and gives you the download:
http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&i=1552&g=6

Hmmm, so how's IIS 7 with WSS 3.0?

2007-11-16T01:01:00.000-05:00

So the WSS 3.0 book has stalled, and I find myself sitting around twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the production staff to do things. So while I wait I have accepted an offer to write some courseware. This courseware will be about WSS 3.0 on Server 2008. Thus, while I have some spare time, I installed Release Candidate Zero (RC0) of server 2008 to see what has changed (Back when I had to stop beta testing what was then called Longhorn, WSS wasn't working as a role yet). This is a public beta, and available here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/audsel.mspx. WSS 3.0 seems to work normally without much change (but I'll keep you posted if something bad happens). There is something different under the covers though. Significantly different. IIS 7.0.

IIS 7.0 has been released with Vista. IIS 7.0 is going to be used by Server 2008 (which stands to reason). In order for WSS 3.0 to work on Server 2008, IIS 7.0 has to have IIS 6.0 backwards compatibility enabled-- particularly the IIS 6.0 metabase support.

So, when you use IIS 7.0, expect a very, very different console, full of all kinds of icons, several sections of repetitive links, and less capabilities. There is no backing up in the GUI. You cannot right click a Web Site or application pool and back it up. There is also no way to right click and back up (or check the backups) of the metabase.

Now, the backups happen and they work. And you can still do SharePoint backups no problem-- so the configuration data for the web sites has to work. However, the problem for me occurs when I try to backup IIS 7 on my own, just to be thorough with my backups.

Like Exchange 2007, the GUI for IIS 7 isn't where all the work goes on. IIS uses the command line tool: APPCMD.exe.

So far, I am only able (as you will see when you try out the public Release Candidate) to backup the full metabase for the server (APPCMD add backup "backupname"), but there doesn't seem to be a way to backup individual web site configuration files.

If you know something I don't, namely, how to backup the configuration file for web sites (and restore them) in IIS 7, please let me know. And if I figure it out in the meantime, I'll let you know here.

PartlyReduced-- It sounds good but what does it DO?

2007-11-03T15:12:00.000-04:00

So I am editing chapter 13, a chapter I didn't write, about STSADM.

Now this chapter was written in a manner that I wouldn't have done, but still, it does a good job conveying how to use the command line tool to do stuff in SharePoint. Because if this I have trusted the author and have let him do his own edits up to this point.

But, due to the sake of time, I had to look it over before the book gets any more stale.

To that end I am looking at the brief section called "Search Managment". In it is a brief blurb about using search to control indexing. To that end there is really only a few things you can do, like change the index files location, or modify the performance level. He then shows the syntax of the spsearch -farmperformancelevel command, using PartlyReduced, and then moved on.

But, but, what does partly reduced do? What does Maximum do? Or Reduced (assuming it is more reduced than partly reduced, but still...)?

So I looked and looked and looked, and now know why he mentions it and moves on (and I did tell him to cover the needful stuff and move on). Because no one is able to tell me what the heck setting my index to partly reduce its performance actually does to the performance.

So, as soon as I get done with these edits, expect me to explore exactly what partlyreduced really, really does.

And here's another question: If you can do everything using STSADM that you can use in the GUI, what is the command to change the indexing schedule using STSADM? I can't find it anywhere.

These things and more coming up as your intrepid servergrrl pokes a stick in every corner of WSS she can find until there are no more corners to poke...

SharePoint site down, repeat, site down....

2007-10-17T16:35:00.001-04:00

Well, more issues concerning Microsoft releasing hotfixes that completely ruin otherwise perfectly fine installations of sharepoint.

And again I say, do not ever install Microsoft Updates for your production servers without first checking to see if you need the update and can survive the consequences (backup, backup, backup, don't forget to backup before you apply it).

So a great many people have had either Central Administration become unaccessible, or all of their sharepoint sites.

There are blogs that have suggestions, one is vlad's http://www.vladville.com/fixing-sharepoint-30-with-kb932091, and one is a "near official" Microsofty's blog entry-- http://blogs.technet.com:80/wbaer/archive/2007/10/15/kb934525-troubleshooting.aspx. Check these out and see if they help.

And if you are wondering why I am not suggesting fixes step by step-- well I usually don't do step by steps if I don't need them. And, I didn't install the hotfix on any of my servers because they didn't need it. So I have not had any problems.... Mind you, if I had needed it, that would be a different story...

