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Saturday, November 24, 2012

What is going around with SharePoint 2013: SharePoint Conference 2012 Keynotes.

If you want to learn, what is going around with SharePoint 2013, you can watch the SharePoint Conference 2012 keynote.


There’s also a lot more going on with SharePoint; be sure to check out the following resources.

Hyper-V Q & A with John Savill

Q: Are Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 guest OSs supported on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V?
A: Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 are no longer supported by Microsoft, and so can't be supported on Hyper-V. Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V actually dropped integration service support for Windows 2000, which means it's no longer possible to use synthetic devices (such as network and storage) and there are no services to integrate with Hyper-V.

The net effect is the performance would be poor compared to an OS using synthetic devices, because emulated devices would have to be used. The recommendation would be to run Windows 2000 virtual machines (VMs) on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V server, which still has integration service support for Windows 2000.

Another (unsupported) option to try could be taking the integration services from Hyper-V 2008 R2 and installing on the Windows 2000 VM, then running on the Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. This would give some synthetic device support and some integration with Hyper-V but would be completely unsupported by Microsoft. Longer term recommendation would be to migrate to a newer, supported OS as soon as possible.

For Windows NT 4, there really is no support. The legacy processor compatibility mode that helped NT 4 run on Hyper-V is gone in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, and emulated devices would definitely have to be used. However, the performance might meet what you need so this could be worth a try.
Q: When upgrading a Hyper-V host from Windows 2008 R2 to Windows 2012, can I save the state of a running VM and resume it after the upgrade?
A: No, you can't save the state of a running virtual machine (VM). The save state format of Windows Server 2008 R2 is not compatible with Windows Server 2012, in the same way the save state format of Windows 2008 wasn't compatible with Windows Server 2008 R2. 
You should shut down all VMs on a host prior to performing an upgrade of the Hyper-V host. Note that if you have online snapshots of a VM which also uses saved state as part of the snapshot, and then these snapshots will work after the upgrade to Server 2012.

Q: How can I attach USB devices to a Hyper-V virtual machine?
A: There are two scenarios for USB devices to be accessed in a virtual machine (VM):
1.      As part of a user's session on a VM
2.      Always available to the VM; for example, a USB dongle that must be available for a piece of software or service to function
Hyper-V doesn't allow the pass-through of a USB-attached device on a host to a VM. This would break the desired abstraction of the VM from the hardware, and therefore stop VM mobility. However this doesn't mean there are no solutions.
For the first scenario, a USB device available as part of a user's session on a VM, the solution is to use the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) capability to pass a locally attached USB device on the user's local device directly through to the remote VM. With Windows Server 2012 and RemoteFX technology, it's possible to redirect almost any USB device over RDP.
The second scenario, a USB device to always be connected to a VM even when a user isn't logged on, requires the use of third-party solutions that enable USB over IP. The solutions work by having a physical server that has all the USB devices connected to it and runs a service that enables the USB devices to be accessed remotely over IP.
The VMs then run a piece of client software that connects to the USB device over IP, and it looks to the VM like a local USB device. The benefit to these types of solutions is the VM can still be moved between hosts without losing connectivity to the USB device. There are many solutions available; among them are two I have seen used by my customers:
These questions are answered by John Savill, from WindowsITPro, Millions Thanks to him.

Windows 7 Security and managing UAC Prompts.


Windows 7 migrations are in full swing or completed.  As part of this desktop refresh, many companies have removed local administrative rights on the endpoint and are using the Windows 7 built-in security features.  Have these met your expectations?  Are your end users calling IT support to get assistance with prompts for UAC passwords?

Darren Mar-Elia, Microsoft Group Policy MVP, will walk us through the components of the Windows built-in security features and in which situations they work the best.  He’ll also introduce other methods for enhancing endpoint security within Windows 7 as related to managing UAC dialog boxes and best practices for managing administrator rights.

Next, Viewfinity will show you how to suppress the UAC dialog box and manage rights and privileges on Windows endpoints and servers. Using a fully automated process to identify common privilege needs across the entire user base, you can aggregate privilege needs and create a single policy for a collective group of users.  No longer will the removal of administrator rights be disruptive to your end users or a burden on IT.

Register Now!
Curtsey: Windows IT Pro

Share your thoughts on server OSes for a chance to win

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Upgrading to SharePoint 2013 from MOSS 2007.

