SharePoint 2010 Web Parts missing ?

This is the place to go: http://<server name>/_layouts/NewDwp.aspx.

From the list, choose the web part you need and then click on "Populate Gallery".

The web part gallery will then be populated. You can access it at http://<server name>/_catalogs/wp/Forms/AllItems.aspx

Tutorial on Handling Large Lists

This tutorial is really really cool. It talks about the various options we have to handle large lists in SharePoint 2010.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/sharepoint-lists-v-techniques-for-managing-large-lists-RZ101874361.aspx

In summary, we can make use of  folders, views, column indexing and Key Filters (metadata based filters) to manipulate large lists.

Additionally we can also use Excel, Access or SharePoint WorkSpace to take the large lists offline to manipulate it.

Preparing for 70-668 – PRO: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator

Below are some tips for preparing for 70-668. In general we need to be familiar with the below items:-

1.  The steps in correct order to setup and configure SharePoint and its features such as Search Service, Content Organiser, Records Management etc

2. The steps in correct order to upgrade to SharePoint 2010 either from SharePoint 2003 or SharePoint 2007. Attention should be given to the current OS and SQL versions and requirements of SharePoint 2010

3. The steps in correct order to configuring the various types of authentication including extending a web for intranet, extranet and internet access.

4. How to ensure cost effective high availability and high performance architecture - how many servers for each layer (WFE, Apps, SQL) etc

5. Know which service applications can be shared across farms and steps in correct order to publish and consume them

6. Understand the logical architecture of search application

7. Secure store & business catalogue services

Last but not least, search for and go through the many past year questions (exam dumps) posted online. Go through them to get an idea on what can be the questions and how it will be written. But beware that not all the answers that comes with it are correct. You must do your own investigation and research.

All the best.

Preparing for 70-667 - TS: Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010, Configuring

Finally after a few years of contemplating on whether I should go for professional certifications, I decided to sit for the 70-667 exam and passed :-). Now I am officially a MCP - Microsoft Certified Professional. The current certification gives me the title of MCTS - Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist.

Below are some tips for preparing for 70-667. In general we need to be familiar with the below items:-

1.  What you can do in Central Administration (CA).  Access and check all the links in CA and understand what they are accessed for. These especially on service applications ( business connectivity services, secure store, user profile services), health and usage reports, alternate access mappings

2.  What we can do in Site Settings and Link & Document Library settings.

3.  How SharePoint 2007 can be upgraded to SharePoint 2010 successfully.

4.  SharePoint Online.

5.  Common Power Shell commands used for administration.

6. The specific order of configuring something such as a service application.

7. Keep in mind that if SharePoint can do something that will be always the answer. Not 3^rd party tools.

8. Look out for questions that emphasize on cost or performance. Your answer should reflect it.

9. Sometimes the first few lines are just to confuse us. It may not have any relevance to the issue/point being asked.

10. Backup and restore methods & options from farm to list level.

There are some tricks here and there so watch out for the actual meanings. You may want to read the questions & answers for a few times word by word. For example,

1.  "managing a recycle bin" vs "managing the contents of a recycle bin".

2. "get-<command>" vs "set-<command"

3. "routing a document from a site collection" vs "routing a document from a document library"

4. 'web application" vs "site collection" vs "site"

Last but not least, search for and go through the many past year questions (exam dumps) posted online. Go through them to get an idea on what can be the questions and how it will be written. But beware that not all the answers that comes with it are correct. You must do your own investigation and research.

All the best.

Differences between Site Collection Administrator assigned through Central Admin and Site Settings

All this while I thought it doesn't matter how you assign a Site Collection Administrator (SCA) . FYI, we can assign a site collection either through Central Admin or Site Settings.

This articles describes the differences.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/15270.site-collection-administrators-defined-from-central-administration-and-from-site-collection-top-level-site.aspx

Adding Filters into PerformancePoint KPI Scorecard

Assuming we have the below scorecard and filter.

1. Scorecard named "Subjects Scorecard" with a list if KPIs called "English" and "Computer Science".



2. Filter called "Choose Subjects"



Lets see how we can connect the filter to the scorecard.

1. As you may have already know, we need to create a dashboard page first.

2. Then add the filter and scorecard into the dashboard page



3. Next step is to create connection between them Click on the triangle arrow of the filter part and choose Create Connection.



