Dave Wollerman's SharePoint BlogI use this blog to share information with the community plus also as a repository for reference material on unique situations that I have come across.
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<a href="http://semsug.tech.officelive.com/"><img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/11392/secondarythumb.aspx" border="0" alt="" /></a>http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/atom.aspxCommunity Server2007-10-09T10:32:00ZWorkflow AutoCleanup Workaroundshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/07/31/workflow-autocleanup-workarounds.aspx2008-07-31T14:32:00Z2008-07-31T14:32:00Z<p>As many of you know I have received much attention related to my <a class="" href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=huge+moss+workflow+issue&s=220">Workflow blog posts</a>. Everything from "incendiary, headline-grabbing attempt to create a problem where none exists" comments to notifications about dissrailing SharePoint training classes with this "non issue". I don't mind the "friendly" discussions I have had around this topic, I am glad this problem (or non problem, depending which side of the fence you are on) was brought to light. I still believe there are people out there not aware of this feature and won't realize the impact that it has on their environment until its too late.</p>
<p>With that said, I wanted to include some finds related to a common workaround related to the workflow auto clean-up feature. I found this information on a <a class="" href="http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepointworkflow/thread/b15b27e2-3033-418b-9731-968273d7423e">MSDN forum posting</a> I have recently ran across. There are a few workarounds for this feature. You can configure a property when developing a custom workflow to adjust the auto clean-up days. You can turn off the timer job related to the workflow auto clean-up days. And you could write a script that updates the associations already existing in the database. Example scripts are located in the forum mentioned earlier (<a href="http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepointworkflow/thread/b15b27e2-3033-418b-9731-968273d7423e">http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/sharepointworkflow/thread/b15b27e2-3033-418b-9731-968273d7423e</a>). There is code for a script which will update the auto clean-up days for a workflow association from 60 days (default) to any number of days you wish to configure. This code was written and posted by Shola Salako. Fred Morrison also has posted a powershell script which will update the auto clean-up days for workflow associations as well.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=19389" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxNew SharePoint Professional Community Websites Launchedhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/07/17/sharepoint-professional-community-websites-go-live.aspx2008-07-17T17:55:00Z2008-07-17T17:55:00Z<div><font face="Arial" color="#000000" size="2">There have been a couple new sites developed for the SharePoint professional community by SharePoint MVP's, check them out.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><strong><u>ISPA: International SharePoint Professionals Association</u></strong></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">The International SharePoint Professionals Association (“ISPA”) is the first independent, community-run, not-for-profit organization designed specifically for SharePoint Professionals. ISPA is a professional association dedicated<b> </b>to the promotion and global adoption of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. The Association provides support and guidance to the community by establishing connections between SharePoint professionals and groups, resources, education and information.</font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">website: </font><a href="http://www.sharepointpros.org/"><font face="Arial" size="2">http://www.sharepointpros.org/</font></a></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><strong><u>SharePoint Magazine</u></strong></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">SharePoint Magazine is an online community magazine located at <a href="http://www.sharepointmagazine.net/">http://www.sharepointmagazine.net</a> </font><font face="Arial" size="2">and focuses on SharePoint and related Information Worker technologies. The first issue of SharePoint Magazine is planned for July 16, 2008. SharePoint Magazine provides an excellent oportunity for new and experienced authors to create community content. SharePoint Magazine and ISPA worked together supporting each others community offering. ISPA has awarded SharePoint Magazine as the ISPA Community Partner of the Month. </font></div>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">website: </font><a href="http://sharepointmagazine.net/"><font face="Arial" size="2">http://sharepointmagazine.net/</font></a></div>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=18934" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxAssigning SharePoint Groups to Tasks in SharePoint Designer Workflowshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/06/05/assigning-sharepoint-groups-to-tasks-in-sharepoint-designer-workflows.aspx2008-06-05T15:59:00Z2008-06-05T15:59:00Z<p>I recently had an interesting issue crop up for me. I created a SharePoint Designer (SPD) workflow that acts somewhat as a state machine workflow using the "collect data from user" option. This option creates a task, assigns a user, and returns back the ID to the list item created. I was using SharePoint groups as the value for the assigned to field. For some reason the second step was not assigning the user but the other 3 steps were. I checked the length of the name, the users in the groups, the permissions of the group, the owner of the group, pretty much every thing and it did not fix my issue. I more than triple checked my workflow to make sure it was properly named.</p>
<p>Then I realized that there was something different with that group as compared to the other groups. The name had a dash in it. Yep! a dash ( - ). I removed the dash in the name and the SPD workflow was able to then assign the user to the task with no issues. The funny part is it is not a SharePoint thing because I was able to manually assign the user, so the only thing I can think of is that it must be the way SPD assigns the user.</p>
<p>So bottom line is... if you plan on assigning users to tasks from a SPD workflow, make sure you do not have dashes in the name... :)</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=17285" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxUsing a Site Template (STP File) to create a site collectionhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/21/using-a-site-template-stp-file-to-create-a-site-collection.aspx2008-04-21T13:37:00Z2008-04-21T13:37:00Z<p>Site templates can be very useful for an easy custom starting point for common site usage. Site templates can be saved from any site (except publishing sites for some reason... <img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile" /> ). These site templates are stored into the site collections site template gallery as STP files. Once they are created a user with permissions can create sites within that site collection based on that template.</p>
<p>What happens if you want to use that site template to create a top level site in a site collection. When creating a site collection you are only shown available templates that are global to the entire farm. If you want to use your custom site template when creating a site collection follow the instructions below...</p>
<ol>
<li>