Yikes, Oct. 9 WSS 3 .0 update

2007-10-11T23:34:00.000-04:00

So there was a big rollup hotfix released for WSS 3.0. And maybe you're thinking you should just install it because, well, it's got to be good.

Before you do, consider this:

It cannot be uninstalled.
The hotfix will, somehow, be wiped should a service pack be installed, along with the fixes it applied.
It has problems with host headered site collections, search, and on SBS, restarting the sites themselves properly.

Don't believe me? Read it yourself (and more) at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934525/.

Before you install a hotfix/update/service pack always check the known issues to see if it is worth the risk, or if it breaks more than it fixes. Now you know.

If you installed the hotfix that updated WSS so that it stopped secretly sending information to Microsoft about your server without your permission, then it is possible that, after installing the Oct. 9 hotfix, your sharepoint site will completely cease to function. It will look like a database problem, but no database fix will seem to work. If that's the case, you need to uninstall the 932091 update, then reinstall it. See this blog entry http://www.vladville.com:80/fixing-sharepoint-30-with-kb932091 from some guy named Vlad for more details.

Just something conceptual... anonymous access

2007-09-22T18:42:00.001-04:00

I am now editing the end of chapter answers and I am doing chapter 8. One of the questions (mind you I did not write these, this is one of the chapters I didn't do) is about enabling anonymous access.

But it got me to thinking- the solution just glibly says that to enable anoymous access on a list or library you first enable AA on the web application, then you enable list and library AA at the site collection level, and then enable it at the particular list or library you want to allow AA.

Okay. That works.

But then, messing around, I forgot which web app/zone I enabled anonymous on. So I had a web app at http://sp2:8080/, and an extended web app at http://blogs.dem0share.com/; both pointing at the same content.

I enabled anonymous on blogs.dem0share.com, just to go through the steps in the answer to make sure they were correct. I then browsed to the site, assuming I'd have to log in before enabling AA at the top-level site of the site collection-- and wasn't prompted to log in.

?!

So I checked the permissions page's anonymous access settings and Entire Site was already enabled.

What's this?! I just enabled AA at the web application. I haven't set it yet... wait a minute, maybe I enabled AA on one of the other zones for the web app.

And sure enough, I had.

So here's the simple concept-- Site collections only have one anonymous access setting. Regardless of how many web application zones are used to funnel users to the sites, if one of the web apps allows anonymous, and the site allows AA at the entire site level, then you cannot enable AA on a different URL (zone) accessing the same site collection and expect to be allowed to have different site collection settings. When you enable AA for a URL, it simply unmasks the anonymous access settings for the site collection already being enforced. If AA is not enabled at a URL, then that option is not available for the users when they access the content.

But what we are taught is-- pick a URL, allow anonymous, then enable the specific kind of anonymous you want at the site collection level. Therefore, the next logical step would be, each URL that accesses the same site collection should be able to set different site collection access- which is wrong.

I guess, when you look at it like this, it's silly to even question. But I was still taken aback to find the site collection pre-set for anonymous when I innocently enabled it at the extended web app level. So I thought I'd just reinforce the concept-- don't enable anonymous on a URL without first checking to see if there are any other zones accessing the content that are already AA enabled. And if so, see what their content is set to allow.

Why do imported sites need to worry about versions?

2007-09-20T12:05:00.000-04:00

I wrote faithfully about the STSADM Import operation in the book-- that it has a parameter about preserving file versions.

But why? Why is it there?? The import has to be done, by definition, into a blank, empty site. There is no -overwrite parameter, so what versions is it actually going to mess up? Is it going to go back to the original and pull the newer versions in? What is that about?

I am going to mess with this further when I have time. Meanwhile, if any of you out there have an answer, please let me know....

More Microsoft Crazy Making

2007-09-16T21:06:00.000-04:00

I've caught a summer cold and am a little slow on my rants and announcements, but I just had to mention this (on the coattails of my rant last week).

I was editing chapter 10. I was going to be done early (yay me) when I was checking the next to last setting on the Application Management page-- the HTML Viewer.

I had written the section, having used the viewer configuration in the past, expecting to really challenge it when I had more time in author review.

Well, this is all the review I was going to get. So I fired up an XP workstation VM and added it to my little Sharepoint VM network to use it to host the HTML Viewer service and Office, so I could set up Sharepoint to point at it.

