Don Hite at myITforum.com : MOSS 2007

The New SharePoint?

dhite — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:16:19 GMT

I saw this week that Google has released their Google Apps solution to create Team sites and the wording on their site makes it seem like they are talking aim at the Microsoft’s SharePoint technologies.

You decided:

Google Sites, a new offering from Google Apps, makes creating a team site as easy as editing a document. Use Google Sites to centralize all types of information -- from videos to presentations -- and share your site with just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

Google Sites is the easiest way to make information accessible to people who need quick, up-to-date access. People can work together on a Site to add file attachments, information from other Google applications (like Google Docs, Google Calendar, YouTube and Picasa), and new free-form content. Creating a site together is as easy as editing a document, and you always control who has access, whether it's just yourself, your team, or your whole organization. You can even publish Sites to the world. The Google Sites web application is accessible from any internet connected computer.

http://Sites.Google.Com

The SharePoint Environment (Farm) Reporting Utility

dhite — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:52:26 GMT

The Idevfactory SharePoint Environment (Farm) Reporting Utility is a great tool for gathering MOSS Farm environment statistics.

“The SharePoint Environment (Farm) Reporting feature aggregates statistics from across your SharePoint environment and delivers true environment sizing and statistical reports to help you understand your SharePoint Landscape.”

Additional information and screen prints:

http://www.idevfactory.com/products/uspm2007/features/sharepoint%20reporting%20farm.aspx

The Admin Report Kit for SharePoint 2007

dhite — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:03:14 GMT

The Admin Report Kit for SharePoint or MOSS 2007 is a usage as well as a configuration reporting too for MOSS 2007 with SharePoint Services 3.0.

The tool gathers information from your web apps, site collection, sites and your lists then presents the information to you in “simple report formats”.

The Admin Report Kit also gathers usage information about your site collection and list items which is a definite plus.

ARKSP Downlaod:

http://www.vyapin.com/products/enterprisenetworktools/arksp2007.htm

The MOSS 2007 Software Development Kit

dhite — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:27:12 GMT

The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes documentation, as well as code examples within the topics, for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The documentation can either be read on line or the SDK can be downloaded form the links below:

Online

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms550992.aspx

Download

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en

The CodePlex Sharepoint Logging Spy Free Utility

dhite — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:26:50 GMT

The Sharepoint Logging Spy (Beta 1.3) as well as the documentation for the Sharepoint Logging Spy in PDF format is also available for download from the Codeplex site below.

The Sharepoint Logging Spy .NET 2.0 utility is written in C# and is designed for use with MOSS 2007 and it is a real-time logging tool much like the SMS and ConfigMgr Trace utility. It also supports multiple MOSS servers rather than one individual MOSS server and is ideal for tracking you’re the servers in your Farm with a single GUI console.

Downloads

http://www.codeplex.com/sharepointloggingspy

MOSS 2007 Character Limitations

dhite — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:16:24 GMT

In a previous post I created a chart to show what characters are illegal to use when creating your Site name or Subsite names. Now we will discuss MOSS 2007 character limitations.

In MOSS 2007 your individual files names have a character limitation of 128 characters or bits in length. Long file names can be good to use in that they can be rather descriptive but when used in MOSS the page redirects make those names rather useless. Short yet descriptive file names are a good habit to get into when developing your content but try and keep them simple. For example if you have a file name called “Technical meetings and agendas for the XYZ project” the file name can be shortened to “XYZ Project Info”.

Note: The blank lines are also counted as Null characters so you could use “CamelCase” where the words do not include spaces and the individual words are capitalized as in “XyzProjectInfo”

There is however a 260 character limitation for the UNC path which includes the MOSS server name (MossServerName\SiteName\FolderName\FileName). It is also a good idea to ensure that you do not go too deep into the site hierarchy and stay under 2 or 3 sites deep. You can of course go deeper provided you have short (7-10) character site names

MOSS 2007 Illegal Site Name Characters

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/dhite/archive/2007/06/17/moss-2007-illegal-site-name-characters.aspx

MOSS 2007 Links

dhite — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:02:09 GMT

Free SharePoint Video Tutorials (Screencasts)

http://www.sharepoint-screencasts.com

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/default.aspx

MOSS 2007: Whats New?