<div>Create your site template (I assume you already know how to do this, but if not go to the site settings of any web and select "Save Site as Template")</div></li>
<li>
<div>Navigate to the site template gallery where the site template is saved. This will be under Site Settings -> Galleries -> Site Template Gallery.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Save the custom site template to the SharePoint server local drive.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Remote Desktop into the SharePoint server where the STP file has been saved, and open a command prompt.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Use STSADM to upload the template into the global templates list by using the STSADM -o AddTemplate command. For help with the AddTemplate command use STSADM -help addtemplate.</div></li></ol>
<p>obviously make sure you either specify the path to stsadm in the command line, or as part of the server's PATH variable. Also, if you are not in the folder where the STP file exisits, you will have to specify the full path to the STP file as well. Remember if there are spaces anywhere in the path you will have to surround the full path with double quotes.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15554" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxUpgrade Solution Package with a Feature Reciever after the feature has already been deployed.http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/11/upgrade-solution-package-with-a-feature-reciever-after-the-feature-has-already-been-deployed.aspx2008-04-11T18:16:00Z2008-04-11T18:16:00Z<p>We all know by now you can deploy features using a SharePoint solution package. This is a great addition for SharePoint developers as it easily allows us to quickly and efficently upgrade our customizations, plus it helps keep everything organized.</p>
<p>One thing I ran across was after deploying a solution that included a feature, I realized that I wanted to create a feature receiver for that feature to run some code upon activation and deactivation. I noticed that the feature is partially updated when running a solution upgrade. This means that the feature.xml is updated to look for the specified feature receiver class, but when you activate the feature after the upgrade you receive and error saying the receiver couldn't run.</p>
<p>My resolution that seemed to work for me was to reinstall the feature manually. I ran the following command and I was then able to activate the feature as normal and have the feature receiver kick off as well.</p>
<p>stsadm -o installfeature -name <featurename> -force</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15265" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxLogging exceptions to the SharePoint Trace Log (Diagnostic Logging)http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/11/logging-exceptions-to-the-sharepoint-trace-log-diagnostic-logging.aspx2008-04-11T18:10:00Z2008-04-11T18:10:00Z<p>Microsoft has a great piece of example code that you can copy and paste into your solution and start using on how to write to the SharePoint trace log. these are the log files that get created from setting up "Diagnostic Logging" under Central Administration -> Operations. I have used it in the past and it works pretty well.</p>
<p><a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979590.aspx">http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979590.aspx</a></p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15263" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxSharePoint Solution Doesn't Deploy to GAC and Errorshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/10/sharepoint-solution-doesn-t-deploy-to-gac-and-errors.aspx2008-04-10T20:03:00Z2008-04-10T20:03:00Z<p>This is a wierd issue I recently ran across. I was using remote debugging and I needed to copy over the PDB symbols file to the GAC. I used the command line to copy the file over to the appropiate location. I ran the command line down to the folder I needed to copy to in the GAC and left it open since I didn't want to write that out everytime I needed to update it. (I know I'm lazy, I should of and ended up writing a BAT file to do it for me).</p>
<p>With it left open I noticed that when I updated my solution it would fail and not deploy my assembly to the GAC. I realized that this was because I had the command window open to that folder. I didn't think that it would matter since it wasn't doing anything but sitting there. I closed the command window and re-deployed to my web applications and everything was fine after that.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15213" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxRemote Debugging GAC'd Assemblies in SharePointhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/10/remote-debugging-gac-d-assemblies-in-sharepoint.aspx2008-04-10T19:48:00Z2008-04-10T19:48:00Z<p>Like alot of people in the SharePoint development community I have been using a VPC to do debugging of code through SharePoint. I don't really like this because for one, running an enterprise level application plus visual studio with a laptop and 2GB of memory is very time consuming and can get frustrating at times.</p>
<p>With this said, I recently decided to look into remote debugging my SharePoint code from a client machine to the SharePoint server. I still didn't want to load up visual studio on the server either. Below are the steps that I took to accomplish remote debugging my SharePoint code.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<div>Created a share on my client machine on my C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\Remote Debugger folder.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Then I remoted into the SharePoint server and mapped a drive to connect to the share on my client machine.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Open the mapped drive on the server and navigate down the folders to x86\msvsmon.exe and run it on the server through the share.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Once the remote debug monitor is running. Click on tools -> permissions to give the account your logged in as permissions to debug.</div></li>
<li>
<div>You will also need to deploy the PDB file generated by visual studio when it creates your assembly to the GAC as well on the server. You will need to copy via the command line utility or map a drive to it since it is not available through the folder structure in windows. the folder you have to copy the PDB file to is c:\windows\assembly\gac_msil\<assemblyname>\<version>__<public key token>. You will need to replace the three place holders (identified with <>) with the appropiate names for your assembly. Once the PDB file is copied over to that folder location, you are ready to attach and debug</div></li>
<li>
<div>In visual studio, select attach to process from the debug menu</div></li>
<li>
<div>In the "Qualifier" text box enter the netbios name of the server that the remote debugging monitor is running. It should refresh the screen and connect to the remote debugging session on the server. You can verify by going to the server and looking at the remote debugging monitor to see who is connected.</div></li>
<li>
<div>I choose to change the types of code I will be attaching to. I used the "select..." button to remove TSQL from the list since it was causing issues and I wasn't debugging SQL anyway.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Select your process and happy debugging.</div></li></ol>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15212" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxNavigation in SharePoint Team Site w/ Publishing Infrastructure Activatedhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/04/08/navigation-in-sharepoint-team-site-w-publishing-infrastructure-activated.aspx2008-04-08T12:24:00Z2008-04-08T12:24:00Z<p>I recently was looking into programmatically setting up navigation in publishing sites and came across a scenario I felt I should share with the community so everyone is aware of it, and to see if there is any help with a workaround.</p>
