Special characters in filenames

One of the biggest pains you find when migrating files to SharePoint is that it doesn’t like a number of special characters in filenames. These characters are typically:

~ ” # % & * : ? / \ { | }

which means when you attempt to copy them using Windows Explorer into SharePoint you’ll get an error and the copy process will terminate. This is a real pain because you then have to go through your existing file structure and locate the problem file, rename it and then start the copy again.

Trying to locate these files beforehand proved more difficult that I imagined using standard Windows commands. I did find a number of utilities on the net that did the job but I wanted something I could run from the command prompt that would simply record any offending files. In the end I commissioned someone to write a utility for me.

So all you have to do is run the utility at the command line and it will create a text file listing all the files with the default special characters listed above. The utility has also been created so that you can specify a list of characters to search for and it will use these. This means that you could use the utility to also locate files with specific characters in them, not just the ones listed above.

This utility is now freely available for all my SharePoint Operation Guide subscribers but if you aren’t get in contact with me (director@ciaops.com) and I’ll let you know what you need to do to obtain a copy.

Way out west

I have just released the next CIAOPS Need to Know podcast (Episode 4) with Peter Vane from IT West.

The details of the podcast are:

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – Episode 4 = 51MB (55 mins)

or via direct download:

http://bit.ly/cia-n2k4

In this episode Peter and I discuss how the move to the cloud affects many aspects of IT including the MSP model, client perceptions and reseller business plans.

So let me know what you think and if you are interested on being on the show please also contact me (director@ciaops.com) as I am always looking for people to talk about business and technology.

Stay tuned as there plenty of great episodes coming real soon.

Failed SharePoint 2010 migration advice

Saw this comment in a recent blog post of mine from Larry:

Help. I got the old doc, went through the steps and it didn’t work. Tried backtracking to Step 10, but 11 seems inappropriate and 12 doesnt work. //companyweb comes back with 404! Groan

Can you help or suggest a path to follow

The first thing is probably to get the new document at

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2dc66a0f-f840-4b29-93d3-13db70c85cba&;;displayLang=en

This should have the new step 10, which involves attaching SharewebDb to SQL 2008. Once that is done the rest of the migration should flow normally, allowing to attach and upgrade SharewebDb to SharePoint Foundation 2010. If it doesn’t, Larry send me an email directly (director@ciaops.com) I’ll do what I can.

And remember kids what I said in a previous post? Before you attempt a migration to SharePoint 2010 on SBS 2008 make sure you know how to recover Windows SharePoint v3 on SBS 2008 in case everything goes pear shaped. Secondly, DON’T do it on a production server the very first time. Use a test server (read virtual server) to reduce heartache.

Oh yes, and finally, read this blog regularly!

Microsoft Migration doc updated

As expected, Microsoft has rectified the issue with the SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 migration document as detailed in this blog post:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sbsdocsteam/archive/2010/09/09/major-correction-to-quot-guide-to-migrating-from-wss-to-wsf-on-sbs-08-quot.aspx

As the post notes the article on the web page will be updated in the next week or so but the downloadable doc at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2dc66a0f-f840-4b29-93d3-13db70c85cba&;;displayLang=en

has been updated. So those who want to complete the process should now be able to do so.

Still a few additional items I’ll post about shortly.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 – Step 10

As noted in a previous blog post I think that step 10 in the Microsoft process of migrating to SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 is incorrect:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273%28WS.10%29.aspx

So here’s what I think Step 10 should show (including pictures):

Step 10 – Connect the ShareWebDb database to SQL Server 2008 (CIAOPS versions)

The old WSS v3 database now needs to be attached to the new SQL Server for management. You will need to have the SQL Management Studio open (as an administrator) to complete these tasks.

Navigate to the Database folder for the SQLEXPRESS tree. Right mouse click on the Database folder in the SQL Server (in this case SQL Express 2008 R2 denoted as SQLEXPRESS at the top of the object explorer window) and select Attach.

You will now see the Attach Database window like show below:

Press the Add button.

(in the screen shot above the database shown is called WSS_Content but in the standard SBS 2008 case it will be called ShareWebDb)

Navigate to the location of the old WSS v3 database. In the default case this will be c:\windows\sysmsi\ssee\MSSQL.2005\MSSQL\data and the database will be called sharewebdb. Select the database and press the OK button to continue.

You should now see the database and log file listed in the lower window. Press the OK button to attach these databases.

You should now see the word Executing appear in the lower left of the window. When complete you should be returned to the object explorer window where you should see the database now listed under the SQL Express databases folder.

From there you should be able to continue on with Step 11 of the standard Microsoft process.

I’ll detail some other things about this process soon.

This information can from? My SharePoint Operations Guide that I’d recommend if you are needing to this sort of stuff.

Flying Purple Cows

Now that I have your attention (how’s that for marketing eh?) I’ll tell you that I have just released the next CIAOPS Need to Know podcast (Episode 3) with Susanne Dansey from Purple Cow Ideas Management.

The details of the podcast are:

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – Episode 3 = 65MB (70mins)

or via direct download:

http://bit.ly/cia-n2k3

In this episode Susanne gives her thoughts on issues such as SMB business, leadership and vision and of course the effect of cloud computing in SMB. I thank her for sparing some of her valuable time to chat with me.

So let me know what you think and if you are interested on being on the show please also contact me (director@ciaops.com) as I am always looking for people to talk about business and technology.

Sync and Mesh

I have been using Microsoft Live Mesh for a long while and really liked it. The major downside was the fact the when it sync’ed information to the cloud it didn’t do it to Microsoft Skydrive. The plan seems to be to phase out Live Mesh in favour of Windows Live Sync that will save to the Skydrive but there are still issues.

The main issue for me is the ability to add files to the Skydrive storage area via the web like you could in Mesh. I’ll show you what I mean:

Here is screen shot from a folder that I’m syncing using Windows Live Sync on Skydrive. There ain’t anywhere I can see that I can add files to this folder via the web interface.

whereas in Mesh as you can see below I can upload a file using the web interface and have it replicated to all the devices connected to my Mesh.

What makes this even more of a pain is the Windows Live Sync beta (i.e. the next version of Livve Sync) isn’t supported on Windows XP or Windows Mobile! So the only way I can sync files between all machines at the moment and add via the web is via Live Mesh. The current non-beta version of Windows Live Sync does however support Windows XP. However as you will see on the Mesh web site:

It’s now going to be called Windows Live Mesh 2011 and this seems to be based more on Live Sync than Mesh unfortunately.

I certainly hope when they do make up their minds, release one product and that it will:

– be available on Windows XP.
– provide storage in Skydrive.
– provide the ability to save files via the web interface.
– provide more than 2GB of storage (5GB is coming soon but can we get the ability to store up to the limit of Skydrive which is 25GB please?).
– ability to upload files of greater than 50MB.
– ability to have Live Sync folders as an integrated part of Skydrive rather than something separate. At the moment I can’t copy from the Skydrive sync’ed folders to my normal Skydrive folders, so it kinda isn’t any different from stand alone storage like what Mesh current is now is it?