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/FX101758881033.aspx

Sharepoint2007: The business portal for SharePoint 2007 information

http://www.sharepoint2007.com/Default.aspx?tabid=238

SharePoint Buzz - Learn MOSS 2007

http://www.sharepointbuzz.com/

SharePoint Server Role in Windows Server 2008

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/WSS/en/library/21e4cc2f-5f0e-4d49-98ed-4e1d1fc852e21033.mspx

SharePoint Team blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint

SharePoint templates: CodePlex

http://www.codeplex.com/sharepointtemplates

SharePoint templates: Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/wssapps/templates/default.mspx

Windows SharePoint Services

http://technet.microsoft.com/hi-in/windowsserver/sharepoint/default.aspx

MOSS 2007 Estimated Pricing

dhite — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:50:41 GMT

Here you will find a listing of the estimated pricing from Microsoft for MOSS 2007 Server, Client Access Licenses (CAL’s) and Internet facing sites.

Server	Estimated Price
Office SharePoint Server 2007	$4424
Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Standard	$8213
Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search Enterprise	$57,670
Office Forms Server 2007	$4424

CAL’s	Estimated Price
Standard CAL	$94
Enterprise CAL1	$75
Office Forms Server 2007 CAL	$54
Office SharePoint Designer 2007	$187

Internet Facing Sites	Estimated Price
Internet site	$40,943
Office Forms Server 2007 for Internet sites	$22,118

Office Developer Centers SharePoint Server 2007 Sample Downloads

dhite — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 12:22:26 GMT

Download code samples and read the accompanying articles from the Office Developer Center.

Extending Excel Services Programmability Framework Samples

The SharePoint Server 2007 Sample: Extending Excel Services Programmability Framework Samples demonstrate how you can extend functionalities when working with SharePoint lists, query tables on Excel Services, external workbook references, SQL write-back, and user-defined functions (UDFs).

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c75a850f-b4bd-4b23-a43a-509a03590dd7&displaylang=en

Item-Level Auditing

This code sample shows you how to create an item-level auditing view programmatically in three different ways: using a custom SharePoint list, through the Excel client, and by manipulating the open XML file format to display auditing history using Excel Services on an application page.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0e4dd1e7-4b1d-4cb1-b906-6d5d272c8e9d&displaylang=en

User-Defined Functions for Excel 2007 and Excel Services Sample Solution

The SharePoint 2007 Sample: User-Defined Functions for Excel 2007 and Excel Services Sample Solution contains sample user-defined functions (UDFs) and supporting files.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e09fefbf-5fc7-44a7-9731-fd3dc41e5b9b&displaylang=en

Web Part That Calls Excel Web Services

This download contains a sample solution that demonstrates how to create a Web Part that calls Excel Web Services to perform custom calculations. It includes a deployment package sample that can be deployed to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2c5919e4-0757-4db1-9798-e0e4032f12a8&displaylang=en

Setting Up a Development Environment for the 2007 Microsoft Office System

This code sample accompanies the MSDN technical article, "Setting Up a Development Environment for the 2007 Microsoft Office System." To view this article, click the link in Related Resources.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=a2f225fd-dfb8-4e2a-b0b5-2facd681541f&displaylang=en

Using Outlook 2007 To Read And Post To MOSS Discussion Boards

dhite — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 12:54:37 GMT

In my previous post MOSS 2007 Discussion Boards I wrote a brief overview of the MOSS Discussion boards and how to create new ones and test their functionality from MOSS. This last week I was asked to elaborate on how to use Outlook 2007 to read the discussion boards as well as post new messages and replies to the boards.

First off just let me once again apologize to Ranjith and Michael for leaving that part out. I would also like to thank them both for pointing out the shortcomings of my previous post.

Below you will find a quick start guide on how to use Outlook 2007 to participate in MOSS Discussion Boards.

1. Open http://Moss_Server:Port_Number/default.aspx

2. Select "View All Site Content"

3. Locate the "Discussion Boards" leaf and select the discussion board name.

4. Select the "Actions" drop down menu and select "Connect To Outlook"

Note: You can also select "View RSS Feed" to open the board in your default web browser however you can only view the board items by accessing them in this manner.

5. Outlook 2007 opens and you are presented with the Microsoft Office Outlook dialog box and select “Yes” after reviewing the text information.

6. From the newly created “SharePoint Lists” folder simply select the message to view it.

You can then begin sending and receiving notes t the new discussion list. To send a new message to test the functionality from the “Central Administration – Board_Name” folder select “New” and send your note as normal.

MOSS 2007 Discussion Boards

dhite — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 21:01:29 GMT

MOSS 2007 Discussion Boards are used for creating discussion threads as well as for archiving your E-Mail.

Each Discussion board form or container that you create contains and manages its own Metadata set and holds all of the messages for the appropriate threads.

As far as E-Mail archiving your discussion board threads are saved as threads rather than your users saving the individual messages to the threads in their own Inbox. The threads can then be read via Outlook 2007 or though their web browser. Users can also add their own comments or notes to the threads using outlook as well as view other user’s comments as they are posted to the discussion board threads.

In a nut shell this simply means that your users can use Outlook 2007 to send and receive E-Mails to the discussion boards and the message threads are archived in the appropriate discussion board on the MOSS sever ion the boards Metadata space.

To create and test new discussion boards follow the steps here.

1. From the Microsoft Office Server program group select “SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration”

2. Select the “Site Actions” button and then select “Create”.

3. Locate the “Communications” leaf and then select “Discussion Board”

Enter a Descriptive name in the “Name:” text box such as Test.

Then enter a brief “Description:” such as New Test.

Finally for the “Display this list on the Quick Launch?” accept the default of “Yes”.

4. When you are done select “Create” to create your new discussion board

5. After the Discussion Board has been create the new page will open to the following:

http://Moss_Server:Port_Number/Lists/Board_Name/AllItems.aspx

From here select “New” and then select “Discussion” and enter the following.

Subject This is a test

Body Hey there this is a test!

Then Select “OK” when you are done.

Post Installation Configuration For MOSS 2007

dhite — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:44:08 GMT

1. Open Programs "Microsoft Office Server" and then select "SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration" and you will be presented with the Central Administration page. Here you need to perform and configure the following Administrator Tasks:

READ FIRST

Initial deployment: Add Servers to Farm

Initial deployment: Assign Services to Servers

Configure server farm's shared services

2. First select “READ FIRST - Click this link for deployment instructions Not Started” and in the actions leaf select “Read the Quick Start Guide” to open the Quick Start Guide and review the following: .

Learn how to deploy Office SharePoint Server 2007 on a single server

Learn how to deploy Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a server farm environment

Find more information about Office SharePoint Server 2007 deployments

When you have finished click the Internet explorer back button to return to the “Administrator Tasks: READ FIRST - Click this link for deployment instructions” page and click “Close” to return to the Administrator Tasks page.

3. Next select “Initial deployment: Add servers to farm Not Started” and in the actions leaf and select “Initial deployment: Add servers to farm”. In the Farm Topology leaf select the name of your MOSS server from the Servers list to open the Services on Server: ServerName task. The server that you selected will be displayed as the “Server:”. Next select the item “Select server role to display services you will need to start in the table below” which includes the following:

Single Server or Web Server for small server farms

All services run on this server

Web Server for medium server farms

Web application and Search Query services run on this server

Search Indexing

Search Indexing service runs on this server

Custom

Services you choose run on this server

For this install choose “Single Server or Web Server for small server farms” if this is the first MOSS server you arte installing.

4.Next from the “Start services in the table below:“ leaf in the “Actions” column select “Start” to start the “Document Conversions Launcher Service”. Here the Launcher Service Settings task begins where you select the “Server”, “Load Balancer” and the “Port Number”. Select “OK” when you are finished.

5. Next select the “Document Conversions Launcher Service” and the service will be started.

6. Next select “Document Conversions Load Balancer Service” to open the Configure Office SharePoint Server Search Service Settings on server ServerName task. In the Query and Indexing leaf you can elect to “Use this option to specify if you want to use this server for search queries or indexing or both.” Make you selection and depending on the options selected addition configuration task will be added to the page. For the purposes of this post check both the “Use this server for indexing content” and the “Use this server for serving search queries” check boxes.

7. Next enter a “Contact E-mail Address” and then select the “Farm Search Service Account” and enter a “User name” and “Password” for the Search service account.

8. Next review the “Index Server Default File Location” and modify if needed.

9. For the “Indexer Performance” leave the default or select to use “Reduced” or “Maximum” if needed.

10. Next for the “Web Front End and Crawling” select either the “Use all web front end computers for crawling” or “Use a dedicated web front end computer for crawling” as needed.

11. Next select Windows SharePoint Services Search to begin the Configure Windows SharePoint Services Search Service Settings on server ServerName task. For the “Service Account” enter the “User name” and “password” to use for the Search service account. Next enter the “Content Access Account” “User name” and “password” to use for the content access account. For the “Search Database” accept the defaults. For the “Indexing Schedule” adjust as needed and when complete select “OK”.

12. Next select “Configure server farm's shared services” to begin the Administrator Tasks: Configure server farm's shared services task. In “Actions” select “Configure server farm's shared services”. In the New Shared Services Provider task. For the SSP Name leave the default and for the “Web application” select “Create a new Web application” for the SSP Administration Site page URL to begin the Create New Web Application task.