<p>The scenario is that when a normal team site is created it uses the basic WSS navigation structure. This structure can be accessed from the SPWeb.Navigation class. In the site collection where the Team site is located, an administrator can activate the MOSS Publishing Infrastructure under the site collection features area, which will change the Team site navigation to the publishing navigation structure. This is not a big deal since it allows you to have more control over your navigation without all the publishing aspects being turned on within the Team site.</p>
<p>The problem occurs when trying to access this navigation programmatically. You see from the browser that the navigation is using the publishing structure, but you don't have access to the navigation programmatically using the PublishingWeb.Navigation class since the "Web" is not a "PublishingWeb". To make the web a publishingweb you need to activate the publishing feature at the web scope. The catch-22 occurs when you don't want the Team site to have publishing turned on at the web scope, but the publishing infrastructure is turned on at the site scope.</p>
<p>I haven't found a way to manipulate the publishing navigation pieces without having the publishing feature activates at the web scope. If anyone has any tips that would be very much appreciated, but for now the work around is to either configure it manually, or activate the publishing feature at the web scope.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=15047" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxCreate custom Alert Email Handlerhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/03/28/create-custom-alert-email-handler.aspx2008-03-28T23:27:00Z2008-03-28T23:27:00Z<p>Ever needed to enchance the email for SharePoint alerts? Maybe you wanted to do...</p>
<p>
<table class="list ul" class="list ul">
<tr>
<td class="bullet" class="bullet">•</td>
<td class="text" class="text">Fields, such as the <strong class="uiterm">ItemName</strong> field, are truncated to 70 characters in the e-mail alert. To work around the 70-character limit, use the method that this article describes. </td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="bullet" class="bullet">•</td>
<td class="text" class="text">You want to embed additional content in the e-mail alert. </td></tr>
<tr>
<td class="bullet" class="bullet">•</td>
<td class="text" class="text">You want to change the layout or the appearance of the e-mail alert. </td></tr></table></p>
<p>Well now you can, Microsoft has released a support article (<a class="" href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948321/en-us">KB948321</a>) that walks you through creating a custom alert handler to intercept the alert and apply a custom email template.</p>
<p>Thanks to <a class="" href="http://kbalertz.com/default.aspx">KBAlertz</a> for the notification!</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=14669" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxFeature Stapling using GLOBAL#0 - Updated!http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/03/26/feature-stapling-using-global-0.aspx2008-03-27T01:55:00Z2008-03-27T01:55:00Z<p><font color="red"><strong>*** Update ***</strong></font></p>
<p>Thanks to <a class="" href="http://www.davehunter.co.uk/blog">Dave Hunter</a> pointing me to <a class="" href="http://blog.tedpattison.net/">Ted Pattisons blog</a> post that discusses the use of the Global template. Please visit the following blog post to learn more information on using the Global template with feature stapling.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.tedpattison.net/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=80e51818%2D7b98%2D41d8%2Db313%2D955977ecd68f&ID=2">http://blog.tedpattison.net/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=80e51818%2D7b98%2D41d8%2Db313%2D955977ecd68f&ID=2</a></p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=14599" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxCorporate Intranet - Not just a web site anymore!http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/03/26/corporate-intranet-meaning-through-my-eyes.aspx2008-03-27T01:29:00Z2008-03-27T01:29:00Z<p>The biggest issue related to the single site colleciton vs. multiple is the ability to drill down and find information manually. Every companies biggest hurdle is understanding that SharePoint is not just a single web site. It is a complete environment for your company. Also, companies love to adapt new technology, but their mindset on doing business never changes. Meaning that I contain all my customer information in a single manilla folder in a single drawer file cabinet. As I atract more customers I will need to adjust my organizational needs. I don't want to get big new fancy multi-drawer file cabinet and organize my information the same way in the sinlge manilla folder. I would need to re-think my methods, which include identifying the benefits of the new file cabinet and utilizing them to best fit my needs.</p>
<p>So back to SharePoint, with the use of it's many features such as, memberships, my sites, search, and site directorys and the use of well qualified individuals who maintain the content and design of the environment as a whole will go a long way to make life easier in the corporate intranet environment.</p>
<p>Life isn't all about drilling down, users don't go to the internet and drill down through millions of sites to find the one they need, they search. Even in sharepointblogs.com. You won't drill down to find my blog, you will search for it. Better yet, you might save it as a favorite. Bottom line is that the corporate intranet is catching up to the level of the internet, meaning it just isn't a single web site anymore, it is an entire network of sites where each site has it's own uses. This means that there will be multiple personality types using different methods to find the information they need.</p>
<p>As an example... I know that I am not going to find Receipies on how to bake a cake by drilling down through microsoft.com. And if I don't know where it is, then I will have to find another method, which is usually search. Once I find this great place, then I will save it. Its the same for the intranet now. Times are changing quickly and it doesn't matter how big the company is or how many users there are in the organization anymore. What matters is how they do business and how quickly they can react to changes in the business.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=14598" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxManaged Paths: What are you using?http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/03/04/managed-paths-what-are-you-using.aspx2008-03-04T14:46:00Z2008-03-04T14:46:00Z<p>I know this is probably not the best place to conduct a survey, but I am curious on how people are using managed paths to organize their environment and architect their taxonomy. If you are using managed paths in a SharePoint environment, please offer your experiences and settings here.</p>
<p>What I am looking for is just the managed path definition and what type it is. If you would like to offer up a description on what that path is designed for that would be great.</p>