As we all know SharePoint 2013 is bundled with all new features which give extendibility to the existing business processes.  Notably, the SharePoint platform is also be improved with some great new features. The new version promises updates to Claims-Based Authentication, Business Connectivity Services (BCS), eDiscovery, Business Intelligence and Workflows, among other features.
You’ll also notice several new Service Applications bundled with SharePoint, such as App Management, Machine Translation and the Work Management Service Application


The SharePoint user interface is also getting a design makeover, with cues from Microsoft’s Metro UI design principles



And there are a couple critical points here, which we need to consider before we plan to upgrade to SharePoint 2013.
1.      There is no direct upgrade path from SharePoint 2007 to 2013. You must have a current version (SharePoint 2010 Foundation or Server) in place before upgrading to the next version. Is your organization still using a 2007 version of SharePoint (WSS or MOSS)? Or perhaps even using SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (v. 2.0)? Well, you’re not alone. If you’re considering SharePoint 2013, now may be the perfect time to start migrating from your older installation to SharePoint 2010. That way you’ll be prepared for a smooth transition to the new software.
2.      The underlying server components for SharePoint 2013 are also being upgraded. Earlier this year Microsoft released its new database server, SQL Server 2012. And Windows Server 2012 is anticipated for public release before the end of this year. So, if you want to be ready when SharePoint 2013 rolls out, this is an ideal time to start considering migrating to the newest versions of Windows Server and SQL Server while you’re at it.
So, in a sense, upgrading to SharePoint 2013 is also going to be kind of a big deal. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a big hassle.
If you need any assistance with the SharePoint 2013 upgrade or its plan, do let me know. It would be my pleasure to help you out with that.
 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Expiration Policy or Information Policy Management: Aborted

Few days back I have noticed that in our environment the Expiration Policy started successfully, however aborted after few min. This was happening for few days. There were no Event logs, no service drop alert.
The depth was left to be searched, yes correct the USL logs. In ULS logs we found some of the references form Information Policy Management service failed due the access blocked on the site.

ULS logs entry: Error message
10/23/2012 23:03:18.48             OWSTIMER.EXE (0x2D7C)                       0x22B4  DLC Server                                Information Policy Management        5016     Critical  Expiration Service for site https://SharePointServer.com/sites/SharePointSitecollection failed. Access to this Web site has been blocked.  Please contact the administrator to resolve this problem
Why this happen
While processing the information Policy Management configured on some of the lib., the expiration policy service don’t find reference of the site because its access is blocked. Hence aborted or terminates its execution.
Resolution:


Go to Central admin -> Applications Mgt. tab -> Site collection quotas and locks -> Check if the site is locked and change status to not locked and see next time if expiration policy works or not.

If you have any questions/queries, do let me know, I would be try my level best to answer those.  

SharePoint ULS Log Viewer

 
Functionalities:
·         Parse and open multiple SharePoint ULS logs (will concatenate them if you select multiple)
·         Reorder and resize columns, sort on any column
·         Filter by Severity, Category, and Process or a custom text filter/search
·         Group multi-line stack traces into single log entries for easy viewing and copy/paste
·         View message easily in separate pane (No more scrolling in notepad)
Complete credit goes to Keir Gordon who is the creator of this utility
·         Great features
·         The interface is very intuitive, simple, and powerful.
·         Very handy to view the complex log files
·         Great tool, much easier to read the logs than Notepad or Text pad
 

SharePoint Logs Showing Unexpected Error Related to CMS/Cached Values?

Error: While taking a look at our SharePoint logs, we noticed a very large number of entries similar to the following:
11/06/2012 08:23:11.47  w3wp.exe (0x276C)                        0x1BF0 CMS                            Publishing                     0 Unexpected Cached Value found.  Value is False 
11/06/2012 08:23:11.47  w3wp.exe (0x276C)                        0x1BF0 CMS                            Publishing                     0 Unexpected XXX / is a descendent of / - False)
By looking at this we see one of these for each site/subsite in the site collection, as well as individual pages, but we are unsure of what process would be going through the entire site like this.
Resolution:
Some people were suggesting that this error occurred only after you upgrade your environment with June 2011 or Aug 2011 cumulative updates. It’s been one and half year since MS had releases 2011 cumulative updates and surely this could not be the possible cause of issue in our environment. So far MS has been suggesting disabling logging for the "Publishing" category as that's what has been suggested in other similar cases as well.
With Microsoft Support it goes by like this:
"As discussed earlier today, this issue is a bug. A bug request is filed for this to the product group and we are waiting for an outcome. This may however take some time. In the meantime the workaround is to go into the Diagnostic Logging section and set the option to NONE for the Publishing category. I have also checked around to see if there is other way to work around this but there does not seem to be any for the moment”.
Finally MS suggested us change the logging method in our environment which had fixed the issue for us. Below are the stsadm commands for your reference.
Set Publishing to none.
stsadm  -o setlogginglevel -category “Publishing” –tracelevel none windowslogginglevel none
stsadm  -o listlogginglevel
Restart the Tracing Service
net stop sptracer
net start sptrace
If you have any queries \ questions, do let me know, I would be happy to answer those.  

