Cannot connect to the server at this time error SOLVED

One of my clients have had this persistent issue bugging them.

Problem.

When trying to export a list from SharePoint Teamsites to Excel (Office 2007 on Vista), this error always pops up. Sometimes it works once and then the error shows up again on subsequent attempts.

After weeks of trying out different scenarios, the solution is pretty simple.

Solution
Turn off the setting for checking server certification revocation list. :)

How
Using network analysis tools to see the communication between client and sharepoint server.

System Center DPM Server 2007 SP1 is live!

Here is the official announcement:

What is new in Service Pack 1 http://www.microsoft.com/SystemCenter/DataProtectionManager/en/us/WHATs-NEW.aspx


Here is the downloads
DPM 2007 sp1 x86 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125991
DPM 2007 sp1 x64 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125992


Videos
SP1 videos on TechNet Edge http://edge.technet.com/tags/DPM

and upcoming webcasts.
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399151 on January 8th.

Besides all the other features from this SP1 for Hyper-V, Windows 2008, Exchange 2007 and SQL 2008 enhancements, i am looking forward to enabling Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to receive index protection, significant catalog optimization, and support for mirrored content databases.

Deleting your plaxo account.

There is a small tiny link with the option Delete Account, in the Settings --> Identities.

Manually undo MS08-078 mitigations

Based the following Jesper's blog entry, http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/archive/2008/12/18/you-need-to-manually-undo-your-ms08-078-mitigations.aspx.

Fix for for IE is out (MS08-078 )

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-dec.mspx?pf=true

Internet Explorer Security alert.

If you are using Internet Explorer 5,6,7 and 8 Beta 2 installed on your PC/laptop, a potential security issue has been publicly reported with Internet Explorer that is currently being investigated by Microsoft.

Until Microsoft issue a response it is strongly recommend you take the following precautionary steps when browsing.

· Only browse to sites that are known to you.
· Do not open any links to web sites in e-mails if the site or the sender is unknown to you.
· Only run with administrator rights when absolutely necessary to reduce the severity of a security attack.

Further details will follow when they are issued from Microsoft. You can view the full Microsoft security advisory here

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/961051.mspx

Vista SP2 CPP is available in December

Here are some link to where resources for Vista Sp2 could be obtained for the public. Also it is available for MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

I have had some issues with Vista SP1 and SharePoint lists and document libraries. Hope this will solve them. Compatibility with application and hardware has never been an issue for me.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx.
There are links for documentations, bug reporting and msdn/technet links

New patterns & practices SharePoint Guidance for Developing Intranet Applications

New patterns & practices SharePoint Guidance for Developing Intranet Applications

If you're building SharePoint intranet applications, you'll find this guidance valuable. It includes reference sample code and documentation that leads you through key architectural decisions, application of good design principles, and takes the mystery out of deployment and application update.

make data from SharePoint libraries and list available in WSRP format

Here is the toolkit which makes this possible.
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WSRPToolkit

Very often in project with integration is crucial, WSRP capability is asked for. Personally i experienced this with government projects.

new logical architecture documentation on technet

Here is a solution using vairous Microsoft technologies.

The Blatchington Mill School IT environment includes separate and dedicated server hardware for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (single server), streaming media, Management Information Server, and Microsoft Exchange Server. Additionally, the school uses Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA) 2006 for its firewall.

Using scripts to automate SharePoint Server 2007 installation

Here is good resource for using scripting for deploying SharePoint components for farm deployments.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135694&clcid=0x409

White paper: Protecting Office SharePoint Server 2007 by using System Center Data Protection Manager

White paper: Protecting Office SharePoint Server 2007 by using System Center Data Protection Manager

This downloadable white paper compares Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager to the backup and recovery functionality built in to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, provides an overview of types of System Center Data Protection Manager backups, and provides detailed instructions for the following recovery scenarios:

• Farm recovery
• Site recovery
• Item recovery

Site Templates vs Site Definition

There was a long discussion on the LinkedIn groups about Site Definitions vs Site Templates.

