Christophe Fiessinger's Blog

Microsoft Project Conference 2009 Session Recordings / Videos

Hello, in case you did not attend the Project Conference last September 2009, all the sessions recording are now available free of charge here: http://www.microsoft.com/video

Search using terms like “Project 2010”: http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/search?phrase=project%202010

or this to find out about Project Server 2007 best practices and partner solutions for instance: http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/search?phrase=project%202007

An please remember that 2010 is available to ALL as of today: Announcing Microsoft Project 2010, Project Server 2010 Public Beta Availability

Announcing Microsoft Project 2010, Project Server 2010 Public Beta Availability

Bonjour, in case you missed it, Microsoft Project Professional 2010 and Microsoft Project Server 2010 are all available for download as part of the 2010 Public Beta availability (alongside SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 applications): http://www.microsoft.com/project/2010

Public Beta is available for the following languages: Chinese (Simplified), English, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish

		239 MB
		22 MB, and remember you need to install SharePoint Enterprise 2010
		561 MB

Please get the bits and test it out but read carefully the expectations from a deployment point of view, read up on TechNet about Public Beta limitations: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662496(office.14).aspx

Important:

Upgrading from Project Server 2010 Technical Preview to Project Server 2010 Beta is not supported.

Important: The Public Beta is not supported for production use. Important:

Upgrading from the Project Server 2010 public Beta to the Project Server 2010 released version is explicitly blocked and not supported. This restriction applies to both the in-place and database-attach upgrade methods.

More information about Project 2010 can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/project/

Must Read SharePoint guidance for SQL Server database administrators

The following white paper was published last week on TechNet: SharePoint guidance for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database administrators

Why a must read? Well in case you did not know all your data gets stored in a SQL database at the end of the day :) and typically this is the bottleneck in your farm architecture, hence it’s key to follow best practices and guidelines to ensure optimal performance, not to mention that SharePoint 2010 will require a lot more databases due to the new Service Application architecture so time to ramp up on SQL 2008 to be better prepared for SharePoint and Project Server 2010. Yes even though this article is written for SharePoint most guidance applies to Project Server 2007 since it’s a SharePoint application; refer to this white paper for Project Server specific SQL guidance: Microsoft Project Server 2007 Performance and Capacity Planning Best Practices Whitepaper

Abstract

This book is a guide for database administrators who implement or maintain Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. It provides guidelines for improving the performance of SharePoint Server solutions running on Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008.

This guide provides information about key considerations for configuring storage and SQL Server before installing SharePoint Server; the required steps in installing SharePoint Server when using DBA-created databases; backup and recovery considerations for SharePoint Server, including what can and cannot be protected by SQL Server backups; and maintaining and monitoring SQL Server databases that support a SharePoint Server implementation.

Estas listo para Project 2010? Microsoft Project 2010 Ignite en México.

En días anteriores, les habíamos anunciado una serie de capacitaciones presenciales, técnicas y de ventas, en Microsoft Project 2010. (Are you Project 2010 Ready? - Announcing Project 2010 Technical Ignite and Sales Training).

Todavía estas a tiempo para registrarte, pero recuerda que hay un cupo limitado y los espacios se están llenado muy rápido.

No dejes pasar esta excelente y gratuita J oportunidad de capacitación donde podrás conocer las mejoras y las nuevas funcionalidades de los productos, tales como Administración de la Demanda, Administración de Portafolios, las nuevas capacidades en reportes y en el tema de actualización de avance de tareas y la nuevas ventajas por la integración con SharePoint 2010 entre algunas de las sesiones.

Son tres días de capacitación, del 1 al 3 de diciembre 2009, el evento se realizará en Microsoft México, Paseo de Tamarindos No. 400 A, Piso 22, Bosques de las Lomas, 05120 México, D.F., En el sitio del Project 2010 Ignite podrás ver más información sobre las sesiones técnicas y de ventas, como también la agenda del evento.

Esperamos verlos y que podamos compartir, adicional a las capacitaciones, un delicioso antojito mexicano y un vigorizante tequila. Regístrate ya...!!!

Si no nos puedes acompañar en México, este mismo evento se estará dando en Sao Paulo, Brasil, del 8 al 10 de diciembre, te puedes registrar en el evento que mejor se acople a tu agenda.

