We have a once a year user group evening lined up in July with two rooms , 6 sessions and speakers including Todd Bleeker , Bill English , Penny Coventry , Andrew Woodward , Steve Smith and I. It will be a great evening following on from the Golf day with lots of great knowledge being passed on to everyone with some great sessions. The hotel venue is easy to get to from the M1 , M6 , A14 , A5 and the nearest station is Rugby just 50 minutes from London Euston.If anyone is coming up on the train post a comment on the SUGUK site and we can try to organise some transport to pick you up.

To see the agenda and to sign up for the event go here - http://suguk.org/forums/thread/11614.aspx

My session will follow on from my Extranet session (where I covered lots of functional, non-functional and business challenges with authentication being either SharePoint or ISA FBA). I will be covering configuring WSS for 'basic over SSL' and anonymous access...

I have nearly finished sorting out the photos, most are available here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/grovesfamilyuk

My wife and I are pleased to announce that we are expecting our second child!

<me excited>
<me need to crack on with sorting house>
<me need to get lots of golf in this year as next year looks like being a wash out>

[Edit: just heard that Pete and Clare are also expecting in December too - well done!! ]

My old mate Dan is trekking the Inca trail raising money for Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). He's doing this at the end of May...

RMHC provides homes away from home for families with children in hospital. For more info visit www.rhmc.org.uk. The money raised will go towards their 5 year goal of doubling the number of rooms provided for families with children in hospital around the UK.

While a trip to Peru might sound more like an enviable holiday than a sponsored event, he'll be walking nearly 70km in 5 days at altitudes of over 4000m, Dan is paying 100% of the trip and equipment fees so everything he raises will go to the charity - so please dig deep and sponsor him online.

Donating through the web is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor him: RMHC will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor us now! See: http://www.justgiving.com/clareanddaninca

Many thanks for supporting Dan (the nut case)...

Hopefully we'll get some pictures of really severe blisters afterwards ;)

SharePoint licensing is available in 8 models (if you count all flavours of SharePoint).

List pricing shown, your Select/EA “true” costs will vary significantly (i.e. will probably be much lower!).

WSS – licensed as part of the Windows OS on which it runs, no additional licensing is required unless you use SQL standard/enterprise. A single server solution (using SQL Embedded) requires only the Windows Server license ($1000 per server assuming Win2k3 R2 Standard Edition) and CAL’s (user/device for each user, $40 each assuming purchased in 20 Cal packs). The option of external users can be covered under the Windows External connector license ($2000 per server), this negates the need for CAL’s for external (non-employee) users. It is worth noting that other servers supporting the WSS implementation may require licensing (such as AD or SQL servers) but this depends entirely on the solution.

MOSS Standard – Uses server/CAL licensing model. Each server in the farm (running MOSS) requires a server licence ($4500 per server, note: there is no price difference on Standard vs Enterprise MOSS on the server, the cost is weighted on the CAL). Each user/device requires a CAL ($100 per user/device), this is often included as part of the “Core CAL” in EA’s. As it is unlikely that MOSS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).This can be used for Internal Intranets, Portals, collaboration and BI platforms (etc) and for authenticated access extranets, it cannot be used for public facing (anonymous access) web sites.

MOSS Enterprise – Uses server/CAL licensing model. Each server in the farm (running MOSS) requires a server licence ($4500 per server, note: there is no price difference on Standard vs Enterprise MOSS on the server, the cost is weighted on the CAL). Each user/device requires an Enterprise CAL ($75 per user/device), this is in addition to the “Standard” CAL, the CAL cost for Enterprise MOSS could therefore be taken as $175 . As it is unlikely that MOSS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).This can be used for Internal Intranets, Portals, collaboration and BI platforms (etc) and for authenticated access extranets, it cannot be used for public facing (anonymous access) web sites.

MOSS FIS – The MOSSFIS (MOSS For Internet Sites, pronounced MOSSFIZZ) is a server only (no CAL) license for MOSS ($41,000 per server in the farm running MOSS). As it is unlikely that MOSS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).MOSS FIS can be used for public facing (i.e. anonymous access) web sites and for authenticated extranets, it cannot be used for internal only systems (i.e. Internal Intranets, Portals, collaboration and BI platforms, etc).