Here is a URL which is from a MS escalation engineer about Microsoft's stand on Site Templates.
http://blogs.technet.com/stefan_gossner/archive/2007/09/19/save-site-as-template-option-and-the-publishing-feature.aspx

integrating ADAM with WSS 3.0

Here is a good read on how to get ADAM integration with WSS 3.0 for extranet type configuration.

https://blogs.pointbridge.com/Blogs/morse_matt/Pages/Post.aspx?_ID=2

The ADAM is one of the many authentication that be plugged into WSS/MOSS. This is the service provided by ASP.net provider model. For scalability i would rather be using SQL Server to store names/password. The good thing with ADAM if it can be integrated into ISA 2006 as well so it could do pre-authentication. SQL cannot be in that sense.

3rd party reporting for SharePoint

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/12/04/how-we-did-it-nintex-reporting.aspx

DPM 2007 and SharePoint

I have been working with DPM 2007 and protecting a WSS/MOSS installation. Had to learn the hardway is getting hotfixes and services setup correctly. Some DPM documentations on TechNet did not help much.

Finally here is a good write up on DPM's relationship with WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007. http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/fromthefield/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=0ce77946%2D1e45%2D4b43%2D8c74%2D21963e64d4e1&ID=69

Still i am dealing with an issue of DPM failing to backup metadata catalog and hence won't be able to perform item level recoveries. (above)

switching to Live Search for a week (as per requested by Mr. B)

During the MVP Summit 2008, Steve Ballmer challenged all MVPs to use Live Search as their default search engine for 1 week, and then give Microsoft their feedback. So let me see how it goes.

Some cool MIcrosoft technology demos

Found some cool demos from Microsoft (http://mspublicsectordemos.com/default.aspx)

Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0

The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0 helps organizations maintain virtual machines that are stored offline in a Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager library. While stored, virtual machines do not receive operating system updates. The tool provides a way to keep offline virtual machines up-to-date so that bringing a virtual machine online does not introduce vulnerabilities into the organization’s IT infrastructure.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8408ecf5-7afe-47ec-a697-eb433027df73&DisplayLang=en

Estimating Database Sizes for OpsMgr 2007

Here is a good article on estimating database sizes for OpsMgr 2007.

http://ops-mgr.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!3D3B8489FCAA9B51!171.entry

a non-secure implementation of OCS

This article, http://www.voipshield.com/news/press-releases-details.php?year=2008&id=20, talks about security concerns in OCS's use of RTP protocol.

But for anybody who is following the best practises of implementing OCS, Microsoft responded that VoIPShield's test is "on a non-secure implementation of OCS, which you would have to disable as we are secure with a default installation."

watch this demo of BI, Performance Point and Virtual Server

SCOM 2007 R2

Announced in Brad Anderson’s keynote today in Barcelona at Teched IT Pro.

The public web site was updated too – check it out here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/opsmgr/dd239186.aspx

new SQL MP

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82105.

Moving DPM_SYSTEM_STATE folder

DPM Server 2007 when monitoring a server will create the DPM_SYSTEM_STATE folder in the default system driver. You could move the folder to another location using some basic steps.

On the Protected Server:Edit the %system drive%\Program Files\Microsoft Data ProtectionManager\DPM\Datasources\PSDataSourceConfig.xml file.

You will find the default the path is %system drive%\ in the tag ""

Change it to a new location (another drive) and save the XML file.

On the DPM Server: Run Consistency Check on the System State data source.

Move site collections to a new database (split a content database) (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0)

Here is some information of doing WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 content db management.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825327.aspx

i have also copied the content below just incase that link is not available.
=====================================================
Some site collections within a database that hosts multiple site collections are growing faster than expected, and you expect the database to approach its size limit quickly. You can split the database to move the growing site collections to another database or to another server.

Split a content database
You can use this procedure to split a content database that is associated with your site collections. The process of moving a site collection between databases consists of exporting the site collection URL data to a file and then importing the data to a new database.

Important:
Before you use the Stsadm mergecontentdbs operation, make sure that there is free space available on the hard disk that is equivalent to at least three times the size of the source site collection. To determine the size of your site collection, refer to the StorageUsedMB attribute of the Stsadm enumsites operation in step 2 of the following procedure.

Important:
The account used to restore the databases must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to complete the following procedure.


Split a content database (move a site collection to a different database)
At a command prompt on the drive where SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed, change to the following directory:

%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft shared\Web server extensions\12\Bin

Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
Stsadm -o enumsites -url > .xml

where url is the address of the Web application that contains the site collection that you want to move, and path/file name is the name of the XML file that you want to create with the site collection data.

For more information, see Enumsites: Stsadm operation (Windows SharePoint Services).

