So recently I was tasked with applying MOSS 2007 SP1 to a medium farm.  All was well after I installed the binaries on each of the servers and ran the SharePoint configuration wizard on te sever running central administration first.  I then moved to one of the web front ends and ran the SharePoint configuraion wizard (psconfg).  The wizard failed wit the error below:

So first I thought that I would be able to go into central administration (CA) and remove the upgade timer job and all would be good.  Kind of lik when a backup or restore fails throu CA you just delete the timer job and all is well.  Well I didn't see a timer job that may have failed that I could delete.  So i decided I was going to run the SharePoint config wizard through command line which is psconfig.exe to see if I could get a more descriptive message as to what I need to track down.  So I ran the syntax below:

I am not quite sure what caused the error specifically to begin with probably most likely cause was that for some reason or another the timer job was stuck somewhere in the middle of SharePoint space.  Anyhow I thought I would post this as it may help someone and save some time.

For all of you .NET developers that are seriously considering getting into the SharePoint world or for SharePoint developers that have some nagging questions tonights New Jersey User Group will be developer focused. Josh Carlisle is a colleague of mine and I have seen first hand some of the great work he has done with development on the SharePoint platform. You can go check out his blog HERE.  And the details for the meeting tonight are below:

My fellow colleague and SharePoint developer extraordinaire Josh Carlisle has developed this great feature that is fully available for free on CodePlex.  This feature can be used in your SharePoint environment to handle those nasty 404 errors when users fat finger the wrong URL when navigating through your SharePoint site.  The feature has a second use and that is for handling vanity URLs within your SharePoint environment.  The way that this SharePoint feature handles 404 errors is very clever in my opinion and is a much nicer redirect than that nasty default 404 error that we are all used to seeing inside SharePoint.

 Go check out the feature on codeplex and a much more detailed description of the feature along with some code samples on Josh Carlisle's blog.

Nice work Josh and Chris!

 Cheers

 Jason Medero

This week I am going to be speaking at the MOSS 2007 upgrade TechEd Pre-conference seminar with the man the myth the legen Shane Young.  Word on the street is that he has his own fan club these days...  Todd Klint will also be there presenting and man I can only speak for myself when I say I feel like a little peasant because I don't have fan club of my own!  On a serious note it's an honor to be helping out these guys on the big stage and my hope is that I can contribute and add my two cents.  I have now done over 12+ upgrades some ferociously brutal and along the way have gathered some great experience to hopefully make the next upgrade/migration easier.  So if you are going to be at the seminar tomorrow then I will see you there!

Also this week I am going to be hosting a BOF session specifically geared towards upgrades/migration questions and concerns.

BOF954 Upgrades and Migrations to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: The Real Truth

  Wednesday, June 11 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM, N210 D 

Below is my abstract that I submitted which will show the direction of the conversation at the session:

We all know that upgrades/migrations are never easy. The best way to learn and understand more about how to go about approaching your organization's migration/upgrade to V3 is by learning what others are currently finding success with. This BOF session focuses on real-life upgrade/migration scenarios and how best to approach them. This includes what kind of prep work should be done, use of third-party tools (which ones work and which ones don't work so well) for migration/upgrade assistance, and best practices around re-architecting your new environment according to the new MOSS 2007 site structure. The main goal of this session is to really find out what works best in specific scenarios and what things should be avoided.

The goal of this BOF session is to discuss what may or may not work so well in certain upgrade/migration scenarios.  I would also like to pass on my experiences and knowledge which may help
the professionals who are currently dealing with the same situations that I have dealt with in the past.