4. You will be presented with the Connection window as below. On the Items tab, choose the scorecard name for Send values to



5. Then click on the Values tab. Choose the dropdown values as shown below. Click OK.



6. Save and Publish the dashboard.

7. Access the dashboard. The dashboard with filter will look like below.

                                          

SharePoint as Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

1. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/hh126808.aspx

2. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ecm/

3. http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/sharepoint-2010-enterprise-content-management-for-the-masses-015770.php

4. http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2011/08/01/new-sharepoint-training-courses-enterprise-content-management-and-web-content-management.aspx

5. http://gilbane.com/whitepapers/Knowledge_Lake/knowledge_lake_white_paper_final.pdf

6. http://www.aiim.org/community/blogs/expert/Is-SharePoint-2010-Really-Ready-for-ECM

7. http://blog.hollygroup.com/2011/06/expectations-for-sharepoint-ecm-be.html

8. http://redmondmag.com/articles/2012/04/01/sharepoint-takes-a-bigger-piece-of-the-ecm-pie.aspx

9. http://www.colligo.com/blog/sharepoint/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-ecm-in-sharepoint%E2%80%93part-1/

StepsToCreateKPI

Just realized that I can upload a pdf document directly. Much easier that writing a post here with many pictures.

Click on this link --> StepsToCreateKPI  to read the article in pdf format.

SharePoint Governance Notes

Links
1. http://www.sharepointgovernance.org/default.aspx
2. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff800826.aspx
3. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263356.aspx
4. http://www.axceler.com/solutions/sharepoint-solutions/sharepoint-governance/index
5. http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/sharepoint-governance-needed-now-more-than-ever-017199.php
6. http://www.cmswire.com/cms/information-management/thriving-in-a-state-of-sharepoint-governance-015127.php
7. http://dlairman.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/sharepoint-governance-why/
8. http://communities.quest.com/community/sharepointforall/experts-blogs/blog/2012/08/21/what-do-sharepoint-2013-sharepoint-governance-have-in-common-read-a-tech-brief-to-find-out
9. http://www.rharbridge.com/?p=752

Videos

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/tdbe12-sharepoint-governance-part1-scalability-governance.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/tdbe12-sharepoint-governance-part2-automating.aspx

Bypassing security trimming in SharePoint

I had a requirement to allow users to search for documents that they don't have access and found this artice:-

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointsearch/thread/b2914bae-a8f1-405d-bbb3-3fc7134a9f4b

However, when do some testing to validate the above, I found that it is not working. Reason being, MS Search has security trimming during query  itself.

I still haven't found any workaround for this.

Internet Explorer 10 doesn't like SharePoint 2010

Well that's by default. You won't be able to do a few things on your IE10 when you access a SharePoint 2010 site.

To make it "like" SharePoint, you can add the SharePoint 2010 sites in the "Compatibility View Settings" of you IE10.

Steps:-

1. On your IE, go to Tools -> Compatibility Settings
2. Key in the "SharePoint site url" (if its not there) in the "Add this website" box
3. Click Add, then Close.
4. Refresh you page or restart IE.

Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPUpdatedConcurrencyException

I got this error while trying to run psconfig. Tried IISRESET and even rebooting the server but they didn't help. After searching around, found this article - http://www.sharepointgeoff.com/spupdatedconcurrencyexception-fix-when-trying-to-install-june-2011-cu-for-sharepoint-server/

I didnit install the CU but still get this error and the steps mentioned below helped to make sure the psconfig completed successfully.

1. stsadm -o setproperty -pn command-line-upgrade-running -pv No
2. IISReset
3. Restart the Windows SharePoint Timer
4. psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b –wait –force

Workflow shows Due by 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

If you have configured a workflow in SharePoint 2010 and didn't provide a fixed due date (which is usually the case), the email that the workflow sends has a due date as below

Due by 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM

Looks like a MS bug.

To fix it, follow the steps below:-

1. Open the site in SharePoint Designer.


2. On your left panel, click on Workflows


3. Click on the specific workflow and click on Edit Workflow


4. Click on the process name. Example below. In this case, click on "Approval".


5. You will get the next screen. See below. Click on "Change the behavior of the overall task process".


6. You will get the below screen


7. 


8. The value that is configured in the workflow shows 1/1/1900 8:00:00 AM but in the email we get 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM. A bug ??


9. What I did to fix it is to change equals  to less than as shown below.


10. 


11. Problem fixed :-).


12. In your next email, you will see "Due by None" instead of "Due by 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM"

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.



Here's an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 23 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Calculated Field Formulas

MSDN article for calculated field formulas: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb862071.aspx

No users in SharePoint 2010 after successfull profile import

Well, to start with, to say it is successful is misleading but that is the scenario we faced.

In our brand new SharePoint 2010 farm, we configured profile synch from AD. Everything looks cool but no users was found. Not sure where they are going but the data is simply not in the user profile store. Luckily google and technet forum helped :-).  No error messages and no clue until I came across a technet post which I believe was written for SharePoint 2007 but I gave it a try.