The previous step creates an XML file that contains all of the site collection URLs in the current database.

Open the XML file that you created in a text editing application. If there are any URLs for site collections that you do not want to move, be sure to delete them from the file. The only URLs that should remain in the XML file should be for the site collections that you want to move.

Note:
There is no need to change the site count or any of the other site collection information in the file. Only the URLs are relevant to this procedure.


Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
Stsadm -o mergecontentdbs -url -sourcedatabasename -destinationdatabasename -operation 3 -filename

where url is the address of the Web application that contains the site collection that you want; sourcedatabasename is the name of the database that you want to move the site collection from; destinationdatabasename is the name of the database that you want to move the site collection to; operation 3 is the “Read from file” operation; and file name is the name of the file that contains the site collection URLs that you want to move.

For more information, see Mergecontentdbs: Stsadm operation (Windows SharePoint Services).

Restart IIS by typing the following command, and then pressing ENTER:
iisreset /noforce

Windows 7 Blog is back

http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/

Internet presence scenario for SharePoint 2007

Here is the summary

This series of articles and accompanying poster is an end-to-end scenario that outlines how to plan, design, build, and maintain an enterprise’s Internet presence Web site based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. This scenario focuses on the design, creation, and deployment of an Internet presence site in a large enterprise.

This scenario content is provided to help business decision makers, system and solution architects, and IT managers see the entire process of planning and implementing both a solution based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the infrastructure and operations necessary to host and support it in an enterprise. It outlines the steps for solution-related and infrastructure-related tasks in an interwoven manner, to suggest a useful order in which to coordinate tasks across the Infrastructure and Solution teams."

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc950780.aspx

Kilimanjaro, Excel analyzing 20 m rows and WYSIWYA

Here is a post about the new Excel add in which wil support the BI specific release of SQL Server

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/GetThePoint/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=8d9e2a99%2Df288%2D47c2%2D916b%2D2f32864f7b82&ID=131

Note the collaboration component at the end of the post in the link above.

Do you know about OfficeLabs

You are missing out big time if you are not visiting http://communityclips.officelabs.com/Default.aspx

newbie list from Kevin Holman on SCOM 2007

1. Download and read all the OpsMgr 2007 guides:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb498235.aspx

1. Supported configurations
2. Key Concepts
3. Security Guide
4. Design Guide
5. Deployment Guide
6. Migration Guide
7. Perf and Scale Guide
8. Targeting poster
9. Operations Guide

2. Build a VM based POC lab and install the product…. 1 DC, 1 “all in one” SCOM server. Install the prereqs, SQL, SQL SRS, RMS, console, Reporting, ACS. Troubleshoot any issues with your small deployment.

3. Review the overview content/training:

1. Review on-demand webcasts for OpsMgr http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/technetmms.aspx?tab=webcasts&id=42365
2. Review training videos: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb498237.aspx
3. Review SP1 update videos: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb986763.aspx

4. Familiarize yourself with the OpsMgr tools, and what they are used for:

1. MPviewer
2. Reskit tools
3. Maintenance Mode
4. Effective config viewer
5. Override Explorer
6. Override Creator
7. Agent proxy enable tools
8. Database Sizer Tools
9. System Center Capacity Planner

5. Familiarize yourself with external documentation/books:

1. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-0049194-5427128?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=scom

6. Familiarize yourself with the community:

1. Blogs
2. Websites
   http://ianblythmanagement.wordpress.com/mom-blog-links/
   http://blogs.technet.com/kevinholman/archive/2007/12/18/got-links.aspx
   http://ianblythmanagement.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/useful-lists/

7. Ensure you understand the supporting technologies:

1. SQL queries - TSQL query in general, and most common:
   http://blogs.technet.com/kevinholman/archive/2007/10/18/useful-operations-manager-2007-sql-queries.aspx
2. Powershell
3. Microsoft Clustering (RMS and SQL)
4. Vbscript/new SCOM API/propertybags, etc
   

8. Consider taking a bootcamp/professional course

9. Pass the OpsMgr Certification 70-400 exam

1. http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-400.mspx

Estimate performance and capacity requirements for InfoPath Forms Services environments (Office SharePoint Server)

Something new on TechNet for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 running InfoPath Form Services.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc879113.aspx

Speaking at Microsoft's TechFest 2008 in Singapore

Here is the link for the TechFest 2008. http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/techfest2008/speakers.aspx

I will talking about Microsoft SharePoint Office Server 2007 and it's BDC component. I will touch on dashboard, BI and other features related to BDC.