For any of you that is interested or planning on upgrading your SharePoint environments to Windows Server 2008 my friend and colleague Chris Regan will be holding a BOF that talks about the benefits of moving to Windows Server 2008 and why you should do so sooner than later!  Chris has recently finished a major project with a public facing that was migrated and built entirely on the SharePoint platform.  The entire environment was built on Windows server 2008 and wow does it fly!   Check out this abstract from his blog:

My BOAF session - ‘Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Server 2008: What a Match' is on Thursday, June 12 at 10:30AM.  Some more information on this session:  "With the launch of Windows Server 2008, there have been many discussions in the SharePoint community around whether or not SharePoint farms should be upgraded to the latest and greatest server operating system, or if administrators should take the "wait and see" approach. Based on experience so far, the answer is pretty clear-by upgrading, your life as an administrator is going to be made easier, and you will see performance gains with SharePoint. This Birds-of-a-Feather session focuses on both the technical and business drivers for upgrading sooner instead of later, and how you can go back to your manager and make a convincing argument... one that will not only save you time, but will end up helping your organization as well."  I hope to see you there!

Finally I will be presenting with Shane on SharePoint governance, information architecture.  This session will really drive home how critical and important it is to wrap governance around existing and future SharePoint implementations.  Whether you are using SharePoint for an internet, extranet and especially an intranet without governance policies in place the chances of a successful implementation in the long run is slim to none  with current and future SharePoint projects.  So come check out Shane and I talk about this buzz topic and what you need to be prepared.  Below is all the information you will need to come learn about how to make your next SharePoint project a successful one!

OFC354 Creating Portals That Last: Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, Governance and Information Architecture

  Thursday, June 12 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM, S230 E  

Cheers!

Well I think that I am a little behind the Technorati curve but I recently have decided to give it a shot!  Below is a link to my new Technorati profile go check it out.  I am mostly going to be using Technorati to really tailor my blog posts to what my readers are interested in.  I mean the two people that do subscirbe to my blog should just shoot me an email!!  Just kidding...anyways here is the link...

Cheers,

This months NJSPUG is featuring a unique format in which there will be an open SharePoint discussion panel.  There will be a great group of panelists answering all types of questions ranging from architecture, governance, and development!  The members on the panel are seasoned SharePoint experts and will be featuring two SharePoint MVP's!  Bob fox and yours truly will be on-hand to help out answering questions and add to the discussions.  This is going to be a really excellent meeting because attendees can bring all sorts of questions/topics to the table and we will be there to help you through them.  This meeting is really geared toward the audience and should be a great one.  Below check out the meeting logistics:

NJ SHAREPOINT USER GROUP: 
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
Event Registration

NJ SHAREPOINT USER GROUP: 

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Topic: "SharePoint Discussion Panel"

 Panelists:

Bob Fox, B&R Business Solutions, LLC, MVP
Michael Wagner, Sogeti USA
Brian Maslowski, Microsoft
Jason Medaro, B&R Business Solutions, LLC, MVP

Presentation:

SharePoint 2007 Discussion Panel

Description:

Open Dialogue
Architecture
Capacity Planning
Governance
Policies
Development

 AGENDA:

5:30 PM EAT + GREET, Networking, Free Food/Drink 

Sponsored By:

SOGETI

http://nj.sharepointgroups.org/

NYC SharePoint User Group

5/7/2008  5:30 PM – Microsoft Office – 1290 6^th Ave. (51^st/52^nd)

NEXT NYC SHAREPOINT USER GROUP: Wednesday, May 7

Paul Gavin & Natalya Voskresenskaya will present on

"Using Content Query Web Part to Solve Business Problems"

MOSS 2007’s Content Query Web Part (CQWP) enables users to create custom views of data queried from many sources, and present that data in one place. Despite its powerful query and content refinement options, CQWP is often an underrated and overlooked feature. CQWP is both a “data extraction engine” (find documents or list items anywhere in a site collection) and also a first-class presentation tool that enables users to control how content is presented by wrapping HTML and styles to format the display nearly any way you wish.