<p>I DO NOT want to know anything about the company or organization affliated with the installation and configuration of the SharePoint managed paths. This is not meant for advertising or for publicity, I am strictly just looking for how they are being used so we as a community can have a better understanding on what they mean to us.</p>
<p>some of my examples...</p>
<p>/departments (Wildcard): use to identify a department<br />/portals (Wildcard): use to identify the use of a portal used by corporate, a department, or a division<br />/[deptname] (explicit): use for each department<br />/projects (Wildcard): use for project team sites; also can be used for integration with project server<br />/teams (Wildcard): use for team collaboration sites</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=13527" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxMy Sites and Membershipshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/02/29/my-sites-and-memberships.aspx2008-02-29T13:30:00Z2008-02-29T13:30:00Z<p>Memberships located in a users personal site are managed for the user automatically by 2 timer jobs that run.</p>
<p>Profile Synchronization (default interval is every 1 hour)<br />Quick Profile Synchronization (default interval is every 5 minutes)</p>
<p>These schedules can be changed by running the following stsadm command with the "-SyncTiming" (profile sync) and the "-SweepTiming" (quick profile sync) parameters. </p>
<p>stsadm -o sync<br /> {-ExcludeWebApps <web applications> |<br /> -SyncTiming <schedule(M/H/D:value)> |<br /> -SweepTiming <schedule(M/H/D:value)> |<br /> -ListOldDatabases <days> |<br /> -DeleteOldDatabases <days>}</p>
<p>These timer jobs synchronize user information tables in every site collections with any updated profile information in the user profile database. They also identify whats sites the user is a member of and store that information for the user in the memberships list on the users personal site.</p>
<p>Being a member of the site was a little vague as to how does sharepoint know. Do I just need to be assigned permissions to the site, be in a special group? The answer is that by default when a site collection is created there is a members sharepoint group created too. This group is assigned as the "members of this site" group. You can create a custom sharepoint group and assign the custom sharepoint group to be the "members of this site" group. This can be done from the people and groups settings, viewing the members of any sharepoint group and selecting "Settings -> Set Up Groups" option in the toolbar.</p>
<p>Also, even though sharepoint groups are managed at the site collection level, each site in the site collection can identify the group that will be considered "members of this site" group. So when the timer job checks out the groups for memberships it will look at each site in the farm to determine the sharepoint group to use and then update each users membership with that information.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if the user is also using Office 2007 their memberships show up as "My SharePoint Sites" in the open and save dialogs. From what I am lead to understand is the information that renders under this section of your office client application is updated upon the first time an office application is started for the day.</p>
<p>This information also shows up in the users "My Links - My SharePoint Sites" dropdown in the top right of a sharepoint site.</p>
<p>This is a MOSS only feature and is available with MOSS Standard and Enterprise editions.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=13333" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxSearch Core Results Web Part and XSL Link Propertyhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/02/25/search-core-results-web-part-and-xsl-link-property.aspx2008-02-25T13:40:00Z2008-02-25T13:40:00Z<p>I was customizing a search core results web part display recently and I wanted to have a sinle instance of the XSL used to translate the results since I will have multiple instances of the same search core results on many different site collections. I thought the "XSL Link" web part property of the search core results web part would allow this, but I was mistaken. </p>
<p>The issue is you can only reference an XSL file in the XSL Link web part property only if the XSL file resides on the same site collection as the web part is displayed. I tried referencing the file from _layouts and received and error, I tried referencing the file from another site collection, received same error. I know permissions is not a problem since none of these locations are locked down.</p>
<p>If there is anyone that knows a workaround for this I would love to hear it. Also, this was on an instance of MOSS Standard SP1.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=13093" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxWorkaround for creating timer jobs after a restore in SharePointhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/02/18/workaround-for-creating-timer-jobs-after-a-restore-in-sharepoint.aspx2008-02-18T20:44:00Z2008-02-18T20:44:00Z<p><font color="#ff0000">*** UPDATE *** <br /></font>I was made aware of a fix in SP1 that should cover this issue. <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941422">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941422</a> </p>
<p>I have recently done a restore of a SharePoint farm without first creating the web applications as Microsoft suggests. (read previous post about <a class="" href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/01/25/web-application-timer-jobs-not-automatically-created-when-restoring-from-sharepoint-backups.aspx">web application timer jobs not created during a SharePoint restore</a>). The issue was the problem wasn't found right away so Microsofts recommendation of running the restore again wasn't an option. I searched and searched for a solution that allowed me to manually fire up these timer jobs for these web applications, but nothing was found. Seemed like creating a new web application was the only option. Below are the steps that I took to resolve this issue for each web application involved (usually it would be every web app except for central administration).</p>
<p>Step 1: Backups and Preparation<br />Before starting any endeavor that can potentially hose up a web application and / or database it is recommended that the entire farm run a full backup just in case :). Next we will have to make sure we stop the IIS web sites so there are no additional changes being made to the databases as we are trying to move them. Do this by going into IIS and stopping the appropiate virtual servers running. </p>
<p>Step 2: Create a new Web Application<br />I created a new web application on a different port number and a temporary database name (WSS_Content_Port_DELETEME). I did so that I knew when finished which databases to delete. The temporary port number is there as a place holder until I could manually swap the ports with the "old" web application later.</p>
<p>Step 3: Prepare to move the Databases<br />There is a command that Microsoft has included with the new version of SharePoint called "PrepareToMove". This command is used as an operation under stsadm. This command allows the profile syncronization properties for the users for each site collection in the database to be disconnected, ultimately allowing the new web application to take over the role without causing errors in the syncronization process. You will have to run this command on every site collection in the database.</p>
<p>The first thing you would need to get is a list of site collections in the database. The command used to gather the list of site collections is "enumsites". The syntax for this can be found by running stsadm -help enumsites from the command prompt. What I typically do is output the results of that command to a text file so I can parse out the site collection URLs. I do this by running stsadm -o enumsites -url <a href="http://webapp/">http://webapp</a> >c:\sites.txt. Keep in mind that if you have more than one database on your web application, but you are only moving one of the databases, only the sites that are part of the database you are moving need to run the preparetomove operation.</p>
<p>When I have a list of the sites i need to move. I create a BAT file that will process all the sites using the preparetomove operation. What I do is create a command in the BAT file for each site collection I am preparing to move. The command looks like this: stsadm -o preparetomove -contentdb DBSERVER:DBNAME -site SITEURL. You will have to replace DBSERVER with the name of the database server the database is located, replace the DBNAME with the name of the database to move, and replace SITEURL with the url of the site collection in the database. Keep in mind that there must be a colon in between the DBSERVER and DBNAME values. Once I have the BAT file create I run it.</p>
<p>Step 4: Swapping Databases<br />Now that the sites have been identified and the preparetomove operation has been executed on the identified site collections. Now is the time to swap the databases to the web application we created in Step 1.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div>You do this by going into Central Administration and select "Application Management -> Content Databases"</div></li>
<li>
<div>Once in the content databases management area, select the "old" web application as the filter</div></li>
<li>
<div>Click on the database name(s) that the preparetomove operation was run against</div></li>
<li>
<div>Check the box to "Remove Database". You will get a warning saying that you are removing a database that contains sites and that nobody will be able to access the sites if the database is removed. Click "Ok"</div></li>
<li>
<div>Now you should be returned to the content database management area, select the "new" web application as a filter</div></li>
<li>
<div>Click on the temporary database that was created when the web application was created and remove the database by following steps above.</div></li>
<li>
<div>When the temporary database has been removed, attach the database from the "old" web application by clicking on the "Attach Database" link in the toolbar.</div></li>
<li>
<div>When attaching an existing database it is very important that the name entered for the database name is exactly the same as the database that exists in SQL that you are attaching</div></li>
<li>
<div>Once the name is entered in correctly, click ok and the database should be attached successfully.</div></li></ul>
<p>Step 5: Swapping URL Addresses<br />This step we will have to swap the URL addresses in both SharePoint and IIS, since Microsoft did not build into the Alternate Access Mappings an automated feature that changes IIS for you... but I digress... :). Below are the steps to swap the URL addresses</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Navigate to Central Administration and goto the Operations -> Alternate Access Mappings page.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Select the "old" web application AAM and change the url to another port that is not currently being used.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Select the "new" web application AAM and change the url to the port that the "old" web application was using.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Navigate to IIS Management</div></li>
<li>
<div>Right click on the "old" web application and select "Properties"</div></li>
<li>
<div>Change the port number to the port number you set for the "old" web application in the AAM area, click ok.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Right click on the "new" web application and select "Properties"</div></li>
<li>
<div>Change the port number to the port number you set for the "new" web application in the AAM area, click ok.</div></li></ul>
<p>Now your new web application is running and users are able to access their content using the same URL as before, but now they are accessing the new web application. Repeat these steps for each web application that you need to recreate for the timer jobs to be present.</p>
<p>Step 6: Cleanup<br />This final step once everything has successfully be moved and tested is to remove all the "old" references in the system.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div>In Central Administration, navigate to Application Management -> Delete Web Application</div></li>
<li>
<div>Select the "old" web application to delete</div></li>
<li>
<div>Select "No" for each the remove database and remove IIS options. I recommend removing manually just in case SharePoint has some connection to the moved databases and application pools.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Go to the SQL Server and remove the temporary databases created called "DELETEME"</div></li>
<li>
<div>Go to the IIS Management area and remove the "old" IIS virtual servers that were used for the "old" web applications.</div></li></ul>
<p>Now everything should be back to normal and all cleaned up. I hope that this will help someone resolve their issues and not have to go through the headache of figuring it out for yourselfs.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=12853" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxWeb Application Timer Jobs not automatically created when restoring from SharePoint backupshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/01/25/web-application-timer-jobs-not-automatically-created-when-restoring-from-sharepoint-backups.aspx2008-01-25T20:18:00Z2008-01-25T20:18:00Z<p><font color="red">*** UPDATE *** </font><br />I was made aware of a fix in SP1 that should cover this issue. <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941422">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941422</a></p>
<p>SharePoint administrator beware!!! You must manually recreate your web applications (with the exact naming as compared to what was backed up) to ensure that all the timer jobs for each web application is created when restoring from a SharePoint backup. The problem seems to be the automatic SharePoint restore that restores the databases and web applications must not follow the same method as if you were to do it manually because the automated restore does not create the necessary timer jobs for any web application restored. This includes immediate alerts, so if you have done a restore and you are wondering what has happened to your alert emails and your assigned-to emails it is because the restore didn't do a proper job.</p>
<p>Of course the recommendation for getting the timer jobs created and associated with the web application is to manually create the web applications BEFORE you restore. The problem is you might not realize there is a problem until after a couple weeks / months after your restore. Now you have to delete the web applications, create them manually, and restore from the last full backup.</p>
<p>Here is the Microsoft KB article that discusses the issue.<br /><span style="FONT-SIZE:11pt;COLOR:#1f497d;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri','sans-serif';"><a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942989">http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942989</a></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE:11pt;COLOR:#1f497d;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri','sans-serif';"><font face="Arial" color="#000000" size="2">Here is the link to my work around and fix for the issue that is less intrusive than running a complete restore of your farm.<br /><a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/02/18/workaround-for-creating-timer-jobs-after-a-restore-in-sharepoint.aspx">http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/02/18/workaround-for-creating-timer-jobs-after-a-restore-in-sharepoint.aspx</a></font></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE:11pt;COLOR:#1f497d;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri','sans-serif';"><br /> </p></span>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=11880" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxMoving to a new database server (or instance)http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/01/02/moving-to-a-new-database-server-or-instance.aspx2008-01-02T19:42:00Z2008-01-02T19:42:00Z<p><em>Updated on 1/28/2008 to include link to post related to web application timer jobs and SharePoint restore.</em> </p>
<p>There comes a time when SharePoint databases will have to be moved to another database server. The problem is that it is not that easy to just move the databases to a new database server and have everything work. In SharePoint 2003, it was realatively simple to move all the databases, but in 2007 there is alot more involved with communication between the databases making it a more complicated scenario.Outlined below are the steps taken to move a SharePoint farm to a new database server.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<div>Perform a farm level backup of the current farm using the SharePoint backup utility in Central Administration. Make sure the backup gets saved to an accesible location either on this server or on the network.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard to disconnect the server from the configuration database. If there is only one server in farm, then all you have to do is that server. If there are multiple servers in the farm, make sure the server running central administration is the last server disconnected from the farm. I don't believe this is a requirement, but I would recommended it anyway.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Once all the servers have been removed from the farm. Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on the server to host the central administration site first to create a new SharePoint farm. Once Server is configured, run the configuration wizard on the remaining servers adding them to the new SharePoint farm.</div></li>
<li>
<div>Start both the Office SharePoint Services Search and the Windows SharePoint Services Search services<br /><br /><font color="red"><strong><em><u>*** UPDATE ***</u></em></strong></font></div></li>
<li>
<div>Read the post about <a class="" href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2008/01/25/web-application-timer-jobs-not-automatically-created-when-restoring-from-sharepoint-backups.aspx">web application timer jobs</a> before moving to step 6 VERY IMPORTANT<br /><font color="red"><strong><em><u>*** UPDATE ***</u></em></strong></font><br /></div></li>
<li>
<div>Restore the backup made in step 1 using the SharePoint restore utility in Central Administration. You will have to supply the file path to the files that were backed up<br /></div></li>
<ol>
<li>
<div>There are 4 steps to restoring from the backup. Step 1 is to locate the backup set that was ran in Step 1<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:349px;" height="349" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10462/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /><br /></div></li>
<li>
<div>Step 2 is selecting a backup to restore from the location specified in the previous step<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:129px;" height="129" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10459/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /><br /></div></li>
<li>
<div>Step 3 is selecting a component of the backtup to restore... in this case you want to restore at the farm level<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:317px;" height="317" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10460/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /><br /></div></li>
<li>
<div>Step 4 is to select the restore options. In this step you want to select new configuration for the type of resture and besure to go through all the databases, web applicatons, and SSP information to specifiy the new database server name and database file locations for each item. Double check everything before hitting ok.<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:301px;" height="301" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10461/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /><br /></div></li>
<li>
<div>Finally after all selections are made and the restore process is kicked off, you see a summary of the restore in progress.<br /><br /><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:349px;" height="349" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10462/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /><br /></div></li></ol>
<li>
<div>Once restore is complete the databases should be in their new location and the SSP should be back up and running. To finish the move, you must reconfigure the farm using central administration. Then kick off a full crawl to repopulate the content index.</div></li></ol>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=10457" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxHuge MOSS Workflow Issue... What is Microsoft Thinking!!!! - Part 2http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/11/21/huge-moss-workflow-issue-what-is-microsoft-thinking-part-2.aspx2007-11-21T14:34:00Z2007-11-21T14:34:00Z<p><a class="" href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/09/21/huge-workflow-issue-what-is-microsoft-thinking.aspx">Huge MOSS Workflow Issue... What is Microsoft Thinking!!!!</a> the original post </p>
<p>Ok, recently I came across a blog post called <a class="" href="http://thorprojects.com/blog/archive/2007/10/16/708.aspx">SPWorkflowAssociation.AutoCleanupDays</a> from Robert Bogue, a SharePoint MVP, that tries to explain away my original complaint of this process as to be not that big of a deal. I believe that he missunderstood my original posting.</p>
<p>My overall intention of the original post was to get the word out to the SharePoint community to make sure they are informed of this process. My goal was to get people to make sure Microsoft was aware that they were not happy with this design and that it needs to be re-designed or at the least configurable. At the very least I am glad that Robert brought this to the SharePoint product group attention. What I am not happy with is what Robert explains as their reasoning behind this little hidden gem.</p>
<p>The main reason for cleaning out the associations is because of a performance issue. If this is a true reason, then the product team should of reconsidered their storage model for the workflow history and associations. If anyone knows the limitations of SharePoint it would be the product team and they purposely used a SharePoint list for storage knowing those limitations and performance issues. I can't see this being their only option for a storage model and if it was, then this must of been one of those last minute features added to meet a deadline of some sort.</p>
