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Monday, January 01, 2007 9:33 AM

Life 2.0 - Premiering 01-06-2007

And this blog shall pass away....

For reasons why, see my new blog and my initial posting (Same title as this one :)).

 - Keith Richie

 

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Tuesday, December 19, 2006 4:46 PM

Upgrading a SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Shared Services Farm with NLB and Forced SSL to MOSS 2007

How's that for a blog posting title!

Oh, and I'll add IIS redirect virtual servers into the mix.

I've been working with a customer on detailing all the steps necessary to make this a reality, and I've seen quite a few posts out on some internet searches where a ton of folks are asking this exact same question.

"How and what is the procedure for upgrading a SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Shared Services Farm with Network Load Balancing and Forced SSL to MOSS 2007"

This is certainly a loaded question, and there are important aspects you really need to understand about your current deployment and take into consideration before you just install the bits and start running.  Also, this doesn't even consider the state of your sites, i.e. how many custom site definitions, site templates, or web parts, etc, etc, etc.

As well, I discovered one important piece about your current environment you need to be aware of that boils down to what URL and name you bound your portal/wss sites on to begin with. My team has been harping on me to document and explain this specific “What’s in a name” piece for a very, very, very long time, and I don’t see how I can get by with explaining this whole upgrade process without starting with it.

Unfortunately, you’re not going to get all your answers in “This” blog post, so consider this a teaser trailer for a series of blog postings on this subject coming to an aggregator near you!

More to come

-       Keith Richie

 

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Monday, November 27, 2006 7:58 PM

Understanding SharePoint - Part 6 - Duplicate Content Sources bound to multiple indexes causes duplicate alerts to be fired

I had a theory that this caused problems and validated it today while working with a customer who has a large number of content sources spread across multiple indexes.

Note: First of all, poking around through the UI to look at all the details of indexes, content sources, etc is a real pain.  Thus (You guessed it :)) I wrote a tool to gather and export this information so that I could look at it holistically.  It was actually a modification to the SPSAddCS tool in the SharePoint utility suite, just modified to use XML and added a "Read" operation to it to dump the data in XML.

Once I've had a chance to test it out in more detail, I'll post the code for it as well.

Since this customer had 4+ portal indexes with approximately 10 content sources per index, it made it allot easier to look at everything and spot the problem quickly.

Once I saw that they had two content sources pointing to the exact same content yet on two different indexes, it was a simple matter of setting this up on a plain Jane standalone SharePoint Portal Server 2003 box to validate.

I validated this using the following setup on my local test server.

  • Created a plain IIS web site and placed a default web page with the following contents:

    • <html>

    <body>

    <P>Hello!</P>

    <P>Keith Richie was here</p>

    </body>

    </html>

  • Issued a search in the portal for “Keith Richie”, then selected “Alert Me” to create a portal alert, with its’ settings set to immediate
  • Added a content source to this plain web site did a full crawl and confirmed that the notification was sent
  • Created a new index
    • Created a duplicate content source to the same plain web site bound to this index
    • Made an update to the default web page
    • Did a full crawl on both indexes, and I received two notifications about the same change
  • Created a third new index
    • Created a third duplicate content source to the same plain web site bound to this index.
    • Made an update to the default web page
    • Did a full crawl on all three indexes, and I received three notifications about the same change

Depending on your structure, and Exclude/Include rules created, this can occur for SharePoint sites as well

You ARE however, blocked from creating a duplicate content source on the same index, but not on a completely different index.  When you attempt to create a duplicate source address on the same index, you'll get the following error message:


“The object you are trying to create already exists. Try again using a different name. “

But if you are creating this on a different index, you will not get a warning.

In MOSS 2007, you are not allowed to even have multiple indexes unless you create multiple SSPs.  I'm not 100% up to snuff on the WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 alert architecture, but I am very curious and would suspect that you would encounter the same problem, and could confuse users.

 - Keith

Previous Posts on this series:

Understanding SharePoint Series

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Monday, November 27, 2006 7:31 PM

Rich Text column for Document Libraries don't work as expected

In this previous post, I discussed how I spent most of my evenings and vacation time updating my indieOpolis site to utilize WSS 3.0.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish during this "rebuild" was to utilize the Rich Text column type for the details section of each CD release I have, but I ran into a problem of

a) Being able to actually use the Built In Rich Text Editor control in the out of box edit page

b) And utilize that content via a Data View web part for displaying to the end user.

I found out that, apparently, you only get this feature if it's used in a list and NOT a document library.

Initially, I had created a custom content type with a base "Folder" content type.  The reason I did this, is that I wanted to create a Folder that I could use within a single document library to describe a specific release.   The folder would act as the container for all the relevant data (Documents, pages, etc, etc) related to that release.  I would then use the folder metadata to describe the release on the Product Details page.  The problem, is that I could not figure out why I couldn't use the out of box Rich Text control to edit the metadata for the "Details" column in the content type.

I then found that this same folder content type worked just fine when used in a list.  It didn't work when used in a document library.

So, it appears that rich text editing/displaying support of rich text columns is disabled when used within Document Libraries.