Did you know about the Windows 2008 Server Core Configurator?

Windows 2008 Server Core Configurator
http://www.codeplex.com/CoreConfig

Finding the right backup library for use with DPM Server 2007

I have had some problems with using tape libraries to work with DPM Server 2007.

Here is a response from Quantum after i spoke to them today.

"I spoke to my consultant about the problem you had regarding Windows servers grabbing resources away from the DPM server, as such, the DPM server could not detect and utilize the tape library resources.

One of the unique features of the Scalar i500 is that we have an I/O blade option that can be integrated into the Si500. This I/O blade can “mask off” or does LUN mapping, it can “dedicate” its resources to be only seen by the DPM server or servers that you allocate the resources to. This is even more secure than zoning on your FC switches!

In addition, the I/O blade can also achieve World-Wide-Name (WWN) and serial number spoofing. As you know, all fibre channel devices have unique WWN and all tape drives have unique serial numbers. Whenever a tape drive is faulty, we will change the tape drive and replace it with another unique WWN and serial number.

This requires your DPM server to “reboot”, and sometimes downtime for reboot is a luxury. With this feature, the I/O blade assumes the old WWN and serial number of the tape drive, spoofing the DPM server that nothing has been changed. "

Hope that helps to all of you who are having issues with tape libraries to work with DPM Server 2007

All you need to know to deploy software updates (hotifx, patch) to SharePoint 2007

Installing software updates for WSS 3.0 is not like installing on a Window Server role. For one, all the servers in a WSS 3.0 needs to be in sync with the latest binary changes that an update may have.

Even in a single server applying a hotfix involves other tasks like executing the Configuration Wizard.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288269.aspx

Training videos on SharePoint's BI feature

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA102824571033.aspx?pid=CH101785431033

Event ID: 5333 Error.

I was getting the following error in my SharePoint. It was tracked by System Center Operations Manager 2007.

Event Type: ErrorEvent
Source: Office SharePoint ServerEvent
Category: User Profiles Event ID: 5553
Date: 9/22/2008
Time: 11:00:02 AM
User: N/A
Computer: yourmomma
Description:failure trying to synch site bc0e54f5-b924-48b7-9196-0e383c80a078 for ContentDB ab1e590d-582c-4bdc-9ce5-47ec2607372a WebApp b3d80439-d3b8-4749-afc1-5a88e720ea9f. Exception message was Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)).

Some quick search on the web found me this cool tool
SharePoint Inspector. http://www.codeplex.com/spi.

this tool allowed me to decode the database id and web application in the event log error to web application and database instances.

From there a quick stsadm based on a fix here, it all worked out :)

Hope this helps you too

DPM 2007 and SharePoint 2007 (MOSS and WSS)

I have implemented DPM 2007 for data recovery solution for my SharePoint farm, Exchange, Domain Controllers and SQL Servers.

Domain Controllers and SQL Servers were pretty straight forward.
Then came SharePoint.
Here are some information from TechNet on DPM 2007 protecting SharePoint 2007.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb795864.aspx

There is also a webcasts in the link above.

BT involved in the SPK Kit Open Source project

BT is involved as an early adopter in the SharePoint Prodcasting Kit Open Source project.
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/06/10/announcing-open-source-podcasting-kit-for-sharepoint-the-power-of-social-media-for-the-enterprise.aspx

The evaluation version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for this server has expired

Here is a fix for the above problem from my buddy Murthy, as we work on a SharePoint migration/implementation.
--

This issue happened when I try to access the Mysite (web application) pages or any pages in the SSP admin web application.
There is no issue in accessing the Team sites, it is working fine.

Hmm, Strange Error made me to explore
The windows event log
Sharepoint log
SQL server log
Etc etc…

Many articles suggests different solution and one is as below

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2008/01/02/evaluation-version-expired-but-not-really.aspx
http://mosschampions.com/blogs/moss/archive/2006/11/02/False-Expiry-messages-in-SharePoint.aspx


RESOLUTION: We gave group WSS_WPG Read permissions to following registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Office Server\12.0 We gave group WSS_ADMIN_WPG Full permissions to the same registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\Office Server\12.0 We added application pool Account ("dcomcnfg.exe") to the Distributed users We rebooted the server

No Use with all those solutions.