Then when I had the VM up, I went online to download the HTML Viewer from Microsoft, as you do... and it's not there.

It's not anywhere. Its page has been removed from Microsoft Downloads, all the mirror sites don't have it. Google cache doesn't have it, no one has it.

Troubled, I started searching. HTML Viewer is still supported on the WSS v2 site-- although it points to the dead link for the executable (htmlview.exe). But if you go to the WSS 3 site, or MOSS's for that matter, it is absolutely not mentioned. ANYWHERE.

I then went to the WSS 3.0 Technical Library on Technet's site. It is not mentioned anywhere. It's as is MS doesn't want to admit it ever existed... but the setting page is still right, smack dab on the freaking Application Management page!!

If they didn't want us to use it, if they were going to sneakily just take the necessary component to configure it away, why did they leave the page to configure it still in the interface?!!

Argghh.

So I left the info in the book, changed it to say it was for pre-existing configurations of HTML Viewer, and wrote a sidebar flatly stating that I think the feature has been deprecated, that possibly it is waiting for the Office 2007 HTML Viewer (dare we hope?), and otherwise it was really not meant to be used.

Okay, maybe that was bitter, but by that time I'd lost hours, it was after 2am and I was suffering from a brand new cold.

So now you know.

Argh, Microsoft drives me crazy-- Or how there is no global blocked file type list

2007-09-11T23:35:00.001-04:00

Okay, here's my rant of the day--- how the heck does total misinformation about the way sharepoint works actually make it to the darned Sharepoint interface?!

---Oh no wait-- is it because, despite the fact that I am using WSS only, this interface mistake is correct if you have added MOSS? Would they do that? If so then they need to strip non-WSS data out of the WSS interface----

So I am editing chapter 9 now. I am about halfway through, but you know me, I've got to challenge everything, even when I am in a desperate hurry.

So I got to a bit about the Blocked File Types. This chapter is supposed to be a quick reference, part way through the book, of the settings for Operations in Central Administration. Most of the real meat is in other chapters of the book (although, with the ones I didn't write, I can't be sure), but I want to be accurate, even if I am just blurbing.

So, on Blocked File Types page I notice some text at the top of the page itself. Something written there like a quick tip or suggestion about using the setting --- and it is wrong.

This is WSS 3.0, not an earlier version. It says: NOTE: To allow a file type that is currently blocked you must delete it from both the global and Web application lists.

THERE IS NO GLOBAL LIST ANYMORE, at least not for WSS 3.0. That statement, right at the top of the page, is outdated, misleading, confusing, and wrong. I can understand when a blogger, writer, or speaker gets it wrong. They don't work at MS, they are working on second hand information. But when the Sharepoint team itself, within MS, takes it for granted, without testing, that unblocking blocked file types is a two step process, when then I just despair.

It makes my job so hard when I can't even trust Microsoft to get it right. And what's worse is it makes people who are hardworking and dependable in the industry say things that are wrong because they picked the data up from the darned interface itself.

(here's an example http://www.sharepointblogs.com/ssa/archive/2007/05/09/unblocking-blocked-files.aspx)

And if someone disagrees, they do sort of vaguely, or maybe I'm the only one who has truly noticed: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mattg/archive/2007/03/13/blocked-file-types.aspx. This guy mentions (sort of, there's no "more..." to the article) that the setting should not be on the Operations page in Central Administration because it is set by web application and then almost mentions that it would be understandable if there were a global list....

Try it yourself. In WSS 3.0, go to the blocked file types page (Central Administration/Operations/Blocked File Types) and read the note for yourself. Then remove a blocked file type from a web application on the page (select the correct web application from he drop down, then delete an extension from the list). Click OK and go to a library in that web application. Upload the now unblocked file type and see that it works. No error page, nothing. No two step process, no going to search on the server to find the global.asax page or whatever to try to remove the file type globally.

this is the third such mistake I have found in the interface itself. It's so sloppy...

Sigh. Okay, rant off. back to work.

SQL 2005 collation matters to WSS

2007-09-11T15:53:00.000-04:00

So I am reinstalling SQL 2005 on one of my images so I can have my TE edit chapter 15. It's been about eight months since I've had to install and configure SQL and I completely forgot the collation requirements for Sharepoint.

I've got them now, and since I'm here I am going to record them for safekeeping.

WSS needs the collation to be Latin1-general, case insensitive (don't check it), AS, KS, WS.