In this demo-heavy session, we will show how to use the Content Query Web Part (CQWP) to solve business problems by showing off core features:
- Use default CQWP features, including audience targeting.
- Use CQWP as a reporting tool anywhere in a site collection via filter criteria such as “all documents created today”.
- Change look and feel of query results to highlight business data, show additional columns of information, display information in a grid format, and others.
- Show how CQWP can aid in content type administration (e.g. find all documents of a particular content type so as to understand potential impact of changing a CT definition).
- Describe some limitations of CQWP.
- Provide a list of resources for advanced CQWP techniques, including blogs, ECQWP Codeplex project and MSDN documentation.

Paul Gavin (MCP, MCTS, MCAD) is a Solutions Architect for Conchango & has been working professionally in the IT consulting world since 1991. He works in the collaboration group that uses SharePoint to deliver business solutions and has found that SharePoint’s horizontal nature leads to many exciting opportunities for systems management, integration, BPI and more. SharePoint is a solution architect’s dream platform.

Natalya Voskresenskaya (MCTS) is a SharePoint Architect at Conchango and has been working in the IT field for the past 10 years. Natalya has a diverse professional experience in a wide range of markets including media publishing, online crime news, digital music world, corporate law & consulting. With experience in design, architecture, development & deployment of Web based applications, Natalya has been dedicated to developing portal solutions since the early days of 2000. She has been working with SharePoint technologies since the 2003 version and is passionate about this technology. Natalya hopes that sharing her experience will help people see how they can get the best use out of the SharePoint platform.

The meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. with an opportunity to network with your colleagues in other companies and free food compliments of Certeon.

For immediate registration: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=127705

For additional information, directions & other details, visit the NYC SPUG website: http://www.sharepointusergroup.org/newyork/default.aspx

Each month follows the format below.  Here’s the agenda for this month:

The sponsors for the May 7 meeting include:

Networking/Food:    Certeon

Speaker Gift:            CorasWorks

Door Prizes:             NGenious Solutions & Certeon
After Meeting Social: CorasWorks

So you have content DB’s named:

- Site A

 -Site B

 -Site C

Cheers,

Now to completely change my regularly scheduled program, check out what keeps me busy besides SharePoint.  I have not really posted anything other than SharePoint related topics on this blog but I do have other hobbies that I take part in besides SharePoint. One hobby or sport that I take interest in is MMA (mixed martial arts) man they really have an acronym for everything! Anyways a couple of years ago I began practicing mixed martial arts which is a sport that encompasses all of the different martial arts found around the world. Some of the more popular ones are kickboxing, Thai boxing, wrestling, and juijitsu. In recent years the UFC has made MMA a main stream sport. In fact it now competes with Boxing as far as appealing to men and women in the young to middle age demographic.  Fighters such as Frankie Edgar and Kurt Pelligrino sign contracts with the UFC to fight professionally.  These are sanctioned fights just like boxing with rules to keep the sport clean.  So for the people who think that fighting is simply putting a couple animals in a cage and let them kill each other this type of thinking is very off base.

In fact once you really understand the rules and the different art forms watching these fights you can really appreciate the sport as its own art form (MMA).  Anyways while training at Rhino academy where I used to live I got the chance to work out with Frankie and the guy is just an animal.  He works so hard that I think I got dizzy just watching him.  Not to mention sparring with Frankie I think he hit me 10 times to my one and looked fresh as can be after our 2min sparring session while I thought I was going to die.  Frankie trains extremely hard and its no wonder why he has made it to THE BIG SHOW. 

Frankie and Kurt both grew up in nieghboring hometowns from where I grew up so of course I am always rooting for them.  Professional fighting is probably one of the hardest things to do for a living and takes great physical, and mental strength.  These guys have worked hard and have made it.  If anyone is interested they are going to be fighting tonight at 7pm EST on SPIKE TV.  Go check out the fight card.

 Ok now back to our regular scheduled program.