Then I did Uninstall MOSS, and reconfigured the whole farm again, still got the issue.

Spent the whole day, finally I got one article says peculiar solution to this problem, it worked for me too.

Here is the link to the article https://blogs.pointbridge.com/Blogs/ayyapusetty_raja/Pages/Post.aspx?_ID=10

Here is the solution, Believe it


The evaluation version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for this server has expired
By: Raja Ayyapusetty Posted: November 22, 2007 at 1:24 PM
Add Comment Share It Category: SharePoint Server

Definitely not the message you want to see after paying a whole lot of bucks. This happened to a colleague of mine when he tried to setup "My Sites". In fact, same error message was thrown whenever he tried to use any feature of "MOSS Enterprise".
After opening MS ticket and much debugging, here is the solution:
Open the associated web.config
Make any change and undo it
Save the web.config
Believe it or not that is your solution. Hope this helps to somebody.


Regards
Murthy

Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog : Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) Specification

CMIS continued.
Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog : Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) Specification: "Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) Specification"

Microsoft Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Team Blog : Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification

Integrating different ECMs together can be tough and sometimes impossible. Here is a initiative to bring different ECMs together.

Microsoft Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Team Blog : Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification: "Announcing the Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification"

August SharePoint Case Studies! - Michael Gannotti on SharePoint +

August SharePoint Case Studies! - Michael Gannotti on SharePoint +: "August SharePoint Case Studies!"

Document Management Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007

Document Management Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007: "Document Management Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007"

Not so Chrome.

from the SANS Institute newsletter (NewsBites).

--Chrome Gets Some Dents
(September 3, 2008)
People have already begun to find vulnerabilities in the beta version of Google Chrome, the company's new web browser. In one scenario involving a flaw in the WebKit engine and another in Java, users could be tricked into downloading executable files. In another scenario, the browser could be crashed when users click on maliciously crafted links.

Proof-of-concept code has been posted for both vulnerabilities.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=210300297
http://www.scmagazineus.com/Google-Chrome-flaws-come-soon-after-browser-release/article/116251/
http://www.heise-online.co.uk/security/Google-Chrome-beta-comes-with-security-holes--/news/111458

[Editor's Note (Pescatore): Let's see: by my math, if you multiply the security level of consumer-grade software times the security level of beta code, you get a whole mess of vulnerabilities that will be easily exploited. That said, I would love to see more competition in the browser world drive browsers to simpler code bases with more focus on security as the top feature, vs. trying to bundle in email clients and all kinds of other stuff.

(Schultz): For a nice, unbiased view of Chrome security, visit http://www.high-tower.com/blogs/bolcer/

By the way Chrome's EULA still shows
"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google (NSDQ: GOOG) a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute any Content which you submit, post, or display on or through, the Services."

Sad day for the SharePoint community

It was sad to find out one of the smartest guy in SharePoint,Patrick Tisseghem has passed away. I don't know him personally but i have read countless articles he has written on his blog, TechNet and MSDN, presentations he has done and books he are written.

My deepest condolonces goes to his family and friends.
Here are some of links referencing why we will all miss Patrick Tisseghem very much.
http://www.u2u.info/Blogs/Patrick/default.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/default.aspx
http://www.sharepointpros.org/News/Community%20Corner/A%20Sad%20Day%20for%20the%20SharePoint%20Community.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh/archive/2008/09/05/patrick-tisseghem-one-of-a-kind.aspx


Sarbjit Singh Gill

Chrome EULA: Google owns all your shit

From a post of my friend, Manoj,
"Google Chrome EULA Claims Ownership of Everything You Create Using Chrome, From Emails to Blog Posts".

http://agarwalmk.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!780CD8FB86EF8F7C!15133.entry?wa=wsignin1.0

Best Practices Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007

Best Practices Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007: "Best Practices Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007
To avoid common pitfalls and keep your Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment available and performing well, follow these best practices based on real-world experience from Microsoft Consulting Services and the product team."

TechNite event in Bangsar Village II in KL on Aug 10th.

This was held in conjuction with TechED SEA 2008 in Kuala Lumpur.
Here are some pictures from the event.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12149942@N02/sets/72157607088812739/

/Sarbjit Singh Gill

MOSS Faceted Search

Ever wanted to customize search results ? Look here first.
http://www.codeplex.com/FacetedSearch

Also there is the MSPress book, Inside the Index and Search Engines Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 by by Patrick Tisseghem and Lars Fastrup.

