01 March, 2013

New Learning Roadmaps for SharePoint 2013

A learning roadmap is a way of organizing content (articles, white papers, videos, blog posts, etc.) to provide a customized and optimized learning path for a technology, feature, product, or solution. Starting with prerequisites and then moving on to introductory, intermediate, and advanced learning goals, learning roadmaps enables a novice to ramp up quickly and an experienced technology person to build more expertise in a particular area.
My colleagues on the SharePoint IT pro writing team have been very busy publishing the following additional learning roadmaps:
If you need to technically ramp up in any of these areas, take a look at these articles to understand the prerequisite knowledge and then dive in.
See Learning roadmaps for SharePoint 2013 for the complete list for SharePoint 2013.
See Learning Roadmaps Portal for the complete list across Microsoft products. To create your own learning roadmap, see the Learning Roadmap Template.

Missing server side dependencies



We have done the migration from SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint 2010. After the successful migration, when we checked the HEALTH ANALYZER reports then we have seen the following errors:

Exception#1:
[MissingFeature] Database [WSS_Content_101] has reference(s) to a missing feature: Id = [fc5e2840-0b48-42eb-9ad7-076f5add58ad]. The feature with Id fc5e2840-0b48-42eb-9ad7-076f5add58ad is referenced in the database [WSS_Content], but is not installed on the current farm. The missing feature may cause upgrade to fail. Please install any solution which contains the feature and restart upgrade if necessary.

Exception#2:
[MissingWebPart] WebPart class [8d6034c4-a416-e535-281a-6b714894e1aa] is referenced [20] times in the database [SharePoint_AdminContent_8c793f3b-123c-4965-81b3-b7bbed64d8ae], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this web part. One or more web parts are referenced in the database [SharePoint_AdminContent_8c793f3b-123c-4965-81b3-b7bbed64d8ae], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these web parts.

Exception#3:
[MissingSetupFile] File [themes\THEME\alldaydefault_granite.gif] is referenced [4] times in the database [WSS_Content], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this file. One or more setup files are referenced in the database [WSS_Content], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these files.

Exception#4:
Assembly [Nintex.Workflow.Features, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=913f6bae0ca5ae12] is referenced in the database [WSS_Content], but is not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature/solution which contains this assembly. Remedy: One or more assemblies are referenced in the database [WSS_Content], but are not installed on the current farm. Please install any feature or solution which contains these assemblies.

Long series of messages, it’s very difficult to troubleshoot this all messages/exceptions in a single shot so I have targeted one exception: [Missing Feature]

As per the error message, we have the following details as follows:

Name of the database: WSS_Content_101
Feature ID: fc5e2840-0b48-42eb-9ad7-076f5add58ad
Site Collection Link: No Info
Site collection ID: No Info

Hmm...Really difficult to delete this feature if we don’t have a site collection links.

I think if we have a site ID/Link then it’s very simple to delete this feature but the problem is there are so many features which are throwing exceptions against the same database name so there might be so many site collections.

Resolution:
Million Thanks to Codeplex Team

These types of errors can be cleaned up using the SharePoint Feature Administration and Clean Up Tool on Codeplex: http://featureadmin.codeplex.com

Product Applies To:
SharePoint Server 2010
SharePoint Server 2013
SharePoint Foundation 2010

Important Note:
My Troubleshooting is still going on to find out the resolution for further exceptions. Will keep you posted regarding each and every exception. Thank you.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues…

Thank you.