I'm still waiting on confirmation if this is by design, or perhaps a bug, and once I find out, I'll update you...but this was a real pain in the butt. :)  I thought I was doing something wrong, but then when I used that very same content type in a list, and it started working, I realized that it was because I was using it in a document library before.

Regardless, I moved forward with having a base product "list" that I use, then go back to the document library for all the other resources...it was just a pain to have to do that.  I was hoping I would be able to use one resource container for all.

The end result like the following:

http://www.indieopolis.net/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?IPID=IPID0006

The section below the CD cover and track listing is a data view web part that is pulling the details column back out.  This was only available if the data was entered into an item in a list, not a document library.

If anyone has any additional information on if this should work or not, I'd be more than happy to hear.

- Keith

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Sunday, November 26, 2006 8:31 AM

Capacity Planning for WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007

The Capacity Planning documentation is available for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

For WSS 3.0, click here.

For MOSS 2007, click here.

Now that these are official, I'll be updating the Capacity Planning checker portion of SPSiteManager to reflect these. 

Enjoy!

 - Keith

 

Posted by krichie | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006 12:19 PM

Editing pages with SharePoint Designer: Lesson Learned

"Check Out!"

Edit, test ,test , test, edit, test ,test, test, test.

Check In.

Ready for more editing?

"Check Out First!!!!"

I have definitely learned my lesson. 

- Keith

 

Posted by krichie | 2 Comments
Monday, November 20, 2006 11:44 AM

Using SharePoint as an aid to my Tangerine Dream Collection project

In my previous post, I commented that I've updated my indieOpolis site to WSS 3.0,  As well, I've migrated my Tangerine Dream Collection Project site to WSS 3.0 under the indieOpolis server as well.

This past weekend, I spent "WAY TOO MUCH TIME" re-generating everything from scratch for a few reasons:

  1. I hated what I had before :)
  2. As noted in my previous post, I broke everything :( because I chose to start from scratch, and just didn't want to migrate it.  I wanted to force myself into starting over with a better design.
  3. 4 words, "Content Types Are Cool!"

So, with a bit of pain, and a few SharePoint Designer lockups later, I've got it back off to a good start.  Go Here and check it out!  And be sure to check out the Tangerine Dream Release Inspector I designed to just traverse through the semi-official Tangerine Dream release list.

 - Keith

 

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Saturday, November 18, 2006 11:43 AM

indieOpolis updated for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Over the past few evenings (during what little spare time I've had :)), I re-created the indieOpolis site completely from scratch to use Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now that it has released.  Check it out at http://www.indieopolis.net (Yeah, I moved it off the host name of WSS, and yep...I broke about 10,000 links in the process :), oh well..what's done is done....Slow corrections needed over time.)

I'm using custom content types throughout to base everything from.

Hopefully, when things slow down a bit, I'll start blogging about how I set this site up; utilized content types; changes via SharePoint Designer, etc for anyone who is interested

 

 - Keith

 

Posted by krichie | 2 Comments
Friday, November 10, 2006 3:44 PM

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Crawl Performance Part 2

Tony has made yet another good posting in his "SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Crawl Performance" series.

Check it out here!

I think when Tony has completed this series (If there is ever an end as he's still got V3 to start talking about (hint hint Tony :):):)), the will be a great series of postings on truly understanding the crawler.  Kudos Tony!

In my post "Understanding SharePoint - Part 1 - Understanding the SharePoint Portal Server Indexer"  I refer to what I call "PDR" for Processed Documents Rate for the SearchGatherProjects\Processed Documents Rate, which is an indicator on a specific index.  Tony provides details on the "Search Gatherer" object which is the gatherer as a whole.  DO check out what he states for estimating times to completion in his posting.  It's something we try to explain to our customers on a near daily basis, and he's got some great scenarios to describe on this to "estimate" times to completion.

Again, Kudos Tony!

- Keith

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Monday, October 30, 2006 2:37 PM

PSCONFIG for WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 is your friend

In my line of work, I have to have a few SharePoint farms sitting around with different topologies, settings, etc.

I certainly don't have a separate database server for each farm to support these configurations, and I don't want to have a separate virtual server for each SQL server either.  Therefore, I utilize one box primarily for SQL in which I store all my databases for my various farms.

The problem with this is when running the Post Setup Configuration Wizard for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Officer SharePoint Server 2007.  For each farm, a separate content database is created for each central admin site with a name that makes it difficult to just look at the database name and figure out which farm it belongs to :).  The name using the following form:

SharePoint_AdminContent_<insertguidhere>.

So, by looking at the database name, you can tell it's for the Central Admin site, but the guid doesn't just shout out which farm it belongs to :).  I can't count the times when I go cleaning up leftover databases from test farms, only to accidentally kill an admincontent database that was STILL IN USE!!

I could have multiple SQL Instances to help sort this out, but I don't, instead I use PSCONFIG rather than the GUI based configuration wizard and name my admincontent database explicitly.