Lo importante es que no dejes pasar la oportunidad de recibir de capacitación que te preparará para la nueva versión del producto.

Special thanks to Omar Quesada Madrigal from EPMWorks, http://epmworks.com for helping write this :)

For non-Spanish speakers, just come over to Mexico City in December (1-3) to learn about Microsoft Project 2010!

Microsoft Project 2010 Must Read Blog Posts

Hello in case you have missed them the Project engineering team (yes from Redmond) has started a series of blog posts on the key new features/capabilities of Microsoft Project 2010. The series started with desktop enhancements and is now in full gear with server based enhancements. All are MUST read posts so get a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and learn about Project 2010:

• Project 2010: Introducing Web Based Project Editing
• Project 2010: Introducing User-Controlled Scheduling
• Project 2010: Introducing Sync to SharePoint
• Project 2010: Introducing the Team Planner
• Project 2010: Introducing the Timeline View
• Project 2010: Introducing the Ribbon

As announced we also have plenty of content on TechNet and MSDN:  ANNOUNCING the launch of Project 2010 technical resource centers at TechNet and MSDN and Forums!

SharePoint and Project Server ULS Viewer Tool Released

Just saw this tool reading this post: UlsViewer released – Available on MSDN Code Gallery: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer

This rocks! written and tested by the best office developers, will help you troubleshoot your 2007 and 2010 farms!

ULSViewer allows users to open a ULS log file and display its contents in a user friendly format. Users can then perform advanced functions such as filtering, sorting, highlighting, loading logs, appending logs, etc in order to single out the data that is important to the user. This information can be used to diagnose problems with machines running ULS services, or to monitor machines and the events they create in realtime.

ANNOUNCING the launch of Project 2010 technical resource centers at TechNet and MSDN and Forums!

We are pleased to announce the availability of the following Microsoft Project 2010 technical resources, save these bookmarks!

TechNet Project 2010 TechCenter

At http://technet.microsoft.com/projectserver/default.aspx the following areas are covered for IT Professionals:

• Planning, Deploying and Operating Project 2010 Environment, including Project 2010 hardware and software requirements and deployment guidance
• Upgrade and Migrating to Project 2010 through a brand new “Upgrade and migration” resource center

MSDN Project 2010 Developer Center

At http://msdn.microsoft.com/project/ developers will find growing list of resources including Project 2010 Beta Software Development Kit (SDK) as we move closer to Project 2010 Beta in November.

Project 2010 Forums

Get all your Project 2010 end-user, IT Professional and Developer questions answered by product experts from Microsoft and the community (Project MVPs):

• Project Professional 2010 General Questions and Answers: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/projectprofessional2010
• Project Server 2010 General Questions and Answers: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/projectserver2010

Please not this is the first milestone of a journey, new content will continuously to these sites.

Announcing the release of the Microsoft Project and Project Server 2007 October 2009 Cumulative Update

Same guidance, resources and best practices as this: Announcing the release of the Microsoft Project and Project Server 2007 August Cumulative Update

Check out Brian’s blog post for more information: Project Server 2007: October 2009 Cumulative Updates (CU) are Available as well as this from the SharePoint team: October 2009 Cumulative Update Packages for SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Must Read Downloadable Content

Following last week’s disclosure at the SharePoint conference please find below lots of must read documents for IT Professionals and Developers about SharePoint 2010:

• Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide - Introduction and overview of SharePoint Server 2010 for IT pros.
• SharePoint 2010: Professional Developer Evaluation Guide and Walkthroughs - The SharePoint 2010 developer evaluation guide describes the SharePoint 2010 developer platform, including walkthroughs of some of the new capabilities for developers.

and lots more downloadable content using this search query:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?freetext=%22sharepoint+2010%22&displaylang=en&stype=s_basic

Lots more content on this official SharePoint 2010 site as well: http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/Pages/default.aspx

Microsoft Project 2010 Session at Tech Ed Europe 2009

Please find below the list of Project 2010 sessions we will be delivering at Tech Ed Europe 2009 in Berlin in November. We will also have a Microsoft Project 2010 booth staffed by product experts in the Microsoft Product Pavilion so please drop by and ask plenty of questions!

Looking forward to see you all in Berlin in a few weeks (we’ll be staying at Hotel Berlin, Lutzowplatz 17) if you want to meet up. Will be exciting to be in Berlin for the anniversary of the fall of the wall!

