Setting the default quota template for site collections in a web application is easy enough. But what do you do when you want to change the template associated with some or all of the site collection in a web application? Out of the box, there are no...

Update: Astute readers will note that the following examples make use of the scratch custom claims provider . Recently, the question of automating custom claim assignments to SharePoint groups has come up. For example, if you’ve got a custom claim provider...

Frequently, I find it useful to have a common starting point – what Raymond Chen describes as a “ scratch program ” (or a new scratch program , for those update-minded types). Within SharePoint, things are never that simple – a scratch SharePoint solution...

This was the question I posed to a colleague this morning. His answer surprised me – “Every time you authenticate.” Before we move on, let’s just call this foreshadowing . Problem is, this statement was at odds with the behavior that I, and many of you...

SharePoint 2010 supports database mirroring for just about every database you can think of (there are some exceptions - the Synchronization database of the User Profile service, for instance). This allows SharePoint to make use of the Failover Partner...

Recently, a few people have been trying to figure out how to get user profile synchronization working when doing claims authentication via a trusted identity provider, as is the case in many federation scenarios involving ADFS, for instance. I've heard...

The folks over at Orbit One Internet Solutions took my blog posting regarding automatic selection of authentication providers in SharePoint 2010 and really ran with it. They've posted what looks to be a fine solution adding and extending all the things...

I ran into a completely understandable, but rather funny error condition today and thought I'd write up a quick note in case anyone else out there bumps against this, too. In SharePoint 2010, service applications sometimes have dependencies on other...

Answer: It's not. You just followed our guidance, and we probably should've told you a few additional things. We frequently give people the advice that they should run Central Administration on more than a single machine in the SharePoint farm. The...

Q: I want to enable anonymous access for a Web Application through PowerShell! A: Well, time was the Set-SPWebApplication cmdlet had a -AllowAnonymous switch that made this simple. We have documentation that even refers to the -AllowAnonymous switch...

When estimating performance and capacity, there are no guarantees except for the guarantees that you build for yourself . This means that, despite all the documentation, no one, no piece of paper, will ever tell you how your environment is going to behave...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1105 NPR had a great story on Morning Edition about the history of the Vocoder. A new book has been written that describes its origin, it's eventual adaptation into a musical instrument, and it's...

In software development, laziness is a virtue . The lineage of software is sometimes surprising. The fact that seemingly unrelated systems and software can exhibit the same behavior can imply relationships that - in reality - may or may not exist....

In SharePoint 2007, you were limited to a single authentication mechanism per AAM zone. With SharePoint 2010, this is still the case when dealing with "Classic" mode authentication, but in Claims-based authentication scenarios, the limitation of a signle...

Things to not do during a presentation: If you are using a web conferencing/presentation tool that supports the upload and display of PowerPoint decks, take advantage of it. Your end users will get a signifigantly better experience than you just...

Using AAM URL redirection as part of the upgrade process http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee720448(office.14).aspx Configure forms-based authentication for a claims-based Web application http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee806890...

On May 4th, from 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time in the United States, I'll be the guest on Tech Talks with Tim Van Der Kooi giving my second TechNet Web Cast, this time on upgrading to SharePoint 2010. You can register by clicking here . My first...

When you configure a particular service to run on a particular server, if the server you chose isn't the local server, SharePoint registers a timer job (an instance of SPServiceInstanceJobDefinition, to be exact) that has a singular purpose - to deserialize...

Filtering profile imports is a much more powerful experience in SharePoint 2010, due in large part to the much more generic and extensible profile import mechanism in place. Those familiar with http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;827754...

Despite constant assertions by my mother to the contrary, computers don't behave randomly, nor are they boxes filled with magic. Even the output of a non-deterministic function can only be thought of conceptually as "random" while we don't understand...

By default, IIS 7.0 limits the maximum size of any request. Those of you who have implemented SharePoint 2007 on Windows 2008 are very familiar with this; specifically, modifications must be made to the web.config for your provisioned web applications...

ASP.NET 4.0 includes a new member on the HttpResponse class - RedirectPermanent . Baked in support for issuing HTTP 301's? Yay!

Have you ever gotten your system to a state that you absolutely love - all your apps and utilities loaded, Visual Studio instaled, etc. - and find that you need to load Potentially Deadly Beta Software v0.8? Have you ever cringed at the thought that loading...

When IIS 7.0 shipped with Windows Server 2008, one of the many new features included this new doodad called Kernel Mode Authentication. Enabled by default, KMA moved authentication operations performed by IIS out of user mode and into the kernel. This...

Every SSP that is created in a farm is represented to the world by a virtual directory configured beneath the Office Server Web Services web application that's configured on every node within a SharePoint farm. The Office Server Web Services web application...