Event ID 7888 Runtime Exception Thread was being aborted and Event ID 5538 an error occurred in the blob cache

Errors: You will see the below error messages in the event viewer.
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Office Server General
Event ID: 7888
Date:  9/14/2010
Time:  2:31:08 PM
User:  N/A
Computer: SPSMOSS20071
Description:
A runtime exception was detected. Details follow.
Message: Thread was being aborted.
Techinal Details:
System.Threading.ThreadAbortException: Thread was being aborted.
   at System.Threading.ReaderWriterLock.AcquireWriterLockInternal(Int32 millisecondsTimeout)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.BlobCache.<>c__DisplayClass14.<>c__DisplayClass17.b__11()
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics.FirstChanceHandler.ExceptionFilter(Boolean fRethrowException, TryBlock tryBlock, FilterBlock filter, CatchBlock catchBlock, FinallyBlock finallyBlock)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Publishing Cache
Event ID: 5538
Date:  9/14/2010
Time:  2:31:08 PM
User:  N/A
Computer: SPSMOSS20071
Description:
An error occured in the blob cache.  The exception message was 'Thread was being aborted.'.
Resolution 1:
Flush the blob cache to ensure that the fix can take place on a new, fresh cache
- set the NTFS permissions for "WSS_WPG" group with "full permissions" of the defined Blobcache folder
- change the values in web.config as recommended in this sample here:
BlobCache location="E:\blobcache" path="\.(gif|jpg|png|css|js|htc|)$ " maxSize="10" max-age="86400" enabled="true"/


Resolution 2:
This could also be a database permission issue.
Write down the name of the content database of the Sharepoint site, on which we are receiving this error from Sharepoint Central Admin -> Application Management
-> Sharepoint Web Application Management -> Content Databases ->  Select that URL or Web Application from the list
Go to SQL 2005 Management Studio -> select that  database - properties - write down the location
If you are using SSEE, we may need to download the SQL 2005 Management Studio Express (SSMSE) , to perform this operation
Go to that location, go a level up, i.e. if the location is something like
d:\SQLDATA, go to D:\ level and add ‘Authenticated Users’ with default permissions,
i.e. ‘Read & Execute’, ‘List Folder Contents’ and ‘Read’
If  you have any queries/questions do let me know.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

sharepoint 2013 videos


Watch or download the following content for information about how to plan for, install, or manage SharePoint 2013.

Content Description

Video (play button) icon
Video: Social computing overview in SharePoint Server 2013 View a video of enterprise social computing and collaboration in SharePoint 2013, featuring Bill Baer, SharePoint Senior Product Marketing Manager.

Video (play button) icon
SharePoint 2013 training for IT pros Find IT pro-focused how-to training and walkthrough videos with this interactive course about SharePoint 2013 including changes and new features for search, social, plus deployment and performance/scalability.

SharePoint 2013 Video Tutorials – BY Asif Rehmani

sharepoint 2013 enhancements

Features removed in SharePoint 2013

The following features and functionality have been deprecated or changed in SharePoint 2013.
1.    Visual upgrade
2.    Document Workspace site template
3.    Personalization Site template
4.    Meeting Workspace site templates
5.    Group Work site template and Group Work solution
6.    Visio Process Repository site template
7.    Unghosting and customizing CSS files
8.    Imaging Web service
9.    Excel Services — Can't edit workbooks in the browser that have external data connections
10. Web Analytics in SharePoint Server 2010
11. Modifying the search topology using a web-based interface
12. Diacritic sensitivity element in the thesaurus
13. Replacement mode within the thesaurus
14. Search Query web service
15. Search RSS and search from Windows
16. Custom word breaker dictionaries
17. SharePoint Search SQL syntax
18. Shallow search refiners
19. FAST Search database connector
20. FAST Search Lotus Notes connector
21. FAST Search web crawler
22. FAST Query Language (FQL) deprecated features
23. URL Query syntax
24. Specific search scope filters
25. Anti-phrasing
26. Offensive content filtering
27. Substring search
28. Person names and location extractions
29. Number of custom entity extractors
30. Supported document formats
31. Content processing extensibility
32. Custom XML item processing
33. Adding a test item to the index

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Sales Lead Pipeline Template Mystery

Before directly giving the problem description, let me brief some details regarding Sales Lead Pipeline template. This template belongs Microsoft Fab40 Package and comes under “Server Admin Application Templates”, detail reference: http://blogs.technet.com/b/praveenh/archive/2010/12/17/fantastic-40-application-templates-for-sharepoint-wss-amp-moss.aspx

Problem Description:
User created a Website with the Template "Sales Lead Pipeline". It works well, but there is a Workflow inside this Template to convert leads to accounts. This workflow only work with the side admin account (i.e. only for site collection administrators), all other accounts became an "access denied".

