SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008

After manually installing all the prerequisites for SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 I attempted to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. If you really want to try this yourself and are baffled where the prerequisite Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0 is then you should contact me as you won’t find it on the Microsoft download site (that’s version 1.0 and 2.0 Beta, neither of which works) from what I see.

 

Because SharePoint Foundation 2010 detects an existing SharePoint v3 installation the only option that is available is an upgrade. Fair enough you say, but when you proceed you get:

 

image_2_0B701405

 

which is basically game over. Interestingly when you go to the web link provided (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=975805) it doesn’t exist which kinda indicates that maybe the KB article is still being written on this one. Nothing also comes up when you do a Google search.

 

So that’s it game over eh? One would have said that also about running Search Server Express 2008 on SBS 2008 wouldn’t you? Especially if you have been reading this blog (especially here). Well I’m here to tell you that I have worked out how to successfully install Search Server Express on SBS 2008. It ain’t pretty but it can be done and it’s only taken me almost 2 years to work out. Maybe getting SharePoint Foundation 2010 running on SBS 2008 is my next challenge from the gods of code? Hopefully, this won’t take me another 2 years!

 

Oh, you want more details on how to install Search Server Express 2008 on SBS 2008? You’ll just have to stay tuned or subscribe to the Windows SharePoint Operations Guide as it will be published there real soon.

ANZAC Day

Yesterday was the 95th anniversary of landing on the Gallipoli peninsula by Australian and New Zealand troops.The 25th of April is beginning to mean a lot more in our national consciousness as current generations begin to appreciate and honour the sacrifices these men and others through the ages have made to ensure we live the lifestyle we now do.

 

Yet only 3 years after the landing in Gallipoli, again on ANZAC day, Australian and New Zealand troops liberated the town of Villers-Bretonneux in northern France from the Germans after fierce fighting. It was a remarkable feat with Brigadier General Grogan VC, who saw the action, describing the successful counter attack by night across unknown and difficult ground, and at short notice as “perhaps the greatest individual feat of the war”. The Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, referred to the “altogether astonishing valiance” of the Australians, ( most likely meaning valour ).

 

The town and people of Villers-Bretonneux have never forgotten the feats of the soldiers from so far away and to this day also celebrate ANZAC day. Having been to Villers-Bretonneux myself I would recommend that if you are ever in the region you spend some time visiting where another ANZAC legend has been forged, on another ANZAC day.

 

There is no greater honour for the men who never returned than this tribute in the school grounds of Villers-Bretonneux:

 

IMG_1115_2_0FFE98D1

 

For them and everyone who never returned from their service to our nation we simply say

 

Lest we forget

 

For those still on active duty we say stay safe and return home soon, we are proud of you.

 

To learn more about the ANZAC contribution in France during World War I visit – www.anzacsinfrance.com.

SharePoint how-to document

I recently posted up a SharePoint how to video covering creating and managing email notifications. As promised, I have now created a companion document covering the material that you can access via my SlideShare (along with plenty of other documents I have created). The direct link to the document is:

 

http://www.slideshare.net/directorcia/getting-started-with-sharepoint-alerts-3796685

 

and you can view it online as well as download it.

 

As always let me know what you think.

SharePoint command line backups

For many IT Professionals who deal with SharePoint as part of other systems (especially Small Business Server) I would have to recommend strongly that you always configure a command line stsadm backup. You’ll find the details here:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288541.aspx

 

The stsadm –o backup command creates a single data file of your site that can easily be restored. Without this you are going to have to try and recover databases and web applications and it all gets very messy, especially with versions prior to version 3. An stsadm –o backup allows you to blow away a defective SharePoint site, install a new clean site and then use stsadm –o restore to get the data back.

 

This can be really handy if you also have to do a restore to different hardware or different network topology. To get the backup functioning in a different location typically takes some additional steps around security but that process is much easier than trying to recover SQL databases (especially MSDE) on a different server.

 

I’d also recommend that you also do an stsadm –o export (Windows SharePoint v3 or better only) since it allows you to more easily extract pieces of your backup as well as merge the data with existing sites. The stsadm –o backup command is a complete backup, all or nothing, and will overwrite any existing site if it is restored. The export command is how Microsoft recommends you part of the migration of companyweb in SBS 2003 to SBS 2008. More information about the export command can be found at:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288940.aspx

 

The easiest way to automate these command line backup sis to create a batch file with the command and use the Windows Scheduler to trigger it at the appropriate time. Personally, I do it in the middle of the night and send the data files up to storage on the Internet.

 

Without an stsadm command line backup you may struggle to restore a SharePoint site in teh case of a disaster. Be proactive and implement an stsadm backup and then use the data file to test a full disaster recovery, just to be sure you know how to do it. Better now than in a crisis!

New SharePoint how-to video

I’ve just posted up a new ‘how-to’ SharePoint video. This one covers how to enable notifications via emails from a SharePoint site when changes occur.

 
Getting started with SharePoint alerts – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNiDlfqAE9s

 

This feature can be very handy to keep track of what is happening in just about any part of SharePoint.

 

I have also just about completed a complimentary document to go with this new video so you can also that to learn how to enable on of the most handy features of SharePoint (it will go up on my Slideshare site where my other documents are soon). Don’t forget that I’ve also got a range of other ‘how-to’ videos on my YouTube channel that covers SharePoint and other topics.

 

As always send me your feedback and comments, all welcome.

CIAOPS Email support list

I’m always on the look out for better ways of helping people with things like SharePoint, productivity and cloud services as well as boosting my business of course. These days I have the usual social media stuff, like this blog, Twitter, Facebook and so on. I also do what I can to monitor and contribute to sites on the Internet where people need assistance but that is difficult to manage given the sheer number of sites. I have also found over the years that most techie types still tend to like email lists.

So what I’ve done is gone and set up a CIAOPS Yahoo list that people can subscribe to and email messages with questions about anything they’d like assistance with or that they may think is of interest. Hopefully I can encourage a few other experienced hands to come on board and cover some of the areas that I’m no so good on. However, I see it mainly as a vehicle to help people with SharePoint and especially my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide.

Now I’m sure there are probably better options out there and I would love to hear about them, but hopefully this is something that will suit a certain audience, so I’d like to try it and see what happens.

If you are at all interested in signing up for the CIAOPS Yahoo list you can do so by the following means:

Email subscription to ciaops-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 

or visiting

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ciaops/

You’ll need to create a Yahoo ID first to contribute in this group which you can do here. Once that is done I’ll approve you and you can start sending emails to group.

Hopefully, this will be a way to build a bit of a community around some the stuff the CIAOPS does as well as helping others.

SharePoint v2 Set Configuration Database server

image_2_61649410

 

Been doing some recovery work on a SharePoint v2 site on SBS 2003 ( i.e. on Companyweb ). SharePoint v2 had lost the configuration database information so when you try and run the SharePoint Central Administration you are greeted with a window asking you for a database server and SQL server database.

 

I did know what these were but wasn’t sure of the format. Being unable to find these on Google I worked it out from my own test SBS 2003 system. Thus:

 

Database server = \

typically = server\sharepoint

 

SQL Server database name = STS_Config

 

remember this is what the settings are for the default install of SharePoint v2 on SBS 2003.

 

Hopefully this entry will get crawled so others can find the information quicker than I did.

Why the Droid is cool

Now why can’t they market Windows 7 phones like this? Here’s a swag of video’s on the Motorola Driod but I reckon this one is the best: