Need to Know Podcast–Episode 42

In this episode I speak with SBS MVP Philip Elder about the opportunities around an on premise IT business focused on the SMB market. We discuss the challenges now faced in this market and what the secrets to success will be in the future.
 
http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/12/04/episode-42-philip-elder/
 
Don’t forget all the other podcasts at http://ciaops.podbean.com and appreciate a like over
athttp://www.facebook.com/n2kpodcast.
 
Remember if you want to be a guest please contact me (director@ciaops.com)

Office 365 Recipient limits raised

One objection I hear regularly from business who are using their emails incorrectly is that Exchange Online ONLY allows email to 1,500 recipients a day. Many use that as an excuse for staying on premise because they want to bulk email from their own inbox.

Firstly, Microsoft has just raised that limit to 10,000 recipients a day from 1,500.

http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/dd630704.aspx#RecipientLimits

Secondly, you really shouldn’t be using your normal email accounts for bulk email. A much better bet is something like Mailchimp, but if you must (and some MUST) then ensure you follow the guidance provided by Microsoft when it comes to bulk emails and you’ll never reach those limits!

http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/ff381292.aspx#bulkemailstrategies

Podcast with Karl Palachuk

I’ve just completed a short podcast with a good buddy of mine and a leader in the SMB community space in the US, Karl Palachuk around Office 365 and the opportunities for resellers in the Cloud space. You’ll find it here:

 

http://www.smbcommunitypodcast.com/2012/11/robert-crane-office-365-sharepoint-in-the-cloud-is-a-great-combo/

 

so you can download and listen to it at your leisure.

 

In the podcast I also speak my SharePoint and Office 365 Guide and Karl is making a special offer of $50 off the price of the Guide until December 25 (what a great geek Christmas gift eh?).

 

Remember if you have any feedback on the episode or have any questions you’d like to ask feel free to email me directly (director@ciaops.com).

 

I thank Karl for the opportunity as well as everyone who takes the time to listen.

Less site options in Foundation 2013

Been poking around SharePoint Foundation 2013 and noticed the following reduction in site template options.

 

Here’s the site template options when you go to create a new sub site:

 

Collaboration tab

 

SharePoint 2010 Foundation

 

image

 

SharePoint 2013 Foundation

 

image

 

i.e. the following templates are no longer available:

 

– blank site

– document workspace

– group work site

 

There is no longer a meeting tab as there is in SharePoint 2010

 

image

 

There is now an Enterprise tab that contains:

 

image

 

So the following site templates are no longer available by default in SharePoint 2013 Foundation:

 

– Blank site

– Document Workspace

– Group Work Site

– Basic Meeting Workspace

– Blank Meeting Workspace

– Decision Meeting Workspace

– Social Meeting Workspace

– Multipage Meeting Workspace

 

The following have been added:

 

– Basic Search Center

 

The reason? My guess is that most people never used the site templates that have been removed and the thinking is that if people want to get them then they will probably be available via the new Office Marketplace that is part of SharePoint 2013.

 

However, the more I look at Foundation 2013 the more I am convinced that it is far more basic that Foundation 2010 was. Maybe the addition of the Office Marketplace in the 2013 products is where additions to the product will appear? I’ll be interested to see whether they do.

SharePoint Foundation 2013 setups

The previous blog post I did on setting up SharePoint Foundation 2013 I will admit to cheating a little. There is did the installation completely on a single windows 2012 Server that I had converted to a Domain Controller (DC).

 

Now, technically that isn’t supported, so here are some other ways you can attempt to install it.

 

If you simply try and install it on a stand alone server that is not part of a domain you’ll see

 

image

 

If you select stand alone and follow it through you’ll end up with the following error during the configuration wizard:

 

image

 

which is the same sort of error I received when testing the beta.

 

If you instead try and do a complete install you end up at:

 

image

 

So as:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2764086/en-us

 

notes, SharePoint 2013 is NOT supported unless it is on a domain connected server, only then will you see:

 

image

 

and the ultimate end results you are after

 

image

 

When you use the GUI installation method.

New CIAOPS SharePoint book–preorder offer

I am just about set to publish my latest SharePoint title –

 

SharePoint Client Side

 

This book covers all of the desktop applications that can be interfaced to SharePoint 2010. It shows you how to use common Office applications like Word, Excel, OneNote and Outlook with SharePoint Document Libraries and lists. It shows you how Office Web Apps functions as well as more advanced applications such as Access, Visio and SharePoint Workspace. It also provides a brief introduction to the power of applications like InfoPath and SharePoint Designer.

 

In essences it demonstrates that the real power of SharePoint is how it can be integrated with the applications user every day. If you want to get more out of SharePoint than what you are getting now then this book will show you how by providing extensive information and tutorials on how to use, Windows Explorer, Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, SharePoint Workspace, Project, Visio, InfoPath and SharePoint Designer with SharePoint 2010.

 

If you use SharePoint you need this book to give you the complete picture of what is possible with SharePoint on the desktop.

 

I expect to have the book ‘e-published’ by this time next week and until then I am going to make the following pre-release offer:

 

– 50% discount off the price of the finished product (i.e. $4.38 vs $ 8.76 RRP)

– all 3 ‘e-versions’ of the finished work (ePUB, Kindle and PDF)

 

Conditions

 

– full payment of $4.38 receive prior to the ‘publishing’ of the final product most likely next week.

 

To take advantage of the offer please contact me (director@ciaops.com) to arrange payment.

 

If you are already a CIAOPS SharePoint and Office 365 Guide subscriber you’ll receive a copy of the title once it becomes available as part of your subscription.

 

Do wait to too long to take advantage of this offer.

SharePoint Online backups – when?

What many Office 365 users don’t seem to appreciate is that Microsoft backups up their data. Not only their emails but also their SharePoint data. This is all part of the service.

 

Now, equally valid questions are how often do they do that and for how long is a backup retained? The answer to these questions can be found in the service descriptions for each service:

 

Enterprise plans – http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=13602

 

In there (under SharePoint Online Service Description, P18) you’ll find:

 

Data Backup

 

Data protection services are provided to prevent the loss of SharePoint Online data. Backups are performed every 12 hours and retained for 14 days.

 

It is always good to have multiple backups of any data source in multiple location but part of the Office 365 DOES including automatic backups of that data residing there.

Need to Know Podcast–Episode 41


Join me in this episode as I speak with Microsoft OneNote MVP Ben Schorr about a product we both love – OneNote. Ben explains how OneNote works and how it can help just about any business manage information overload.
 
http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/11/20/episode-41-ben-schorr/
 
Don’t forget all the other podcasts at http://ciaops.podbean.com and appreciate a like over at http://www.facebook.com/n2kpodcast.
 
Remember if you want to be a guest please contact me (director@ciaops.com)