<p>The second reason for saying that this is not a big deal is auditing. Robert explains that the workflow history is meant to be more of a log file then an audit trail and that MOSS has its own audit logging outside of the workflow. I can see where Robert is going, but I still don't agree. Working with large enterprise customers who are audited on a regular basis will not take that the workflow history is a log not an audit trail as an explaination. These customers will need the workflow history, comments, and everything else associated with that workflow to be part of their existing retention policies for both auditing and legal situations. MOSS Auditing will show the editing of the tasks and such, but it is not as robust as the workflow association view. Meaning that there has to be a manual association made to determine which tasks ran for a particualr document or item. Plus MOSS Auditing needs to be configured to capture these events, where workflow history is automatically there. Also, auditing is captured at a site collection level meaning you will get all workflow tasks across the entire site collection making the manual assocation more difficult, where workflow associations are for a particular document or item. Again making it easier for auditing and legal situations. In business time is money, and SharePoint is fixing that for the most part opening communication and getting tasks completed on a more timely basis, but things come up (like they always will, murphy's law).</p>
<p>Now, I don't want people to missunderstand me. I am not saying all workflows required this. There might be some minor approvals that do not require this kind of attention. I am stateing this because I know there are organizations out there that have developed critical business processes using SharePoint workflow and will possibly need to rely on this information in the future.</p>
<p>Again, I just want to make sure people are aware of this. Once the community is aware of these issues, then those people and organizations can make an educated decision as to use SharePoint workflow, turn off the auto cleanup jobs, turn on auditing, etc. An informed community and community feedback to the product team (good and bad) makes for a better product in the future. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working with SharePoint and believe that it is a product that can change a company, like email did years ago, but with the good comes the bad and I want people to be aware of the bad as well.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=9009" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxSite Collection Taxonomy Thoughtshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/11/09/when-to-use-site-collections-vs-sub-sites.aspx2007-11-09T19:09:00Z2007-11-09T19:09:00Z<p>This post is inspired by a comment I recently recieved from someone asking about when to use site collections vs sub sites and what things are shared within a site collection and what things are not. Since I don't really see this type of foundation topic being discussed (compared to all the topics about the fun cool features), I figured that I would try to put together a list and some examples together for everyone.</p>
<p>First, I want to discuss the definition of site collections (at least in my opinion). Site collections are a means to provide a stand alone secure container to allow like, or related content to be shared within. If you see, I refer to site collections as "containers" or in Active Directory terms, "Organizational Units". Its a means to provide organization in your environment while keeping the content inside physically unrelated to any other container.</p>
<p>So, the question is when do you use site collections rather than just building out a heirarchy on a single site collection? I have another post that goes into the<a class="" title="logical architecture of site collections" href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/06/25/site-collection-logical-architecture.aspx"> logical archiecture of site collections</a> and the benefits of some of the features it provides, but in this post I wanted to discuss other reasons for people to think about when designing the site collection taxonomy. In the above definition I mention the container allows for "like" or "related" content to be shared. What I mean by this is the site collection content will be related back to a sole purpose, topic, and/or area.</p>
<p>You can think of this as the separation of "public" (or formal) content and "private" (or informal) content. Formal content is content that requires a formal buisness process. This content is usually public (internal public to a company) content that requires specific approvals before being displayed to the masses. Informal content is content that is more ad-hoc and privately shared with a team or a small group of individuals. There are times where informal content being worked on by a team becomes formal content when published to the main intranet web site.</p>
<p>For example, everyone's first thought with SharePoint is "I want to use it for my Intranet". Thats fine, first we need to define the term In<strong><em>TRA</em></strong>net. In<strong><em>TRA</em></strong>net to me is internal internet, meaning that if SharePoint is your providing application then the entire SharePoint farm is technically your in<strong><em>TRA</em></strong>net. Looking at it this way you can relate to the external in<strong><em>TER</em></strong>net (or internet for short). You don't think that the in<strong><em>TER</em></strong>net is a single site right? With Microsoft and google as sub sites.. :) Then why does the thinking behind creating an in<strong><em>TRA</em></strong>net start with a single site and includes the entire companies content, workspaces, and what have you all within that single site?</p>
<p><img style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:147px;" height="147" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/10532/500x375.aspx" width="500" alt="" /></p>
<p>The bottom line to think about is not what every single site needs... the object is to "categorize" your companies needs into a manageable intranet environment. Examples of this are</p>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Personal Sites (1 site collection per person, more ad hoc, life cycle managed, self service creation, personal space for that person only. Informal Content)</div></li>
<li>
<div>Project Workspaces (1 site collection per project, more ad hoc, life cycle managed, self service creation, content avaiable for that project only. Informal Content)</div></li>
<li>
<div>Team sites (1 site collection per team, more ad hoc, life cycle managed, self service creation, content available for that team only. Informal content.)</div></li>
<li>
<div>Division Portals (1 site collection for each division and department, content available across that division or department only. Formal Content)</div></li>
<li>
<div>Central Portal (1 site collection, content available across the ogranization. Formal Content)</div></li></ul>
