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

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

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...

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

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..."

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?

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...

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:

1. 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
   


2. 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.


3. 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).
   


4. 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.
   


5. 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.