October 2007 - Posts

• SharePoint Connections in Vegas here we come!

  Hey guys and gals,  Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be in Vegas for SharePoint Connections Nov. 4-8.  SharePoint connections has a ton of great speakers and a lot of great sessions.  I consider SharePoint Connection to be the second best conference of the year of course next to TechEd !  So if you read this and are going to be in town leave a comment on this page and I am sure we can discuss any topics that may be on your mind.  I will be accompanied by the entire (well pretty much everyone) B&R SharePoint hit squad and I am sure if I can't answer you question then someone on my team could definitely lend a hand.  I mean we consist of some of the best consultants in the US  guys like Bob Fox, Chris Regan, Michael Lotter, Josh Carlisle and some new secret members as well!  If you would like to ask a question or just say whats up I will be at the Microsoft SharePoint booth on Tuesday Nov. 6 from 330-415 answering questions and chatting away about all kinds of cool stuff!  Looking forward to seeing some of you loyal SharePointers there!  Cheers,  Jason Medero Posted Oct 30 2007, 06:31 PM by jmedero with 1 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007

• Some humor for the Halo 3 fans!

  Hey guys/girls,  As everyone knows Halo 3 has been out for a decent amount of time and I am sure those late nights on work days are really catching up with people!  I don't know about everyone else but I know for sure that I have been playing this game every free moment that I have had.  Of course forgetting about the rest of my social life for the past 30 days without even noticing.  Anyways for those of you who have been going through this Halo 3 coma phase this ones for you!   http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkF0McZKIw  Cheers!   Posted Oct 29 2007, 05:14 PM by jmedero with 1 comment(s)

• Form Services capacity planning considerations

  Recently I was tasked with leading the capacity planning session for quite a large number of users (25K+).  The organization was going to be heavily utilizing Forms services.  We were in the process of developing and deploying over 800 forms once their current MOSS implementation was launched.  So the team and I sat down to discuss how we were going to accommodate the use of form service without performance implications. This was the first time that I have worked with the Form Services feature within MOSS 2007 at such a scale.  For those of you who are not familiar with what form services is I will quickly summarize and provide some links:InfoPath Form Services is a feature found within MOSS 2007 Enterprise edition only.  In general it allows InfoPath forms to be consumed via the web browser.  This has its advantages and disadvantages the major advantage being that users no longer have to have the expensive InfoPath thick client installed on their machine in order to fill out these forms and submit them.  MOSS 2007 WFE's will render these forms through a web browser and will allow the user to interact with the form as if they were inside of the InfoPath client.  Below are a couple links for anyone who is looking to gain some knowledge on InfoPath Form Services.  This blog entry will not go into the intricate details of how Form Services works but more so of what to be aware of when planning your MOSS 2007 architecture. Introduction to Form Services: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101672841033.aspx Configuring Form Services within MOSS 2007: http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/3728d1fa-c1db-4445-8d00-e26f9015dd951033.mspx?mfr=true  Form Services Development: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms540731.aspx Now that you have thoroughly read through the links above lets jump into the topic at hand.  As far as MOSS 2007 topologies go there are four main layers: Web Front End (WFE) Index/Query Application Database So the first thing that came to mind is that we would dedicate Forms Server at the application server just like its similiar counterpart Excel Services.  I proceeded to do some digging and it quickly became apparent through the documentation and the help of fellow MVP Spence Harbar that you cannot dedicate machines to take on the Forms Services role.  The documentation makes you think that application means to take on such roles as excel services, document conversion, etc… the exception to this rule is the form services role.  So what does this mean when you are planning to use Form Services very heavily within your MOSS 2007 implementation?  Well plan and simple the load will be taken across your Web Front Ends (WFE’s).  Since the load will be taken on your WFE’s it may make sense depending on the complexity of your forms to beef them up a bit more than you normally would for a WFE. WFE minimum hardware requirements is something like:  2GB RAM       1 X Dual Core proc @ 2.8GHZ 73GB RAID 0 For an organization that is planning on utilizing form services I would suggest hardware requirements of:  64 bit OS and MOSS 2007  8GB RAM  2 X dual core proc @ 2.8GHZ 73GB RAID 0 **Note**  The amount of WFE’s will vary depending on a couple other variables (# of users, % of concurrent users at peak time, high availability needs, etc….)  The purpose of this blog was to make everyone aware that forms services CANNOT run as its own role which I naively presumed.  Forms services is a service that once enabled will run on every front end in your farm.  You will need to add WFE’s if you are experiencing performance issues that have been traced back to the rendering of forms from MOSS 2007 and would like to scale out NOT app servers! Cheers!  Jason Medero     Posted Oct 17 2007, 02:52 PM by jmedero with 5 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007, InfoPath