Keep it in mind. ; )

Oh, and by the way, you need the workstation component to get the system manager, and don't forget to open remote connections with the surface area configuration manager....

extended web apps, a primer on AAM, and why I don' think they secure the way you think they do...

2007-09-10T21:23:00.000-04:00

So I am working on the edits for the web application chapter and I am at the end, where Alternate Access Mapping was introduced by, ironically, first extending a web app (not exactly what I would have done, but that's what happens when you give the chapter to another author). It's after that extension though, that everything comes together, the creation of the blogging web app earlier in the chapter, the anonymous access, the self-service site creation, the host header intro. And it is then that I really realized something that had been bothering me.

Alternate Access Mapping is purely a way to teach sharepoint what URLs to respond to, and what content to point them at when they come calling-- with a dash of misdirection if the URL it sends back isn't the one sent by the user initially. But it is also tied up with extending web applications in a way that almost makes me feel insulted.

Before we get to that, here's a pretty beefy primer on the Alternate Access Mapping concept so you understand where I am coming from here (and where I might be going wrong if you want to skool me):

You can have web applications that hold site collections that contain a structure of sites and subsites consisting of pages containing lists, libraries, and web parts (most of which point back at the lists and libraries). All of the site collections get their data for those pages from the content database(s) used by the web application. The site collections get their web addresses from appending their path to the web application's address, like http://sharesrv/sitecol1/.

And if that web application's contents are successful, a lot of your users will want to use it, and may want to use it from several different places-- like the office, home, and at branch offices. So to give those users access to those site collections, you have to somehow get Sharepoint to accept more than one URL for the same web application.

Therefore you can use Alternate Access Mapping and just associate some URLs to the same web application, meaning you can have http://sharesrv for the internal office users, and http://sharesrv.mycompany.com for the external users. As long as DNS is set up correctly, then both URLs will go to the same web application.

So why would you ever want to extend a web application? I really had to wrestle with this concept (no, not to understand the concept, but to understand why). An extended web application is where you create a second IIS Web Site that uses the same application pool as an existing web application. This means the extended web application uses exactly the same content as the first web application.

According to Microsoft and people who repeat what they say, you want to extend a web app' because that second web app' can use different security and a different URL. And if you give that extended web app's URL to users that need to be constrained by that extended web app's security, they will use that URL and be constrained. And what is really pushed is the fact that Alternate Access Mapping is a thinly veiled way of managing the URLs of your various extended web applications.

Sharepoint handles URLs as internal and public (external). Internal URLs are what sharepoint gets from the user, accepts them, and sends back the appropriate data. Public URLs are what sharepoint uses to show the user it's links and usually the internal and public URLs are the same.

That makes sense to me, if you want a different URL for a web app to be accepted by sharepoint, you use a public URL (which made its own internal matching URL for resolution purposes only) and point it at the correct web app. Then the user (if DNS is set up correctly) uses either URL and still gets to the web app. Case closed.

All web applications have one real internal URL and five public URLs they can use. Yes, five. Why five you ask? I ask that too. This where MS muddies the waters. Instead of having a nice clear concept of using alternate URLs for web apps, they decided that, in addition to doing alternate URLs, sharepoint will also use the public URLs as the only way to create and manage URLs for those extended web applications.

Remember those? Extended web applications are IIS Web Sites that point to the same content for, apparently the sake of having a different URL than the original web application and for the sake of being able to explicitly set things like authentication and SSL on the extended web app that is different than the original web app.

You can only have four extended web applications per existing web application by the simple expedient of having only four fields available (default is taken by the internal address of original web app itself). These public URL fields are called zones, and you select from the available ones for a web app being extended when you are filling in the settings for the new extension (so to speak). When you fill in a zone address, which is a public URL, it also creates a matching internal URL so that sharepoint uses that address coming and going, you could say.

Say you wanted to have more than one URL go to the same web application, and you decide not to just type one in one of the public URL fields, but instead you decide to create an extended web application for it instead.

So, you use the URL you want for the extended web app, and assign it a public URL zone. Back in Alternate Access Mapping that public URL will be taken. Everywhere else in the administrative interface for sharepoint, that extended web app will be referred to by its zone name. So if you want to change its security settings or whatever, remember that you need to remember its zone. You won't be seeing it by it's URL anywhere. Furthermore, it's not considered "real", so if you want to make any general web app changes (like enable the metaweblog api), you can only do that for the "real" existing web app it was extended from.