IFS – InfoPath Forms Server, uses server/CAL licensing model. Each server in the farm (running IFS) requires a server licence ($4500 per server). Each user/device requires a CAL ($55 per user/device). As it is unlikely that IFS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).This can be used for Internal forms (surfaced on Intranets and via LOB systems, etc) and for authenticated access extranets, it cannot be used for public facing (anonymous access) web sites.

IFS FIS – The IFS FIS (IFS For Internet Sites) is a server only (no CAL) license for IFS ($22,000 per server in the farm running IFS). As it is unlikely that IFS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).IFS FIS can be used for public facing (i.e. anonymous access) web sites and for authenticated extranets, it cannot be used for Internal only forms (surfaced on Intranets and via LOB systems, etc).

MOSS Search Standard – The MOSS for Search Standard Edition (MOSS with only search functionality, no ECM, WCM or BI – being replaced with Search Server, see: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/) is a server only (no CAL) license for MOSS SSE ($8,000 per server in the farm running MOSS SSE). As it is unlikely that MOSS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).

MOSS Search Enterprise – The MOSS for Search Enterprise Edition (MOSS with only search functionality, no ECM, WCM or BI – being replaced with Search Server, see: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/) is a server only (no CAL) license for MOSS SEE ($58,000 per server in the farm running MOSS SEE). As it is unlikely that MOSS will be deployed without separate SQL (SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise) additional licenses for SQL will be required (see SQL licensing below). All Windows Servers used in delivering the solution require licensing (both server and CAL).

SQL Server – SQL is required for SharePoint (all flavours). WSS will install SQL Embedded by default (although can use SQL Standard or Enterprise). Due the size (in terms of user bases and content storage requirements) of most MOSS implementations either SQL standard or SQL Enterprise is required. With SQL 2005 a 2 node cluster can be created on Standard Edition reducing the requirement for SQL Enterprise in many instances. SQL can be licensed in 2 ways, server/CAL or CPU. Assuming Standard Edition, the Server licence (for each server running SQL, or in a clustered scenario each active node) is around $1000 per server, with CAL’s at around $170. The CPU (sockets, not cores) licence is around $6000/CPU (so a server with 2 quad cores would require 2 CPU licences). The Windows Servers on which SQL is running also require licensing.

Windows Server - A server licence for each windows server - don't forget "peripheral" systems, one's that are often missed are ISA and AD... A windows CAL is needed by each user/device accessing the "system". Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard will cost $1000 with CAL's at $40 per user/device assuming purchased in 20 CAL packs...

Hope this is helpful ;)

[Edit - I forgot to mention that due to a change in licencing from MSFT you can now run both MOSS in Server/CAL and FIS licencing models on a single farm]

It is official.

You can forget Vista Media Center (although it is very good!), forget iPod's, forget 52" plasma TV's, forget XBox 360, forget Wii and forget Sky+ HD.

This is THE thing to have in your living room: http://www.red5.co.uk/R2D2-Projector-pr-318.html

I want need one.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi...

WebSiteOptimisation.com say: Within the last five years, the size of the average web page has more than tripled, and the number of external objects has nearly doubled. While broadband users have experienced faster load times, dial-up users have been left behind. With the average web page sporting more than 50 external objects, object overhead now dominates most web page delays.

Read it: http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/average-web-page/

I am somewhat sceptical reading a report like this from a company that offer a solution to the problem identified in the report, but it makes for interesting reading...

I am delighted at the irony of this though, the success of the internet and adoption of web 2.0 is going to kill it... beautiful... I wonder what Bill Hicks would say?

http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/watkins/2007/09/demystifying_strategy_the_what.html

Worth reading...

Earlier this week I attended the UK User Groups Community day at TVP, here is a breif review and some of my thoughts from the sessions...

The keynotes from Gareth Hall and Kamal Patel were interesting and well delivered, I certainly agree with Gareths comment that there is a deghree of honesty from MSFT that we haven't seen before...

The breakout sessions I attended were mainly the SharePoint track, but I also went to Mark Wilsons session on Hyper-V which for Mark's first UG presentation was very well delivered. IMO MSFT have done well with Hyper-V and I think Mark's summation that Hyper-V gets you 80/90% of what you get with the industry leading product but at 10% of the cost is very apt.

Steve Smith sessions were up to there usual high standard.
The "Capacity Planning" session wasn't what I was expecting as it was more about load/stress testing, but very valuable nonetheless - esp as he highlighted some of nice new things in Visual Studio 2008 that are improved on 2005.
I would echo everything Steve said here and really stress the importance of baselining your deployments (both before and after customisations), I would also add that load/stress testing must be communicated to your Ops teams as they may get alarms (etc) when you place additional load on the LAN/WAN and servers, I've seen clients who haven't communicated this and had test results ruined by Ops guys reacting to a perceived attack!

The Forefront session was excellent, really got the importance of SharePoint AV accross to the audience, obviously with me Steve was preaching to the converted but the number of people who will now be thinking about Forefront/AV was much increased by the end of the session. I have used both Forefront and Trend in deployments for clients and have both products to be excellent, Forefront tends to offer better protection (multiple engines) at a performance hit, as I said in the session McAffee's PortalSheild is not compatible with the v3 products (to the best of my knowledge).

Penny's session on SPD was great, the DVWP is very powerful and Penny showed how to start harnessing some it's power very well indeed.
I also picked up some good info from Penny after her session and think what we discussed would make a great SUGUK session (hint hint!).

Nick Swan's session on building solutions was also excellent, I'd never seen Nick present before and found his style very easy going and easy to follow, the content he covered off is essential (IMO) to deploying SharePoint with customisations in a supportable and sustainable manner.

The real gem for me was Colin's session on PowerShell and MOSS, absolutly fantastic, really blurs the lines traditionally drawn between ITPro/Admin functions and Dev's. The power of PowerShell (excuse the pun) is there for all to see, it's scripting (so falls largly in the remit of the ITPro) but can use .Net and talk to the SharePoint OM (typically Dev remit). The content migration example Colin used is really just the tip of the iceberg, I can see 1,000's of uses for this in automating deployments and maintenance...

The chalk and talk session were good, hopefully my contributions were useful.
I have blogged about service accounts in response to a question that cropped up from a few attendess, the other common questions were around Licencing and the use of content DB's, so watch this space for blogs posting and maybe a SUGUK session to cover these confusing topics off...

Another highlight, for me at least, was winning a copy of Vista Ultimate for my IT Hero presentation. Thanks!!

Big thanks to the SUGUK and other User groups guys for organising the event and to MSFT for hosting it (esp Phil Cross).

I recently attended a great 2 day event at MSFT, the UK User Groups came together and had 2 full days of presentations, demo's and discussions, I found it very beneficial, the SUGUK sessions were great and I thought Mark Wilson's session on Hyper-V was excellent...

There were several questions raised in the SharePoint track chalk and talk sessions about service accounts so I thought I'd clarify things a little bit... I'll also see if a SUGUK session on Content DB's and Licencing is warranted, there were a few questions around these topics and I was asked about them by several people during the breaks, watch this space...

MOSS requires several service accounts, fact. Running everything as one user isn't good practice and isn't a good idea, even for dev/demo - IMO at least, Colin and Nick don't completely agree...

So, how many accounts do you need to run MOSS? The answer: "it depends..." (yes, I am a technical consultant, since when did you expect me to actually answer a question?)

Seriously though, it does depend on your scenario, but at least 6...

Here a table that breaks down what you need:

Hope this helps!

Useful reading:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263445.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934838 

Feel free to ask any questions!! 

Great post from Johan Pellicaan on BI

http://officeapplications.typepad.com/bridge/2008/03/knowing-me-know.html

[EDIT: after some "interesting" comments and emails I want to clear up that "BI" is this post means Business Intelligence, nothing to do with sexual persuasion]

A colleague has just pointed out that if you google me (string: matt groves) my blog comes up first (he was looking for my "adding content DB's the lazy man's way" posting). Naturally I was filled with geeky excitement, only to be disappoited

Turns out that if you use google.com I come out on top <smiles with geeky satisfaction/> but from google.co.uk I am third <bemused, like a dog that has just been shown a card trick/>

Finally finished writing up the review I said I would do. Had some time on the train last week and then forgot I'd completed the text until just now...