Also some good development references on SharePoint and WSS for understanding the SDK

Important MS events till end of the year

TechED 2008 EMEA
http://www.microsoft.com/emea/teched2008/

Microsoft Professional Development Conference 2008 (PDC 2008)
http://microsoftpdc.com/

SharePoint Connection 2008
http://www.devconnections.com/shows/FALL2008SP/default.asp?s=123

Using Federated Search in Geographic Environments

SharePoint 2007 document teams blog.
http://blogs.technet.com/tothesharepoint/archive/2008/07/18/3090988.aspx

Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 geographically

This is a very good read for geographically dispersed MOSS 2007 deployments.

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/02/22/deploying-microsoft-office-sharepoint-server-2007-geographically.aspx

SharePoint Server 2007 Powers Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/08/06/sharepoint-server-2007-powers-beijing-2008-olympic-games.aspx

The case study is here: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000002332

Updated Management Packs from Dell - Version 3.1, A01

Dell just released an updated version of there Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 and System Center Essentials 2007.

http://advisec.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/updated-management-packs-from-dell-version-31-a01/

Form Based Authentication and SharePoint

Having done some with ISA Server 2006 before in pubslishing SharePoint sites and Exchange services (OWA, Active Sync, HTTP-RPC), i thought it would great to utilize ISA's capability in carrying out authentication for servers.

Here is an article which talks about something similar.

http://blogs.msdn.com/jannemattila/archive/2007/07/23/isa-moss-makes-life-a-lot-easier-for-fba.aspx

The final solution had a MOSS doing Windows Integrated and SQL Server proivder based FBA on MOSS. ISA was used to provide single URL access to MOSS.

It would be nice if FORM based authentication in ISA can be customized to support additional providers like SQL Server etc.

The SharePoint IT Pro documentation team has a blog.

What are their main goals in having the blog:

Help you find relevant and/or new content on TechNet
Highlight product features and associated content
Let you know when we make major updates to a content area
Preview content for new releases as early as we can (even before we publish it on the TechNet Library)

New Updates Resources Center for SharePoint

There is now Updates Resource Center for SharePoint Products and Technologies on TechNet.

Here is the link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb735839.aspx

What iPhone looks like from an Administrator's perspective

http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2008/07/11/449196.aspx

Very good article on iPhone and Microsoft Exchange connectivity

http://www.robichaux.net/blog/2008/07/the-iphone-as-a-mail-device.php

Very good writeup on iPhone and connectivity for MS Exchange ActiveSync.

Free Vista SP1 Support !

I was told by my MVP lead about free Vista SP1 support. Let me share this with all readers.


All of your can get free technical support on Windows Vista SP1 until 18 March 2009!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background
Free, unlimited installation and compatibility support is now available for customers using Windows Vista SP1, until March 18, 2009.
Telephone support is available. Some countries also offer Chat and Email support.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Effective dates
From now until 18 March 2009.

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Location
Find out more and access the service at http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx?rdpath=1&prid=11274&gprid=500921

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Who is affected
All users of Windows Vista SP1.
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Group Policy webcasts for Windows 2003

Was searching for some resources on Group Policy in Windows 2003 and found this:
http://blogs.technet.com/johnbaker/archive/2008/04/05/group-policy-webcast-series.aspx

Very useful resource. Looking forward to the Windows 2008 ones.

Microsoft and research

Microsoft ranks ahead of IBM in terms of international patent applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Microsoft was eighth overall last year, with Japan's Matsushita on top.

To produce its IP, Microsoft invests $7 billion a year on research and development. Most of it is actually spent outside its Microsoft Research (MSR) division, which still boasts 800 researchers worldwide -- more than many major universities.

source: computerw world

Looking to add social networking component to SharePoint?

Check out the blueKiwi SharePoint Connector article at the SharePoint Team blog.
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/06/08/how-we-did-it-bluekiwi-sharepoint-connector-and-officeassistant.aspx

Note: blueKiwi Software is the leading European provider of Enterprise Social Software.

I am presenting at TechNet Security Series Seminar IV

My topic:
Session 2: Using Log Parser for Correlating Window’s log data for Forensics in Investigating Intrusions
Time: 3.20pm to 4.05pm

Synopsis: Microsoft has Application, Security and System event logs built into the OS from Windows®NT v3.51 forward. This session will dwell into understanding how this logs can be configured properly to audit success and failures of all security related events. Additionally, other services (IIS™, ISA™, Routers etc.) have their own logs that contain vital information independent of the OS.