Anyway, you have an alternate URL to access the original web application's contents. You can apply security to that extended web app so the users who use its URL to get to the content will have to comply with its security requirements, like SSL or Kerberos (eek).

So now you're with me: how using extended web apps ties up and limits Alternate Access Mappings to these arbitrary four public zones. Muddying the clear waters of alternate addressing with forcing the alternate access for an existing web application to a few public URLs with a strong insistence that those should be extended, extra IIS Web Sites pointed at the same data.

And also I have a concern about this whole alternate web apps with different URLs thing implying that it will somehow secure sharepoint sites by simplygiving the different groups of users the URL you want them to use.

And, of course, that'll work, right? They'll just be happy using that one URL. They won't confer with their buddies and find out that james uses a different URL than they do, one that lets him see things on sharepoint pages without logging in, right? And, even if they did, they'd never be tempted, nay driven, to use that URL instead, would they?

I find the idea of security through expecting users to freely comply to be bad practice. Unless you have only one internal URL for the office, and one URL for outside of the firewall, I don't see how the users are not going to figure out how to cheat. Hell, internal users can use the external address if they want to, so even with two URLs, half of the users can be exposed to data they possibly shouldn't, or security settings you weren't expecting.

And that's why I am bothered by zones, extended web applications, and alternate access mapping. Because they strongly imply that admins must create more IIS web sites to use for public URLs, which they seem to think will corral those users and get them to access the site collections using only the URL they suggest. And then, to allow only four public URLs per web app, adds insult to injury...

...Frankly, what I have come up with, and this seems to be true of most things sharepoint is that there is no why to a feature that is there, or how it works, or how its set. The point to sharepoint is not that it was meant to do something in particular. Often we find a use for it that has nothing to do with what we were told it was meant to do, we use it because of what it does. The point to sharepoint is not that the option, feature, or setting is there, specifically, for a single use or reason. The point to sharepoint is that the option is there if you have a reason for it. If you want it, extended web apps are there for you. If you want, you can use the public zones for URLs you type in that are not part of the extended web apps. You can use SSL, Kerberos, or Anonymous Access on either or both the original web app or the extended one. And, finally, you can try to tell only those users who need to have a certain kind of access to use a certain URL. It's up to you.

This is how I am feeling during the last few hours of editing chapter 8, if you're wondering.

Interesting URL trick-- How to Get a SharePoint Server on the Farm to Use Its own Local Central Admin Site

2007-09-02T22:24:00.000-04:00

So I am in the end run for editing the book and I, of course, ran into something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I am doing...

...Bill Baer has a great little blog article about changing the URL address of a Sharepoint server's default Central Administration site.

I've always hated how, by default, even if you enable Central Administration on a second (or third, or fourth) sharepoint server in the farm, that server never actually points to its own Central Admin site's address.

Now I've always thought that I needed to add it in the Alternate Access Mapping, but according to Bill Baer, it's a registry thing. That each server has a hardcoded URL that it uses for its access Central Administration site. According to the blog entry, you need to change the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\WSS. Locate CentralAdministrationURL and edit the value to reflect the desired location.

Check out the blog entry at: http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/08/30/sharepoint-3-0-central-administration-url-on-multiple-web-front-end-servers.aspx

Ifilters, TIFFs, and OCR...or why don't my TIF files show up in search queries?

2007-08-25T19:41:00.000-04:00

You know that SharePoint (That's at least MOSS and WSS3) is capable of indexing the contents of Office files because it comes with built in Ifilters for those products. You, like myself, have also read the hype about the fact that SharePoint was also meant, out of the box, to be able to index content of OCR TIFF files.

But, when you add a TIFF to a library, and then search for it, the file doesn't come up in the results unless your query includes something from the file's metadata.

And that is because, despite the Ifilter being built in, it is not turned on. In order to enable the ifilter for OCR to be enabled you must enable it in the registry of the sharepoint server (and likely all servers on the farm). The KB article outlining what to do is: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837847. Please note, as I am in the last throes of editing the book I don't have time to try this puppy out. So all I am, at this point, is the messenger girl. But if I get it to work I'll try to squeeze it into chapter 15. If I can't, well, you'll read about here with screenshots and everything.

Meanwhile, feel free to try it out and see if it works for you.

Document Libraries, Forms, Explorer View, and Combine.aspx, or Hmmm, why's that there?