Article is here: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mattg/pages/canon-eos-400d-review.aspx

Every now and again I do something so stupid I question my status as a sentient being...

This time, I was quickly knocking a demo together and needed to remove the search input box from all pages, 15 seconds later I have completed my hacking of the master page in SPD and published the file... Then I noticed all my list views stopped working...

The usual MOSS error (unexpected error occurred ) was of little use, after enabling stack trace (thanks Vince ) I tracked it down to the missing search content placeholder (which I had just deleted from the mp - DOH!)...

So, lesson learned... if you don't think you need a content placeholder (even if you're sure) don't delete it, move it down to the bottom of the mp under:

<asp:panel visible="false" runat="server">

Thanks to Jason for pointing me in the right direction...

I first met Charles when we were working together on a rather challenging POC in the MTC Labs @ MSFT (TVP, UK), he has a great article on WF and BTS on his blog here: http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/articles/116456.aspx

Just thought I would qualify something, as I have been asked this a few times of late, and sometimes by people whom I would have expected to have understood this...

·         Within SharePoint (v2 or v3) the lowest ratio of content DB’s to Web Applications (virtual servers in v2) is 1:1

·         You have multiple content DB’s for a given web application.

·         You can have multiple site collections in a web application.

·         The lowest ratio of content DB’s to site collections is 1:1

·         You can have multiple site collections in a given content DB (recommended max is 50k – performance drops off after 50k, it isn’t a hard limit)

·         By default you only get 1 content db when you create a web application, you can add more from http://sca:port/_admin/cntdbadm.aspx (SCA > AppMan > Content DB’s) or from STSADM.

Where you have multiple content DB’s for a given web application, SharePoint will distribute site collections across the content DB’s.

Let’s say you had 3 content DB’s for a web application (DB1, DB2 and DB3).

The first site (say a Portal/Intranet at root) will go into DB1.

When you create new site collections (these must be collections NOT sub-sites/webs of the “root” Portal) they are distributed (round robin style) to the other content DB’s based on the order of priority (basically the order the content DB’s were created in) and by the number of sites in the content DB’s.

So, “site-A” goes into DB2, “site-B” goes into DB3, “site-C” goes into DB1, “site-D” goes into DB2, round and round we go (like a card dealer!).

The logic is not present to distribute site collections based on any attribute (URL path, metadata etc) or size.

You could end up in a situation where you have multiple contents DB’s (say 3) but due to bad luck all the large collab spaces end up in DB1. Therefore you will have a even distribution (numerically) of site collections across the content DB’s but DB1 will be huge while DB2 and DB3 will be small.

Been asked a few time recently about RSS in WSS (I think one of the main reasons for confusion is the product comparison guide published by MSFT).

So, RSS in WSS, the consumption thereof. Is easy.

Simply add the XML webpart into your webpart zone, add the source URL to whatever you want (I was after google news RRS) and then all you need a transform.

I am generally very lazy, so grabbed someone elses XSL: http://www.dnncreative.com/Portals/0/tutorials/RSS/RSSDisplayHtml.zip

Add this to the XSL Editor and you're done.

This isn't the best way of surfacing RSS in WSS, but it is probably the quickest...

EDIT: check this: http://www.sharepointrss.com/ (thanks Derek)

There has been a bit of an issue with a full x64 MOSS farm, mainly due to the lack of ifilters for x64, the obvious (and also, importantly, tested and supported) workaround being the use 32bit for the Index server and x64 elsewhere.

The most common third party ifilter needed by clients (in my experiance) is for PDF documents, Adobe were very slow to respond and deliver an x64 ifilter (in fact they still haven't) but now have a publishing work around toi running v8.1 ifilter on x64, see this: http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/PDF_iFilter_8_-_64-bit_Support

there is no mention of the threading issue that existed previously, hopefully this is resolved now but our testing may highlight this as still existing, will post if this is the case...

The SUGUK session (Tuesday 12th) went well!

Hopefully everyone found the session informative, the feedback forms show very positive feedback (attendees: feel free to post your thoughts here). If you missed the session it may be repeated (if there is demand) at future events.