Andrew Connell friend and fellow SharePoint MVP is coming to NYC and is bringing all that WCM knowledge with him!  He is going to be teaching one of his famous WCM classes from March 31 - April 3.  This is a really great opportunity for individuals that are looking for some great MOSS 2007 WCM training.  Its not everyday that the WCM rock star comes to town so jump on this class as they still may have some open spots left but be quick about it will ya!  Andrew will also be speaking at the NYCSPUG on Wed. April second and will have a little over an hour to present on you guessed it.....drum roll please.....WCM. 

He will of course not have time to really dive deep into WCM so if this is what you are looking for go register for his class here:

Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 2007

Below is the information for the presentation he will be giving at the NYCSPUG:

Click here to register for this meeting!

Am looking to forward to see you all there so please come introduce yourself.

Cheers,

Yes as the title describes I will be attending SPC 2008.  It should really be a great conference with a bunch of great topics and SharePoint MVP speakers.  Last week I took a look at all of the topics and WOW I do not know how I am going to choose one topic over another.  Its going to be like a marathon running from one great session to another...as you can see I am pretty excited!  There will also be some extra curricular at night that everyone who is reading this and attending the conference should attend.  I mean what is a great conference without some great networking!  My fellow SharePoint MVP's Bob Fox and Andrew Connell are hosting SharePoint by day SharePoint by night gathering at an Irish pub which is going to be a great time. 

Check it out here for the information if you want to plan on attending!  I know with these SharePoint rock stars there will be plenty of SharePoint talk going around.  If you would like to put a face to this blog or just have a nagging SharePoint question come by the SharePoint booth at the convention center as that is where I will be hanging out during the day with my fellow MVP's and some other blue badges. 

There is also a great Ask The Experts lunch which will be an informal session with Tons of experts to ask all type of SharePoint related questions.  Here is the general logistics for this session:

The Ask the Experts lunch event is designed to give attendees the opportunity to interact directly with SharePoint experts in an informal setting. The event is designed to allow attendees the opportunity to have an informal setting for Q&A on various topic areas. The goal of the event is to allow for a free flow of questions and answers between attendees and speakers.

• The room will be have round tables set up, each table having a unique topic area.
• Experts will be available to discuss technical issues, solutions, development and architectural issues, among many other topics.
• Attendees will roam through the room visiting different topic areas. These are casual discussions, not presentations.
• Whiteboards will be available; however, no power will be run to tables for use with laptops as this is designed as an informal Q&A session.
• Food and drinks will be provided throughout the Hall.

Attendees:       All SharePoint Conference attendees.

For those of you interested in joining or maybe even founding your own SharePoint user group, my friend and co-worker Bob Fox and Lawrence Liu from the MS SharePoint team will be holding a meeting with this topic in mind.  Check out the details below as it should definitely be an interesting topic.

Use the link below to sign up for the meeting:

SharePoint User Group meeting


 So as you can see there are a ton of awesome events going on!  So whether you are in the mood to get a drink and network or have a question that you have been dying to get answered SPC 2008 has it all.  Looking forward to see you all there.


Cheers!

I have recently been building out a few MOSS 2007 environments for a client with a big Ultima online fan Erik.  We have decided in the build process of each environment to include SP1 because of all of the bug fixes that have been resolved in this service pack.  We are building your classic environments POC, Test, UAT, Prod and while building our POC and Test environment we noticed an error in the event log immediately after applying MOSS 2007 SP1.  The error that was showing up in the event viewer was:

Application Event log error:

Event Type:        Error

Event Source:    Office SharePoint Server

Event Category:                Office Server Shared Services

Event ID:              6482

Date:                     1/22/2008

Time:                     12:40:03 PM

User:                     N/A

Computer:          MOSS01

Description:

Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (a287d59e-47fa-4182-8eba-9b0f52f27f5b).

Reason: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {3D42CCB1-4665-4620-92A3-478F47389230} failed due to the following error: 80070005.

Techinal Support Details:

System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Retrieving the COM class factory for compone