2007-08-19T00:24:00.000-04:00

So I am messing around with libraries while I edit the library chapter, and I came across something that puzzled me earlier (when I was writing the chapter) but I didn't have time to mess with it.

I don't have time to mess with it now, but I can't take the chance of ignoring it either.

Have you ever noticed, when you are in a document library, that you can use Explorer view?

Have you noticed, in Explorer View (or if you use Open with Windows Explorer, you get an explorer window), that there is a hidden folder called Forms?

Have you noticed, in the Forms folder that there is a file called Combine.aspx?

Have you ever wondered what it does or why it's there?

Well, for starts, it is a view page that displays the libraries contents with check boxes so you can select several of the library items in one shot, and a Merge Selected Documents button. However, it will never work for a standard library holding standard documents or other files.

It only works with InfoPath 2007 (see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/EN-US/library/ms452435.aspx for more about it).

So why is it available in a document library? I don't know, but maybe it was an oversight and MS should have removed it before RTM. Maybe it's an unfinished feature left in and forgotten in the rush to release.

Nonetheless, Combine.aspx, which opens a Merge Documents view in a library, is supposed to allow you to merge InfoPath forms, if you are using an InfoPath template for the library (and if you are using a Forms Library you are), and if InfoPath is installed locally on the machine you are using to access the site and perform this function.

What I know for sure is, no matter what you do in a document library, you will always get an error dialog box that is completely useless. It tells you, again and again, to make sure you have the correct template associated with the library and if you don't, and you are allowed to administer the library, please change the template to the correct one---- with no mention as to what the correct one would be (my guess is InfoPath).

I think, despite the fact that Combine.aspx exists in the Forms folder, that's why Merge Documents is not a standard view in the view drop down menu for any library--- not even the Forms library.

Now you know.

SharePoint Security? An oxymoron? An after thought?

2007-08-07T15:35:00.001-04:00

You know the old adage, "The only secure computer is one that is off, unplugged, in the back of a closet." Securing data has always been a case of how inaccessible you want the data to be. If accessing data easily from anywhere is the main focus of a product, chances are good that security will not be.

I was recently asked to submit some abstracts to a conference in Toronto (absolutely *love* that city, those people rock). It's a hardcore security conference. And they want me to, since I am so into WSS, to focus on WSS security.

Now I am talking hardcore, 300 to 400 level security; threat modeling, hack-this-box kind of stuff. Real white hat/black hat, exploit people.

So, what would I talk about concerning security to this jaded bunch of experts?

How about being prepared for the disgruntled administrator? About *really* securing Central Administration? Or what damage you can do with knowing the server farm account, or content database accounts? Or what nefarious things can be done with policy for web application? I dunno. I have been so busy, so overwhelmed, with documenting all the normal functions of sharepoint, I really haven't had time yet to focus on exploiting it.

And now, in the middle of editing, maybe I should. I know, I am doing something else, but this is how it happens. You never get opportunities when you can do them, only when you are too busy to think about them. But inevitably, those opportunities come up, like a call for papers, months before the actual event takes place.

So, in order to have a job at all in November, I have to find time to respond now.

I'll let you know what I come up with, and whether or not they are accepted, as soon as I can.

I just had to get this off my chest-- something I forgot to say about Closed Web Parts gallery

2007-08-06T11:02:00.001-04:00

Okay look, in chapter 4, I talk about, and demonstrate, using the closed web part gallery.

But there's something I forgot to say, and it is driving me nuts.

The closed web parts gallery is page specific. It makes sense. If you close a web part on a page, sharepoint will remember it in case you change your mind.

It is not site wide, it is not site collection wide. If you try to be clever and close a web part on page one, thinking it would go to the closed web part gallery and be available on page two, you would be sorely mistaken. See, that's what exporting and the site collection web part gallery are for.

Further, the closed web part gallery is page view version specific. In otherwords, and this makes sense if you think about it, if you have a web part on a page's shared version, it will be on your personal version of the page. Then if you edit your personal version, and in doing so close the web part, it will show up in the closed web part gallery for that version of the page, only.

If you go back to the shared version of the page, the web part is still there. And if you check the galleries, you'll see that its not on that version's closed web parts.