Thanks to all who attended, especially those who travelled a distance to listen to me, I hope you found it benificial and enjoyed our hospitality... For those who were after the deck, it's available here

The next midlands based SharePoint User Group Event will be on Feb 12th in Coventry...

I am told the guest speaker is very good

Sign up here: http://suguk.org/forums/thread/8064.aspx

My son (Sam) is back home and doing quite well now.

My wife and I would like to thank everyone who sent messages and prayers, the support we have recieved has been fantastic, thank you all.

On Friday (19th) Sam started to feel rough, high temperature, crying, loose stools etc. Sam had never been this bad before so Sarah spoke with NHS Direct who advised he had some Calpol and plenty of fluids, if he got any worse we should take him to the GP. We had a rough night on Friday and while changing a nappy early Saturday morning I noticed a rash. The glass test showed the rash remained, so, we took Sam over to the NHS walk-in centre at Loughborough where the Doctor took one look and immediately prescribed a Penicillin shot which he administered seconds later. He advised us to get Sam to A&E at Leicester Royal Infirmary and to not worry about speed (he said he would assist me if anything went to court).

We arrived at A&E and found we were expected, they had already got a cubicle set up and had the staff ready to help Sam. He had some IV's put in and was plugged into an array of machines.

He continued to deteriorate and was admitted to the children's Intensive Care Unit. We were able to see him a few hours later. He was fully sedated and had been paralysed to prevent him moving. The doctors explained that he had a variant of Meningitis and that a blood test would reveal which one (although it didn't matter which at this stage as the approach was the same).

Overnight Sam had suffered a collapsed lung and was really struggling.

He started to respond the treatment and was stabilised around midday Sunday.

Sam started improving and was steadily getting better, he was extubated on Tuesday evening, by Wednesday we were on a high dependency ward and out of the ICU. The nurses were absolutely amazing, can't praise them enough.

We were sent home "weekend leave" (I don't quite follow this but I wasn't going to not bring Sam home!). We were back on the ward Monday and Sam was discharged later that day.

He has been improving slowly since and is a long way back to being his old self...

There are several tests to be done and depending on how they go the doctors may treat Sam as an out patient or he may have to go back into hospital for anything from a couple of days to several weeks. There is the risk of brain damage, hearing damage and several other things, but Sam seems to be alert and isn't showing any significant memory or balance issues. He's just tired and a bit uncoordinated, he seems to have regressed a few weeks in his development but this is expected in an infant (so we are told). Hopefully he'll pass whatever tests are to follow in the coming weeks.

The tissue damage Sam has suffered (not as bad as images you'll see online if you research this illness) is being treated with a cream and oral medicine, he may have a few scars that may never fully repair, but this is a minor thing in comparison to what could have happened.

The doctors suspect he has had Meningococcal Septicaemia (type B caused by Neisseria Meningitidis bacterium), this may never be confirmed as the heavy weight anti-biotics Sam was given will have probably prevented the blood taken from growing spores that prove things one way or the other.

In many respects we have been very lucky. Sam isn’t showing any signs of long term harm and is almost back to his normal cheeky self. If it wasn’t for a couple of patches of skin damage and his bald patches you’d be hard pressed to know he was very ill only 2 weeks ago.

Photo's online (I apreciate not everyone can get to Facebook, and the the control used for Picasa isn't installable on most managed desktops).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11792&l=9e7df&id=606001397

http://picasaweb.google.com/grovesfamilyuk/SamInICUPublicAlbum/

I was scheduled to be speaking at a SUGUK event on the 29th, but this was binned (for obvious reasons), thanks go out to the SUGUK community (esp to Steve and Andrew) for their support and understanding.

Itching to get my hands on this (as I expect most are!): http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/09/05/pre-announcing-the-accessibility-kit-for-sharepoint-aks.aspx

I'll get around to writing a full review soon, to summarise:

Bought a Canon EOS 400D from Jessops. Very impressed.

Taken a few shots now, more impressed, this camera is fantastic! Uploaded a few shots to Picasa web album: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/grovesfamilyuk/GoodPhotoSWithThe400D

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/08/27/images_resized_just_how_youd_like.html

Watch it all the way through, it will blow you away.