Next, we will learn about what is Log Parser, how does it work and what can it do. Next we will walk through some scripts and even build some from scratch to identify many suspicious activities. Most of the time these activities are going to be followed by some sort of malicious activity. So next, we will attempt to find these indicators by checking the files and system services for “strange” activity. Finally, we will look at other “cool” Uses of the Log Parser.

Link to the event: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8861657

Vista is FASTER and better.

The videos in http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/windows-vista-vs-mac/2008-05-19/ is just another example of how people have created this bad rap for Vista without proper knowledge and understanding of what makes a great computer/laptop.

Here is my experience.

I had a tecra m5 i got in 2006. Recently Windows XP on it has started to be slower. Some drivers just did not work right.

Enter Vista: I replaced the OS with Vista Ultimate. The Tecra M5 is not 50% faster in everything. Outlook 2007 loads and shuts down so much faster. Shutting down and starting up the laptop is faster.

And the wonderful thing was, Vista provided all the drivers out of the box. If i was to install XP on this laptop, i had to get the drivers from Toshiba to make components(audio, WIFI, LAN etc) to work.

By the way it had 2GB RAM, 1.8Ghz and the video adapter that came with it. And yes AERO works :)

Posters for SharePoint

Get them here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2008/05/12/posters-for-sharepoint-stsadm-command-line-parameters-now-available.aspx

Planning Tool for Office Communications Server 2007

The planning tool is a guide to get started with planning a OCS 2007 delopyment topology.

There topologies provided are testing to work in the configuration provided. Some additional links and documentations are provided.

You can download the Planning Tool for Office Communications Server 2007 at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=06793661-cd69-4490-bb4b-e97dd271209d&displaylang=en

Heroes {Community} Launch

Heroes Community Launch 2008 is a joint product launch of the new family of Microsoft products - Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008, organised by your local User Group.

This event promises to be a deep dive on some of the most interesting topics of the products and you'll be guaranteed not to walk away empty handed! This time, we've lined up 3 tracks, covering IT Pros, Developers and a special interest track which cuts across both tracks.

Click here --> http://www.sgdotnet.org/events/heroes08/default.aspx to see details, agenda and registration.

hotfixes and updates on Vista and Windows 2008

Description of how hotfixes and updates are managed after you upgrade to a service pack in Windows Vista and in Windows Server 2008:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=951181

Want to store SharePoint in a file system compared to SQL Server 2005?

Read this: External Storing of Binary Large Objects (BLOBs) in Windows SharePoint Services

From my opinion, there are extra complexities and housekeeping tasks involved.

One thing to remember is this is a low cost option compare to SQL Server
Which means if somebody can afford SQL Server (and the disk space) then SQL is definitely a better choice.

Interesting article about User Groups

As an MVP very often i am involved in User Group events here in Singapore. Here is a good user group information in the redmondmag.com

http://redmondmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=2439

ADMP Updated (now versioin .10)

Bug fixes – 03/26/2008 – Version 6.0.6278.10
Active Directory DC Last Bind Monitor: fixed incorrect dependent data type conversions in AD Op Master Response.

https://mail.bt.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=008F58A6-DC67-4E59-95C6-D7C7C34A1447%26amp;displaylang=en%26displaylang=en

Office SharePoint Server Deployment Plan sample

Ever wished you just had a sample project plan that you could then modify for your own use?
Here is the project 2007 and project 2003 files. Also some links to viewers.

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/10/05/office-sharepoint-server-deployment-plan-sample.aspx

Presenting at Server 2008 Launch Event.

http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/heroeshappenhere/default.mspx

Track 3: Windows Server 2008 Security & Compliance
Windows Server 2008 offers rich capabilities for securing your IT Infrastructure and proving tools to ease with compliance mandates. This session will discuss the Windows security and compliance features such as Network Access Protection, Right Management Services, and Active Directory Federation Service. subsystem, why auditing is important and how to configure an audit policy updated Windows Server 2008 event subsystem.

I will be presenting with Matthew Johnston, from Quest Software.

Sarbjit Singh Gill

Security Certification and Education

The Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) / National Security Agency ( NSA) of the United States of America certified EC-Council Network Security Administrator Certification as 100% mapped to the CNSS National Standards 4011.