We can enter sales leads into the site but when we push the convert button, or use the convert workflow "Access Denied" is returned. User is a member of both the associated members and owners groups. So now the questions is-Do we really required to be a part of site collection admin group?

Which states that this is a bug in this template and there are some steps by which we can fix this.

Resolution Steps:
1.    Open your sales site with SharePoint Designer
2.    Go to the workflows
3.    Click on the "Convert" workflow with the right button
4.    Click on "Publish selected file"
5.    Choose any location
6.    Click publish

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. Thank you.

Error message when view or edit in browser for Word or PowerPoint Web Apps

Problem Description:
When attempting to view a PowerPoint Presentation or a Word document in the Office Web Apps, the user receives an error message indicating that the service is temporarily unavailable.  Multiple attempts from the same web application return similar results.

Possible Errors:
1.    Service is temporarily unavailable.
2.    Word Web App cannot open this document for viewing because of an unexpected error.  To view this document open it in Microsoft Word.
3.    PowerPoint Web App encountered an error.  Please Try again.

Probable cause:
The Office Web Apps rely on the SharePoint Shared Services Infrastructure to convert the document into a browser ready rendition.  If the front-end machines cannot find the shared services, or the shared services are not started on at least one machine, then viewing the document or presentation will fail with this error.

Another possible cause for these errors is a potential problem with the Service Account running the Web Application, the Word Viewing Service, and the PowerPoint Service. 

Resolution:

Resolution 1: Check PowerPoint Service and Word Viewing service status:
1.    Click  Start , point to All Programs , Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products , and then SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

2.    On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, in Application Management , click Manage service on server .  Verify PowerPoint Service and Word Viewing Service is started.

Resolution 2:   Verify if PowerPoint Service and Word Viewing Service are not listed. 
If it is listed, then proceed to another resolution in the list.  The service applications and proxies can be created by using the Central Administration or Windows Power shell. 

To create the service applications and the service application proxies by using Central Administration:

1.    Click Start , point to All Programs , Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products , and then SharePoint 2010 Central Administration .
2.    On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, in Application Management , click Manage service applications .
3.    On the Service Applications page, click New , and then click Word Viewing Service .
4.    In the Word Viewing Service Application dialog box, in Name , type Word Viewing Service Application . In Application Pool , select Use existing application pool , and then in the list box, select SharePoint Web Services Default . In Add to default proxy list , verify Add this service application's proxy to the farm's default proxy list is selected (default), and then click OK .

Note: You can choose to create a new application pool to be used with a service application. When creating a new application pool, you can specify the security account used by the application pool to be a predefined Network Service account, or you can specify a managed account. The account must have read\write privileges for the SPContent database and SPConfig database.

5.    On the Service Applications page, click New , and then click PowerPoint Service Application .
6.    In the PowerPoint Service Application dialog box, in Name , type PowerPoint Service Application . In Application Pool , select Use existing application pool , and then in the listbox, select SharePoint Web Services Default . In Add to default proxy list , verify Add this service application's proxy to the farm's default proxy list is selected (default), and then click OK . 

Note: You can choose to create a new application pool to be used with a service application. When creating a new application pool, you can specify the security account used by the application pool to be a predefined Network Service account, or you can specify a managed account. The account must have read\write privileges for the SPContent database and SPConfig database.

Resolution 3: Check Service Account Permissions
The Service Applications get and retrieve content and settings from the SharePoint Content Databases and the Configuration Database.  In order for them to process documents they must have appropriate permissions on both databases. 

For more information as to the recommended permissions, please see the Account permissions and security settings (SharePoint Server 2010) TechNet article found here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc678863.aspx

Resolution 4: Check the Farm Account
In a Farm Setup, we suggest that the Farm Account be running under a different account for the Web Application, PowerPoint and Word Viewing Application Pools.  To check these through the Central Administration:

1.    Click Start , point to All Programs , Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products , and then SharePoint 2010 Central Administration .
2.    On the SharePoint Central Administration home page, in Security , click Configure service accounts .
3.    Verify they are running under a different account.  If they are the same as the Farm Account change them to a different Service Account or create a new service account in your domain to run these services.  
4.    To create a different or new service account, the following link provides the detail steps: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd548356(WS.10).aspx

Note:  It is not a requirement to run the Farm account and Service accounts under different managed accounts.  This resolution is provided as a possible troubleshooting technique.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know.
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your queries, Thank you.

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