• MVP renewed for 2008!

  Hey guys!  As of yesterday I was awarded a renewal of my Microsoft MVP for Windows SharePoint Services for 2008!!  I feel very honored to receive this award for the second time and I thank everyone for their awesome support.  I really enjoy being a part of such a great growing community.  A lot has grown in the SharePoint world over the past year and I will due my best to keep that trend going in the right direction !  Looking forward to March for the MVP Summit and some serious paintballin!!   Heres to another great year!  Cheers!  Posted Oct 02 2007, 12:34 PM by jmedero with no comments Filed under: MOSS 2007

• Speaking at NYC SPUG Wed. Oct. 4.....Information Rights Management Integration with MOSS 2007

  As my good buddy and colleague Bob Fox has already hinted I will be speaking at the NYC SharePoint User Group tomorrow at the Microsoft office in Manhattan.  This is an awesome topic that I am really excited about.  There are not many organizations that are currently utilizing Rights Management Services (RMS) in order to rights protect their digital content.  With the integration of RMS and MOSS 2007 organizations can now protect their content within SharePoint document libraries and lists!  I will be diving into the core of RMS and its integration with MOSS 2007.  See below for the user group meeting details!     NYC SharePoint User Group 10/3/2007  5:30 PM – Microsoft Office – 1290 6th Ave. (51st/52nd) NEXT NYC SHAREPOINT USER GROUP: Wednesday, October 3   Jason Medero, Microsoft MVP  will present on “Information Rights Management & MOSS 2007” MOSS 2007 is known for its Enterprise Content Management capabilities, but what about when the content leaves the MOSS 2007 environment.  How is the content protected once it leaves the MOSS 2007 environment?  This is where Information Rights Management (IRM) and its tight integration with MOSS 2007 becomes very valuable.  IRM’s integration with MOSS 2007 enables administrators to wrap a digital envelope around their digital content.  Once the content is protected inside MOSS 2007 consumers of this content may have specific rights to the content in regards to printing, forwarding or copying this sensitive content.  These restrictions are attached to this content no matter where the content lives or is transported.  This session will cover what IRM is and how it is used in conjunction with MOSS 2007 to provide protection for your sensitive information that is living within your MOSS 2007 environment.New Addition: Christian Lavista, Microsoft, will briefly address the group about the NYC Microsoft Technology Center scheduled to open in November.   The meeting will start at 5:30 PM with an opportunity to network with your colleagues in other companies and free food compliments of CorasWorks.   For immediate registration: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=121070   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: 5:30 PM Eat & Greet Networking Free Food & Drink Courtesy of this month’s sponsor: CorasWorks 6:00 PM The News Breaking SharePoint News NYC SPUG Advisors deliver the latest SharePoint news 6:15 PM Tip Talk Fast ideas for getting more out of SharePoint “Information Rights Management & MOSS 2007” Jason Medero, Microsoft MVP 7:15 PM Wrap Up Announcements/Giveaways Door Prizes courtesy of: B&R Business Solutions & Microsoft   The sponsors for the October 3 meeting include: Networking/Food:    CorasWorks Speaker Gift:            CorasWorks Door Prizes:             B&R Business Solutions - Microsoft After Meeting Social: CorasWorks     **Building Security Requirements: You can expect to have some difficulty & delay getting up to the meeting room if you arrive late. We recommend bringing a copy of your meeting registration confirmation notice with you.   Hope to see you all there! Cheers, Posted Oct 02 2007, 12:13 PM by jmedero with 1 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007