So with that in mind, consider the following topology

 

krichie-fosqlp is the name of my SQL 2005 Principle Server.

krichie-fowfe1 is a web server running as a Web Front End.

adomain\SPService is my SharePoint farm account

adomain\SQLService is my SQL service account used by SharePoint

After installing, deselect the "Run the configuration wizard" check box and close, then jump to the BIN folder of the web server extensions path and run PSCONFIG such as follows:

psconfig -cmd configdb -create -server krichie-fosqlp -database krichie-fo-wss-configdb -user adomain\SPService -password "SPServicePassword" -admincontentdatabase krichie-fo-wss-admin-content -dbuser adomain\SQLService -dbpassword "SQLServicePassword"

This will run through the post setup configuration wizard and use the database names that I provide.  Now my database names reflect the farm their associated with.

Also, don't forget to provision the admin site itself.

psconfig -cmd adminvs -provision

I know, it's not much, but a nice tip to keep in your back pocket.

- Keith

Posted by krichie | 5 Comments
Friday, October 27, 2006 7:14 PM

Welcome Tony McIntyre to the blogging community!

Tony McIntyre from my old team has started blogging!!!!

Check out his first post titled SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Crawl performance Part 1. 

This is a great article to hook on while also checking out my article Understanding SharePoint - Part 1 - Understanding the SharePoint Portal Server Indexer. Tony has also done a ton of work on debugging iFilter issues, and has a wealth of information to bring to the table, so everyone give him a warm welcome!

I remember the days (I mean nights) of deep night CritSit phone hand offs with one another. (And sorry buddy, I don't miss them one darn bit :))

- Keith

 

Posted by krichie | 2 Comments
Thursday, October 26, 2006 4:08 PM

Understanding and Troubleshooting the SharePoint Explorer View

Steve Sheppard from my old team in conjunction with many other folks, has created a fantastic whitepaper on troubleshooting the Explorer View feature that is included with Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and is also available in Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

This whitepaper is now available via the Microsoft Download Center at this URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C523AC7A-5724-48BE-B973-641E805588F4&displaylang=en

Thanks Steve!!!

 - Keith

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Thursday, October 26, 2006 1:27 PM

Here's to you Mr. Microsoft IT SharePoint Technologist Guy

 

If you've ever heard the Real Men of Genius commercials, you'll be able to sing along with this.

If there's one guy I probably don't thank enough it's Andre Heymann who helps engineer the SharePoint deployments within Microsoft IT. Sure I've thanked Joel Oleson, but back in the day, Joel and Andre both worked together (Along with ALOT of other MSIT folks), and I realized I've never really thanked him, and should have him listed as a major contributor to the success of the SharePoint Utility Suite.

Here's to you Andre!

Mr. Microsoft IT SharePoint Technologist Guy

Keith Richie Presents Real Men of Microsoft
(Real Men of Microsoft)

Today we salute you, Mr. Microsoft IT SharePoint Technologist Guy.
(Mr. Microsoft IT SharePoint Technologist Guy yigh yigh yigh)

You amaze us with your great knowledge and determination to engineer and support Microsoft internal SharePoint deployments, with your numerous web cast events, and willingness to share your learning with the rest of us.
(What a guy!!!!  We're not worthy!)

Was that a server outage I just saw? No way, because you engineered the topology and fault tolerance recommendations that keep our stuff up and running
(Keeps our stuff runnin'!)

I really didn't have to write SPSiteManager to move site collections across content databases because you already had WSSSplit, it just didn't do all that I needed it to do :) And there was some manual intervention needed, and that would just take way too long to move 9,998 site collections.
(Gonna take too long!)

So keep up the excellent work Andre Heymann, you alone should be listed as a contributor to the SharePoint Utility Suite for your valued contributions, and your insight, but I forgot to ever add you, and I'm sorry :)
(Mr. Microsoft IT SharePoint Technologist Guy)

Posted by krichie | 1 Comments
Thursday, October 12, 2006 10:37 AM

More reasons to ensure you're not exceeding capacity planning guidelines

If I don't harp on it enough :) I knew I had seen the official KB on this subject long ago, and finally came across it again.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;830601

Keep in mind, that even with a MOSS 2007 indexer, indexing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 sites, this is going to cause the same impact, as the impact/delay comes from the target system.  It's not that the indexer is performing badly...It's just that it's waiting on the target to satisfy the data request.

How bad could you possibly be impacted by this?  Run SPSiteManager in a level 3 analysis, then look at the various <warning> elements that inform you where you have document libraries, and lists that have exceeded our capacity planning guidelines for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

 - Keith

 

More information:

Posted by krichie | 4 Comments
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 9:03 PM

Yep, I know...pretty quiet on this blog for the past month or so

I've been super busy and have had some personal items to take care of, but to show some link love to some of my SharePoint pals

I'm getting more direct emails on requests for MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 capable versions of my tools, and I hope to poor more time into those to get those taken care of as soon as possible, but my end customers have to come first.  The good news, is that most of them are ready to rock and roll with V3 deployments, so that's going to help.

More to come!

 - Keith

Posted by krichie | 3 Comments
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