Something else to keep in mind is if you have many, many closed web parts associated with a page or page version, it might load more slowly. So if slow page loads have begun to plague your home page, check to see how many closed web parts might be lurking in your (or the user's) closed web parts gallery. Consider that when configuring the web parts, you might want to allow delete (which deletes the web part from the users' personal version of the web part page), but not close-- just in case.

I really wish I'd remember to put this in. I just hit send, then remembered.

Sigh, so much minutae, so little time...

W00t, Technorati, claim me away!!!

2007-08-01T15:46:00.000-04:00

Technorati Profile

technorati needs to me add this link to a post so it will let me claim my blog so it can start pinging it. Hey, I'm all for that right? So here goes....

Further adventures with blogging, search, and what is that smell?!

2007-07-31T20:25:00.000-04:00

In my continued blogquest, I have been working primarily with this blog and my wordpress one.

Why? Because I really like their themes, but they are really having problems getting hits at google and dogpile.

What to do? What to do?

I've been trying to get them validated and added as websites to index via google's web site management tool. I've been trying to manage their pings, add them manually, work with technorati. But despite my best efforts, none of them work as well as livejournal. Nothing touches that site in terms of quick addition to just exactly the right search engines.

Meanwhile though I have learned that pingbacks are better than trackbacks. That using google's feed reader (googlereader) will help google realize your blog is out there and index it. That google goes at whatever the hell pace it wants to to index your site and unless you shell out some dough, there's nothing you can do about it.

There is such a thing as pingoat, which should, eventually help you let search engines know you are out there. Weblogs.com also helps. You can go to google directly to add your site (when they get around to it), as well as ping technorati. Dogpile will also help ping all the appropriate serch engines, for a pretty hefty fee.

Just wanted to update you on my continued attempts while trying to decide on the blogs I am keeping to record the adventures of a server grrl.

And I was just kidding about the smell.... ; )

I am adding this text: servergrrl to see what happens. This is something I am supposed to add to a post to get it tagged by technorati... here goes

googledcab8e4e5d79cfd0

2007-07-30T13:29:00.000-04:00

So I am trying to get google to find my blog better. I went to Business Solutions on the Google home page and they have this webmaster tool that (I think) is supposed to encourage Google to search your site.

To that end, you first have to enter the site URL that you want Google to search, then you have to be verified as the owner by adding page or metatag to the site. I don't really know how to add the metatag to a Blogger site, so I thought I'd add the HTML page.

But how? Well, I noticed that blog entries on Blogger are named by their title.html. So I thought I'd create this post and see what happens.

Update: Well that didn't work. You see Google requires that you add the html page with the special google-generated name to the root of your site. You cannot specify where the file goes. my blog entries on the site are organized by date. So the blog entry link for this post is the site's URL/2007/07/..then the name of the post. Google wants it to be site's URL/name of the post.

There is a second option for verifying a site for Google to index, and that's adding a metatag to the home page. I am not sure exactly how to do that on a Blogger site, but what I did is go into the dashboard for the blog and edit the template for the blog. That put me into some HTML that showed the "head" section of code, and that's where I put the, again, google-generated metatag. I checked to make sure my blog still looks the same, saved the change, then closed out. I then tried to get Google to verify the site as mine.

Notice I said "tried" because then Google had a "Our system has experienced a temporary problem error." The explanation was that too many people were trying to verify their sites at the exact same time. Rriiigghhtt.

So there you go. The attempt to get Google to see me continues...

Second update: Woo hoo, I have been Verified! Now I just need to add a sitemap so that google will index it or something. More on that later as well...

Welcome to the Adventures of Server Grrl

2007-07-28T18:11:00.000-04:00

I've had a blog elsewhere for years, full of the technical flotsam and jetsam of my life. But now, you see, I have written this book about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (I am now editing it) and have been given the advice that the book might need its own blog pages.

So, here they are.

This blog was meant to offer readers a place to communicate with me directly, and for me to communicate with them directly as well. There were so, so, so many things I wanted to put in the book that I couldn't. Along the way there are things that I learned and experienced concerning WSS that I weren't appropriate for the book for one reason or another that I wish I could tell people about. Maybe ask them what they thought of this concept or that to be added to the next edition of the book, maybe to see what we can afford to take out.

So here is where those thoughts will be taking place, those lessons will be mentioned, and those questions will be asked.

This blog is going to be a transition from my old blog-- http://callahansspace.spaces.live.com/, so there may be some transitional articles posted on both for my old readers and my new ones. So for those who notice the redundancy, it will be intentional.