13. In the Create New Web Application task specify the “Description”, “Port”, “Host Header” and the “Path” as needed. In the “Security Configuration” leaf "Authentication provider:" you can elect to use "Negotiate (Kerberos)" or "NTLM". You can also elect to "Allow Anonymous:" connections or not as well as elect to "Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL):" which requires you to use certificates on your servers. In the "Load Balanced URL" leaf review the "URL" and modify it if needed. For the "Application Pool" leave the default of "Create new application pool" and add a "User Name" and "Password" to be used for the Application pool. For the "Reset Internet Information Services" leave the default of "Restart IIS Manually". For the "Database Name and Authentication" verify your "Database Server" and "Database Name" and leave the default of "Windows authentication (recommended)" then click "OK" to process the changes.

14. At the Success! Task click “OK” to begin the Manage this Farm's Shared Services task and review it.

MOSS 2007 Advanced Install

dhite — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:53:49 GMT

Here you will find information on how to setup MOSS 2007 using the Advance Install procedures.

1. Inset CD-ROM installation media and run Setup.Exe.

2. Then the Enter Your Product Key task appears where you enter your Product key and if the key is confirmed a green check box will soon appear. Click “Continue” to begin the installation.

3. Next the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms task appears. Read over the license agreement and when you are done check the “I accept the terms of this agreement” check box and then click “Continue”.

4. Next the Choose the installation you want task appears where you can elect to install a Basic or Advanced version of MOSS 2007.

Note: The Basic install will automatically install the MOSS database for you where the Advanced install allows you to specify options for the MOSS database as well as allows you to specify server roles. The Advanced install is preferable to allow you more control over the installation.

5. Next the Server Type task appears were you can select to perform a complete install, a web front end or a stand alone installation. Choose “Complete – Install all components. Can add servers to from a SharePoint farm.” Then click “Install Now” to begin the install. Next the Installation Progress task will appear stating that it is “Installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007…” and will run for a few minutes..

6. Next you are prompted to “Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies configuration wizard”. Select “Close” and the setup dialog box will appear stating “In order to complete setup, a system reboot is necessary. Would you like to reboot now?”.

7. After the reboot log back onto the server and select “Program Files” then “Microsoft Office Server”, and finally “SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard” to begin the Welcome to SharePoint Products and Technologies task and then select “Next” to begin the wizard.

8. Next the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard dialog box will appear stating “The following services may have to be restarted or reset during configuration: Internet Information Services, SharePoint Administration Service, SharePoint timer service.” Click “Yes” to continue.

9. Next the Connect to a server farm task appears where you can select “Yes, I want to connect to an existing server farm” or “No, I want to create a new server farm” select “No, I want to create a new server farm” since this is the initial setup and click “Next” to continue.

10. Next the Specify Configuration Database Settings task appears. Enter the “Database Server” name and accept the default of SharePoint_Config for the “Database name”. In the Specify Database Access Account leaf enter the account name that you want to use to connect the database. If it is a domain account enter the name as Domain\AccountName or if it is a local account on the SharePoint server such as the local administrators account enter it as AdministratorName and enter the password for the account and select “Next” to continue.

11. Next the Configure SharePoint Central Administration Web Application task appears where you can choose to “Specify port number”” or accept the default of 43405. In the Configure Security Settings leaf choose either “NTLM” or “Negotiate (Kerberos)” security or accept the defaults and then select “Next” to continue.

12. Next the Completing the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard summary page appears listing your selected options review it and then select “Next” to continue.

Tip: At this time if you see anything in the summary page that you want to change or modify use the “Back” button to locate the appropriate task and make your changes as needed and click the “Next” button to continue.

13. Next the Configuring SharePoint Products and Technologies task begins and executes for several minutes and after step 9 has completed the Configuration Successful summary will appear then click “Finish” to allow the installation to complete and open the Central Administration page where you must complete several Administrator tasks because the Server farm configuration Not Complete message is displayed.

Next week we will discuss these tasks to allow you to make your final customizations

Discovery Wizard for SharePoint Freeware From Quest Software

dhite — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:12:35 GMT

This Freeware utility from Quest Software will detect the Microsoft SharePoint servers, Site collections and Sites on your network. It will also present you with a HTML report detailing information about your SharePoint inventory both SPS and WSS.

Download Discovery Wizard for SharePoint Freeware

http://www.quest.com/2_0/registration.aspx?requestdefid=8286

Discovery Wizard for SharePoint freeware datasheets

http://www.quest.com/documents/list.aspx?searchoff=true&contenttypeid=20&prod=285