This certification is made by the Information Assurance Courseware Evaluation (IACE) Program, National INFOSEC (Information Security) Education and Training Program and is administered by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).The Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS) and National Security Agency (NSA) have developed a nationally recognized certification program based on NSTISSI standards. The CNSS / NSA Certification is a government class certification that is the National Training Standard for Information Security Professionals


For more information -> http://www.eccouncil.org/newsletter/CNSS.swf

Excel file with all Group Policy setting for Windows 2003 SP1

Brief Description
This spreadsheet lists Group Policy settings described in Administrative Template (.adm) files and Security Settings that shipped with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=15165

Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map

The Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map is a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) application that helps developers visualize the different programs, servers, services, and tools that will help them build solutions. It allows them to drill down to each product and technology and learn about new features, objects, Web services, namespaces, and schemas required to extend Microsoft Office and build custom Office Business Applications (OBAs).

Install the Microsoft Office Interactive Developer Map Version 2
Windows Vista Users
Install the Microsoft Office Interactive Map via ClickOnce.
Note: Firefox users will need to install the FFClickOnce extension first.

Windows XP Users
The following prerequisites are required:
.NET Framework 3.0
.NET Framework 2.0

If these components are already installed, you can install the Microsoft Office Interactive Map via ClickOnce. Otherwise, install the prerequisites and run the application.

Content Query Web Part

The Content Query Web Part is a pretty cool web part.

Here is a nice article of how to dynamically filtering the Content Query Web Part.

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2008/02/22/dynamically-filtering-the-content-query-web-part.aspx

Microsoft Research's InkSeine

Read about it: http://www.devxnews.com/article.php/3728561
Watch the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=bWi6vtSK7N4
Download it: http://research.microsoft.com/InkSeine/install.html

Publishing Communicator Web Access 2007 through ISA Server 2006

from the ISA Server Team Blog:
Recently (July 2007), a deployment lab guide for Microsoft® Communicator Web Access 2007 was published on Microsoft Download Center. That white paper will guide you through the configuration of ISA Server 2006 and Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access 2007 (I will refer to CWA 2007 in this post) to allow single sign on authentication. The scenario described in the document uses LDAP to access the Active Directory® and validate user credentials. After that, the user will be automatically signed in to CWA 2007.

However, the entry page that ISA Server 2006 publishes externally is the ISA Server 2006 page, which uses forms-based authentication. This means that we don’t have the Microsoft Communicator Web Access 2007 interface published. Some customers might want to offer their users a single-interface experience to access CWA 2007 through Internet and Intranet.

Here is the rest of the story.
http://blogs.technet.com/isablog/archive/2008/01/22/publishing-communicator-web-access-2007-through-isa-server-2006.aspx

Cool tool for drawing out SMS\SCCM environments.

They also have an updated SCCM 2007 capacity planner on the site to download.

http://www.tondtware.com/

Microsoft's UC Event: INTERACT2008

https://www.interact08.com/Logistics.aspx?

Google Mobile boss on Android

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7230000/newsid_7238900/7238965.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

Looking for endpoint encryption?

?Check out http://www.safeboot.com/

It is centrally managed with multiple containers for different types of users.

What to do while waiting for a conference call to start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUSJiI4L5lw

Fast Facts

· 79 million personal records were reported compromised last year in the U.S., nearly four times greater than in 2006. Source: Identity Theft Resource Center
· More than 20% of commercial applications are open to attack because available fixes for security flaws have not been applied. Source: Secunia APS

Cisco/Microsoft OCS 2007 deployment

If you are wondering, here are some facts.

There are two types of PBX integration. Enterprise Voice and Remote Call Control.

1) Remote Call Control NATIVE integration with Cisco is available without a IP Media gateway today with CUPS and CUCM 6.x. This can successfully set up.

2) Enterprise Voice functionality is currently only available today via a 3rd party IP Media gateway. It was expected that Cisco will support native SIP integration to OCS by Q2/Q3 2007. This will definitely require latest version at the time.

Microsoft like many other telephony vendors use their own SIP extensions that are not included in IETF RFC specs.

An one example, since both OCS and CM would in theory have call-control capabilities in an Enterprise Voice deployment, Cisco needs to adopt the MS specifications for Dual-forking to prevent looping.

Gates hails age of digital senses