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)