<p>I am not looking to preach to what people should do rather then to give them alternative ways of thinking when it comes to what SharePoint is and what it can do. The big thing I tell all my clients is that there is no clear right or wrong decision on using SharePoint. If a single site collection is all that is required, then that is right for that situation. I hope that this post helps people with their decisions in using SharePoint.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=8426" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxInformation Management Policies and Inheritancehttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/10/25/information-management-policies-and-inheritance.aspx2007-10-25T16:14:00Z2007-10-25T16:14:00Z<p>We all know that content types are inheritable assuming that the features of a content type is also inheritable. In most cases this is true, for site columns and workflow. Where it doesn't work is when it comes to Information Management Policies. IMP's are set for the content type and any content type that inherits from it. When trying to change the IMP for a child content type or a document library that is using that content type you get a warning that states that you are unable to modify the IMP and if you want to change it you will have to do it at the parent content type.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7795" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxErrors Creating Record Center Siteshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/10/25/errors-creating-record-center-sites.aspx2007-10-25T15:00:00Z2007-10-25T15:00:00Z<p>So, I was working on creating a record center site today and had a couple errors show up on me. The errors were "Access Denied", "System.Exception", and "Error in Application". I was confused being a system administrator why I was not able to create these. When I searched for a resolution I found solutions basically saying it was permissions releated and that it needed to be a top level site in a site collection. I couldn't believe that these were the limitations since the system allows you to select the records center template for creating a sub site.</p>
<p>The actual problem that was causing these errors was that I was naming the title of the new site (or sub site) as "Records Center". For some reason this conflicts with creating the site or creating something in the site since the site is created when i get the errors. I tried again using another name such as "Demo Records" and it created it just fine, I then just renamed the site after it was provisioned back to "Records Center".</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7788" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxSharePoint and Managed Pathshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/10/24/sharepoint-and-managed-paths.aspx2007-10-25T00:26:00Z2007-10-25T00:26:00Z<p>I recently had a question on my SharePoint Architecture posting asking about more details on the use of managed paths. In the email I was asked about a specific scenario regarding 180 departments, managed paths, and scripting out the creation of these site collections. I wanted to share my response for anyone else who might have the same question. Below is my response....</p>
<div>Managed Paths are elements that can be setup for a web application under Central Administration. There are 2 types of managed paths (Explicit and Wildcard). Explicit managed paths allow you to create a single site collection at that specific path only. Wildcard managed paths all you to create multiple site collections using that managed path. Here are some examples... </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Explicit Managed Path: Accounting</div>
<div>Wildcard Managed Path: Departments</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Site Collection URL created using the explicit managed path: <a href="http://server/accounting" target="_blank">http://server/accounting</a></div>
<div>Site Collection URL's created using the wildcard managed path: <a href="http://server/departments/accounting" target="_blank">http://server/departments/accounting</a>, <a href="http://server/departments/hr" target="_blank">http://server/departments/hr </a>, <a href="http://server/departments/it" target="_blank">http://server/departments/it</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>As you can see the "departments" wildcard path acts as a place holder to create site collections related to "departments". The reason why i say it represents a phyiscal hierarchy is becase if this were a normal <a href="http://asp.net/" target="_blank">asp.net</a> web site there would be a physical folder structure on the hard drive somewhere and departments would be that folder. What managed paths allow you to do is represent that physical structure in the URL for the end users and allow for organization on the administrators part. Plus everything in sharepoint is stored in a database, so there are no physical heirarchies. Managed paths allow you to create that feel. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>As far as scripting is concerned, you can create a BAT file using STSADM -o createsite operation to script out all the site collections. I usually create a list in excel and use a formula to write out the STSADM command then copy it down the list. After I copy out all the stsadm commands into a BAT file and you good to go. Keep in mind site qoutas and database sizing and maintenance. You can have all 180 site collections in a single database if you want, but make sure the forcasted size of that database is manageable in your sql environment (backups, and performance). </div>
<div> </div>
<div>hope this helps.</div>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7760" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxDebugging Custom Extensible STSADM Operationshttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/10/09/debugging-custom-extensible-stsadm-operations.aspx2007-10-09T14:55:00Z2007-10-09T14:55:00Z<p>Being able to write commands that extend the functionality of STSADM is awesome. It is way better than having to write it from scratch to make it represent the same feel of STSADM. I ran into speedbump when i tried debugging my operation line by line. I found that I had to add in the following to the "Debug" tab on the project properties screen.</p>
<p>Start Action -> Start External Program = c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin\stsadm.exe</p>
<p>Start Options -> Command Line Arguments = -o <operation> -url <url> [plus additional properties that need to be included in your custom command]</p>
<p><img title="stsadm debug scree" style="WIDTH:500px;HEIGHT:329px;" height="329" alt="stsadm debug scree" src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/photos/llowevad/images/7076/500x375.aspx" width="500" /></p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7077" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspxAntivirus Products for SharePoint 2007http://www.sharepointblogs.com/llowevad/archive/2007/10/09/antivirus-products-for-sharepoint-2007.aspx2007-10-09T14:32:00Z2007-10-09T14:32:00Z<p>Below I am starting a list of antivirus products available for SharePoint 2007. I have alot of people ask me about AV for sharepoint, but there is no real understand on who develops products for it. There are a few more vendors for SharePoint 2003 (McAffee, Avast, AVG, BitDefender, and Symantec). The list is not in order of any type of importance. </p>
<p>Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint: (trial available)<br /><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/serversecurity/sharepoint/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/serversecurity/sharepoint/default.mspx</a> (also includes license for Antigen antivirus for SharePoint 2003)</p>
<p>Microsoft also has a virtual lab available showing the use of Forefront Security (Antivirus)<br /><a href="http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032329673&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US">http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032329673&EventCategory=3&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US</a></p>
<p>Trend Micro Portal Protect for SharePoint: (trial available)<br /><a href="http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/enterprise/portalprotect/index.html">http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/enterprise/portalprotect/index.html</a></p>
<p> </p>
<hr><span style="font-size:10pt;">Posted on <a href="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/">SharePoint Blogs</a></span>
<img src="http://www.sharepointblogs.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=7075" width="1" height="1">dwollermanhttp://www.sharepointblogs.com/members/dwollerman.aspx