27 February, 2013

Feature enhancements in SharePoint 2013 than SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint 2013 general model remain same as SharePoint 2010 but has few platform level improvements and new capabilities like
• Shredded Storage
• SQL Improvements
• Cache Service
• Request Management
• Themes
• Sharing

In terms of Service Applications:
• New service applications available and improvements on existing ones
• Office Web Apps is no longer a service application
• Web Analytics is no longer service application, it’s part of search

Enterprise content Management
• Policies:
• Site-level retention policies compliance levels has been extended to sites
• Policies include Retention policy for sites and Team Mailbox associated with site
• Project closure and expiration policy

• Designed for managing discovery cases and holds
• Establishes a portal through which you can access discovery cases to conduct searches, place content on hold, and export content
• eDiscovery capabilities
• Support for searching and exporting content from file shares
• Export discovered content from Exchange and SharePoint
• Team folders
• Seamless integration of Exchange and SharePoint to provide best of both world and end user flexibility

Web Content Management
• Support the tools and workflows designers usage
• Variations & Content Translation
• Search Engine Optimization
• Cross Site Publishing
• Video & Embedding
• Image renditions
• Clean Urls
• Metadata navigation

Social
• Microblogging
• "Share content, links, and media"
• Follow people, sites, content, and conversations"
• Activity Feeds
• Provides a view into recent activity related to content, links, media, and people"
• Communities
• Community sites with self-service administration and moderation
• Modern community features such as achievements and reputation
• Discussions
• Modern discussion boards
• Blogs
• Client application integration
• "Categories, comments, and moderation "

Search
• New Search architecture with one unified search
• Personalized search results based on search history
• Rich contextual previews



Outlook 2007/2010: What is the character limit for a link to open?

As I just shared the Character limitation of URL in Sharepoint .

Outlook Hyperlink also has its own limitation

One of my user was copying a shortcut as a hyperlink in Outlook and it opened the site with a empty Document Library .

I Compared the shortcut url with the one sent as hyperlink in the outlook and found that the one sent to the users is not a complete url/link . so thought their might be some limitation to that too .   

Based on my research, this is what i found

Outlook 2013 – Seems no limitation.
Outlook 2010 – 1033 characters
Outlook 2007 – 1033 characters
Outlook 2003 – 256 characters

Readers - if you find any descripancies in the numbers (limitations ) please comment so that we can keep this post updated . 

URL path length restrictions (SharePoint Server 2010)

I have come across so many users who are not able to create or upload files after certain stage and it says

"The specified file or folder name is too long"

This is Limitation is in Sharepoint 2007 and continues in 2010.

The total length of a SharePoint URL equals the length of the folder or file path, including the protocol and server name and the folder or file name, plus any parameters that are included as part of the URL. The formula is as follows:
  • URL = protocol + server name + folder or file path + folder or file name+ parameters
For example, the following is a typical URL path to a file stored in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010:
http://www.contoso.com/sites/marketing/documents/Shared%20Documents/Promotion/Some%20File.xlsx


When you go to the site and open the file with Microsoft Office

http://www.contoso.com/sites/marketing/documents/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?id=/sites/marketing/documents/Shared%20Documents/Promotion/Some%20File.xlsx&Source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Econtoso%2Ecom%2Fsites%2Fmarketing%2Fdocuments%2FShared%2520Documents%2FForms%2FAllItems%2Easpx%3FRootFolder%3D%252Fsites%252Fmarketing%252Fdocuments%252FShared%2520Documents%252FPromotion%26FolderCTID%3D0x012000F2A09653197F4F4F919923797C42ADEC&DefaultItemOpen=1

The limitations In this section apply to the total length of the URL path to a folder or a file in SharePoint Server 2010 but not to the length of any parameters. Also, these limitations apply only to un-encoded URLs, not to encoded URLs. There is no limit to encoded URLs in SharePoint Server 2010. The limitations are the following:
  • 260 Unicode (UTF-16) code units – the characters in a full file path, not including a domain/server name.
  • 256 Unicode (UTF-16) code units – the characters in a full folder path, not including the file name and the domain/server name.
  • 128 Unicode (UTF-16) code units - characters in a path component, that is, a file or folder name.
  • 260 Unicode (UTF-16) code units – the characters in a full path, including a domain/server name for use with Office clients.
  • 256 Unicode (UTF-16) code units – the characters in a full path including the domain/server name, for use with Active X controls.
Reference :


26 February, 2013

Recently published content for SharePoint 2013

Published the week of February 25, 2013
New articles
Refreshing Excel workbooks with embedded PowerPivot models from SharePoint Online (white paper)   Download this white paper to learn how to perform scheduled data refresh of workbooks that contain PowerPivot models published to SharePoint Online.
Configure server-to-server authentication between publishing and consuming farms   Learn how to configure server-to-server authentication when you share service applications across SharePoint 2013 publishing and consuming farms.
Blog posts: An introduction to cross-site publishing, Stage 1: Create site collections for cross-site publishing, Stage 2: Import list content into the Product Catalog Site Collection   Posts in a series that describes how you can use SharePoint 2013 to set up a website that is based on product catalog data.
Updated articles
Configure an environment for apps for SharePoint (SharePoint 2013)   Updated information about the account used to set up the Subscription Settings and the App Management service applications from the farm account to a managed account. The farm account is not recommended.
Getting started with SharePoint Server 2013 workflow   Added a video overview of workflow in SharePoint Server 2013.
Published the week of February 18, 2013
New articles
Virtualize SharePoint 2013 learning roadmap   Use this learning roadmap to build expertise about how to install and configure SharePoint 2013 in a Microsoft virtual environment.
Backup and restore best practices in SharePoint 2013   Learn how to implement best practices before you back up and restore a SharePoint 2013 farm.
View an Excel Services dashboard by using a Windows 8 tablet   Watch this video to learn how to explore data in an Excel Services dashboard using a Windows 8 tablet.
Overview of Excel Services reports displayed in PerformancePoint Web Parts   Learn about how to display Excel Services reports in Dashboard Designer.
Overview of PerformancePoint analytic charts and grids   Learn about analytic charts and grids in Dashboard Designer.
Overview of PerformancePoint KPI Details reports   Learn about PerformancePoint KPI Details reports.
Overview of PerformancePoint reports and scorecards   Learn about reports and scorecards within PerformancePoint Services Dashboard Designer.
Overview of PerformancePoint scorecards   Learn about PerformancePoint scorecards.
Overview of Reporting Services reports displayed in PerformancePoint Web Parts   Learn about how to include Reporting Services reports in a PerformancePoint web part.
Overview of the PerformancePoint Decomposition Tree   Learn about PerformancePoint decomposition trees.
Overview of Web Page reports in Dashboard Designer   Learn about web page reports in Dashboard Designer.
How to build a social media-sharing site in SharePoint 2013 (white paper)   Learn how to build a social media-sharing site in SharePoint 2013.
Fundamental site planning in SharePoint 2013   View links to resources about site planning concepts such as how to structure sites and how to plan site navigation in SharePoint 2013.
Overview of site collections and sites in SharePoint 2013   Learn about site collections, sites, and site templates in SharePoint 2013.
Blog post: How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint 2013   First in a series of posts that describes how you can use SharePoint 2013 to set up a website that is based on product catalog data.
Updated articles
Manage Feed Cache and Last Modified Time Cache repopulation in SharePoint Server 2013   Added new section: "Feed Cache settings on the User Profile Service application."
Manage the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server 2013   Added an optional step to reconfigure the memory allocation of the Distributed Cache service, added a note about Inbound ICMP (ICMPv4) traffic, and added a new section: "Repair a cache host."
Plan for feeds and the Distributed Cache service in SharePoint Server 2013   Added two new sections: "Capacity planning for the Distributed Cache service" and "Firewall configuration considerations."
Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262043.aspx

25 February, 2013

Available drive space is less than twice the value of physical memory. This is dangerous because it does not provide enough room for a full memory dump with continued operation


SharePoint Health Analyzer is a good feature or we call it as a revolution for SharePoint administrators as it helps you to detect the issues in your farm and keep the SharePoint up and working without any worries :)

It’s very important to take an immediate action in reference to the critical errors which are reflecting in the health analyzer.

Overview of SharePoint Health Analyzer

SharePoint Health Analyzer rules reference (SharePoint Foundation 2010)

SharePoint Health Analyzer rules reference (SharePoint Server 2010)

As per the error message, make sure that the mention drive is having enough space as per the Microsoft recommendations. If you are pretty sure that space is already there and still you are getting that error in the health analyzer then you need to follow the following theory which has been explained by MVP-PAUL STORK

This theory suggest- “the threshold is built into the code and can't be changed.  You can go into the configuration for the Health Analyzer and turn off that particular rule.  To do this go to Central Administration and navigate to Monitoring > Health Analyzer > Review Rule Definitions.  Then find the specific rule, edit it and disable it.  It will stop telling you that the disks are running out of space.  I'm also not sure that this rule only pertains to the drive where you have your log files, but the only thing you can do is disable the rule.  There is no way to edit it.”

What you can check to free up the space:
-       Check the log files which are stored on the drive – this consumes most of the space
-       Check the backup files which are present over there
-       Check the old deployment files which are present on the same drive
-       Check the software’s which has been used long way back and still using the same space
-       Check the misc stuff which we kept during any critical situations (example: any files, tools etc)

As per Microsoft MSFT- Rock Wang—“This rule checks disk space as a proportion of the RAM on the computer. When disk space is less than twice the RAM on the computer, the health rule triggers an error. When disk space is less than five times the RAM on the computer, the health rule triggers a warning. Accordingly, server computers with lots of RAM are more likely to experience a failure of this rule.”

Once you remove the unnecessary stuff or irrelevant data from the mention drive then click on “Reanalyze now” so that it will verify the error and shows the results immediately.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, Thank you…

You can’t delete a site that has subsites


Cannot Delete Subsite

Error deleting a website “/Teamsite/SP2010”. You can’t delete a site that has subsites

If you are facing this error message then there are multiple ways to delete it. Let’s look at those details and let me know in case of any queries/doubts based on the same.

-Subsite console
-Site collection console
-SPD 2010
-STSADM utility
-PowerShell utility
-Content and structure

Imp Note:
-You need to make sure that which subsite you are trying to delete and
-How many nested subsites are present underneath?
-Logged in account that you are using to delete that subsite
-Make sure you don't have any meeting workspaces on your site

Let’s look into each category by exploring thoroughly:

Subsite Console:
-Login to SharePoint site with administrator account.
-Click "Team Site" on the top of the "Admin" Page.
-Navigate to the subsite you prefer to delete.
-Click "Site Actions", and then click "Site Settings".
-Click “Delete this site” under "Site Actions".
-Click "Delete" Button, and then click "OK" to confirm.

Site Collection Console:
-Login to the SharePoint site collection with admin account
-Site actions
-Site settings
-Site administration
-Sites and workspaces
-You will see a list of subsites which are present underneath the site collection
-In the right hand side, you will find the option of delete
-Click on delete and it will ask you to confirm the details
-Click OK
-That’s it and you are done.

SharePoint Designer 2010 Console:
-Click start
-All programs
-Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2010
-File
-Open site
-Enter the site collection URL
-Once the site will be open then you will see the complete hierarchy
-You will see a separate section named as “Subsites”
-Click on it and you will see the number of subsites in the right hand side
-Right click on the subsite that you want to delete
-Click OK and you are done.

Content and structure:
-Site Actions -> Site Settings
-Site Administration: Content and Structure
-In the left column, move to the parent of the main site to be deleted
-In the right column, choose the site to be deleted (Your Site in our example)
-Menu: Actions -> Delete

-Note: Deleting the selected sites will permanently delete all content and user information. All subsites in this site will also be permanently lost. Do you want to continue? Click OK.

STSADM Utility:
stsadm -o deleteweb

   -url <URL name>

For deleting a site within an orphaned site collection or an orphaned site within a site collection:

   -force

   -webid <Web ID>

   -databasename <database name>

   -databaseserver <database server name>

POWERSHELL Utility:
Remove-SPWeb "http://ursite/" -Confirm:$false

Reference:
 
If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 

I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues…

Thank you.