If you have not done so yet register for these:

• Are You Project 2010 Ready? Prague Ignite Training in November
• Are You Project 2010 Ready? Paris Ignite Training in November

Microsoft Project Server 2007 Performance and Capacity Planning Best Practices Whitepaper

I am pleased to announce the release of a white paper written by Michael Jordan, Lead Architect from Microsoft Consulting Services entitled: Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 – Performance and Capacity Planning Best Practices This is a great asset for all customers and partners to ensure they are following deployment best practices to guarantee optimal performance, it is based on best practices learned from hundreds of Project Server 20007 customers engagements as well as scalability labs. 

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to extend the Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Performance Testing Lab (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2f595e22-c9f1-4376-a8b2-7a7eccd2aba5&displaylang=en) whitepaper by providing Best Practices and Recommendations. Further recommendations are made in this guide based on field experience and deployment successes in real world scenarios against the main areas of the system. The emphasis is on Project Server 2007 in a production environment using physical servers. Reference is made to virtualization in the relevant sections. However, for a more comprehensive overview please read the Project Server 2007 Hyper-V guide (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc982157.aspx).

The guidelines and recommendations in this guide present the “what” and “why”. Certain areas are prescriptive providing steps on “how” to accomplish the recommendation. However, the assumption is the audience of this guide is able to understand the reasons behind the guidance and take the necessary actions within their organization to implement optimization that applies to their scenario.

The guidelines and recommendations in this guide cover technical, functional and process related guidance. It’s important to note these are mutually inclusive of each other and present cross-impacts through the system when a design is not balanced across all 3 areas. It’s expected that administrators of a Project Server 2007 deployment will collect regular operational and functional data, and over time trend the system for performance and scalar depth. Optimization in all areas is required on a regular basis to maintain an efficient system and identify remediation steps through operational policies.

Audience

The intended audience includes IT administrators, database administrators, data architects, system engineers, project managers and business analysts who may be involved in implementing Project Server 2007. This document is designed for a reader who has general knowledge of all the required application and platform components that support Project Server 2007.

Additional Project Server 2007 resources for IT Professionals can be found on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/projectserver/default.aspx

Windows 7: 1,2,3,4,5,6, 7777777777

Yes!

Microsoft Project Server 2010 Hardware and Software Requirements

It’s now officially on TechNet for SharePoint and since Project Server 2010 is built on SharePoint Server 2010 the same requirements applies: Determine hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010) 

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Official Disclosure: Hello World!

Tons of announcements and disclosure at the SharePoint Conference 2009 this morning during Steve Ballmer’s and Jeff Teper’s keynote. It’s super exciting to have Project Server 2010 built on top of SharePoint Server 2010 and be able to leverage all its new and enhanced capabilities!

Some quick highlights (more to come :)):

• Public Beta will be available in November, yes that includes SharePoint Server, SharePoint Foundation, all Office 2010 desktop applications and Project Professional 2010 and Project Server 2010 (sign up here for Public Beta notification).
• RTM is still scheduled for the first half of 2010
• PowerPivot for Excel 2010 (a great way to mine your rich Project Server data)
• SharePoint 2010 Beta Resources (TechNet)
• SharePoint 2010 (Beta) Developer Center (MSDN)
• Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 is available for download for MSDN subscribers
• SharePoint 2010 Resources
• Tons of content (videos, etc…) are on the SharePoint 2010 site: http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/Pages/default.aspx

We will be launching the Project Server 2010 TechNet and MSDN sites very shortly, stay tune for more info.

And check out this must read post from the product team: Project 2010: Introducing Sync to SharePoint

Are You Project 2010 Ready? Paris Ignite Training in November

Following this recent post: Are you Project 2010 Ready? - Announcing Project 2010 Technical Ignite and Sales Training spaces for the upcoming European training locations are filling up fast so register now.

Our second location will be in Paris, France and specifically the training will be help at this Parisian hotel: Hotel Concorde la Fayette - 3, Place du Général Kœnig | 75017 Paris | France, http://www.concorde-lafayette.com/en/

Jan Kalis Doug McCutcheon and myself look forward to see you there, have fresh baguette, stinky cheese and good wine (we are staying at the hotel above), Register Today!