But first, try to search for the users. SharePoint 2010 does not list the users. You need to search for them. Just type any letter and search. If no values returned, then you can try the below steps.

This what I did

1. From the Admin Tools --> Servicess Stopped the SharePoint Timer service

2. From the Central Admin --> Services on Server, stopped both the User Profile Service and User Profile Synchronization Service

3. Navigated to the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\<GUID> folder

4. Removed all the other xml files

5. Edited the cache.ini file to replace the value with 1 and saved the file

6. Started back the SharePoint Timer service, waited till all the xml files were recreated and the number on cache.ini file return to its original value

7. Started back the User Profile Service and User Profile Synchronization Service

8. Then under CA --> Application Management --> Manage Service Application --> User Profile --> Start Profile Synchronization

9. Waited and it worked :-)

10. The users will not be listed. You need to search for them.

Ref:  Technet forum post

MOSS 2007 upgrade to SharePoint 2010

Requirements, requirements & REQUIREMENTS - gathering, understanding, refinement, gathering, understanding, refinement, gathering ....


We need to understand the business and customers'/users' requirements first.  The requirements can be broken into existing SharePoint 2007 usage scenarios and new usage scenarios. Since SharePoint 2010 enables lots of cool new features, we should educate our users on the new features and understand which ones appeals to them.

Once we understand the requirements, we can then map them into the services that is needed to fulfill those requirements. It is good to have some knowledge on the those services especially in terms of hardware requirements to run them properly. We need to truly understand what services are needed and how intensive they will be used. If what we have collected from users cannot answer these two important questions, then we need to go back to users. This is a very important activity as it will help us to get the right hardware to build our SharePoint 2010 environment.

Perfmon Counters to Monitor SharePoint Environment's Servers

List of perfmon counters that I gathered for MOSS 2007. However, I believe it is applicable for SharePoint 2010 as well.

Hardware and Software Requirements for SharePoint 2010

SharePoint in a multiple server farm production environment needs the below minimum hardware specifications

1. 64 bit processors, 4 core servers

2. 8GB of RAM

3. Around 120 GB for system drive (80GB + 30% buffer for daily use +2*RAM size) - this is just my estimation. Varies for each farm/environment.

For its back end (SQL Server), it needs

1. 64 bit, 8 cores

2. 16 GB to 64 GB of RAM (medium to large farm)

3. 80 GB ++ for system drive. ++ means additional space required depends on size of SharePoint content.

SharePoint 2010 needs the following software to work.

A. SQL Server

1. SQL Server 2005 64 bit with Service Pack 3 (SP3) + Cumulative Update Package 3 (CUP3) or

SQL Server 2008 64 bit with SP1 + CUP2.

B. SP Server

1. Windows Server 2008 with SP2

2. Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3

3. MS .NET Framework (FW) v3.5 with SP1

4. MS Chart Controls for MS .NET FW 3.5.

Microsoft Chart Controls for .NET Framework provides rich data visualization for developers. Using the Chart controls, you can create ASP.NET pages or Windows Forms applications with simple, intuitive, and visually compelling charts for complex statistical or financial analysis. These controls are specifically designed for use with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.

5. MS Geneva FW . More details here. Basically this enables claims based authorization.

6. MS Sync FW Runtime v1.0(x64). More details here.

Microsoft Sync Framework is a comprehensive synchronization platform that enables collaboration and offline scenarios for applications, services and devices. Developers can build sync ecosystems that integrate any application, any type of data, using any protocol over any network.

7. MS Filter Pack 2.0.

The Microsoft Filter Pack is a single point-of-distribution for Office IFilters. IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (Sharepoint, SQL, Exchange, Windows Search).

8. MS SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) ADOMD.NET.

ADOMD.NET is a Microsoft .NET Framework data provider that is designed to communicate with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services (SSAS). More details here.

9. ADO.NET Data Services v1.5 CTP2.

WCF Data Services (formerly ADO.NET Data Services) is a platform for what Microsoft calls Data Services. It is actually a combination of the runtime and a web service through which the services are exposed. More details here.

Great resources on SharePoint 2010

I have been searching and learning about SharePoint 2010. Here is the list of resources that I find useful & interesting to me so far.

Video resources

1. Getting Started with SharePoint Server 2010 for IT Pros


2. Get Started Developing on SharePoint 2010


3. Channel 9 videos


4. MSDN Chopsticks

Reading resources

1. A series of great articles in A Static State


2. Performance Tuning


3. Common Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Installation Issues and Resolutions


4. One of the new & coolest feature


5. Database Mirroring in SharePoint 2010

Tools

1. SPMetal


2. SharePoint Manager 2010