Sharepoint v3 via Remote Web Workplace

Normally the first question I get asked after I tell people that they can run Sharepoint v3 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003 is whether it will work through Remote Web Workplace. Problem is that, by default you must install Sharepoint v3 on Small Business Server 2003 in parallel to existing Sharepoint v2 that comes with Small Business Server 2003 (in place upgrades break things!). Now, Sharepoint v2 is known as http://companyweb to users within a Small Business Server 2003 network. So to work with Remote Web Workplace you would need to have http://companyweb point to the new Sharepoint v3 site installed in parallel on the Small Business Server 2003.

Is this possible? It certainly is. You basically need to do some swapping of DNS records and extending of Sharepoint virtual servers (in both v2 and v3). However, the bottom line is that you can get a Sharepoint v3 site to appear in Remote Web Workplace. Buuuuut, the question is that this certainly would be “non-standard” and unsupported by Microsoft. There is also a good chance that any updates that come out in future may have a problem because they are expect to see Sharepoint v2 at http://companyweb not Sharepoint v3. However, if you REALLY, REALLY want to do it, then it can be done in a way that allows you to roll back if necessary when updates come out.

So how is it done? If you want to know then I suggest you subscribe to my Windows Sharepoint Operations Guide at http://wssops.saturnalliance.com.au. In here I have documented the steps as well as providing screen shots of just about every step to make it nice and easy. That section alone is currently over 50 pages and growing but relies on other parts of the guide to illustrate the process, which I do not plan to replicate here. I should also mention the fact that I have spent quite a few hours testing and documenting the whole process.

If you are planning on working with Windows Sharepoint especially on Windows Small Business 2003 then, I believe, my Windows Sharepoint Operations Guide represents a very small investment for the time savings it is going to give you. A really good example of that is getting Sharepoint v3 working as http://companyweb on a Small Business Server 2003.

The good thing is that existing Windows Sharepoint Operations Guide subscribers will get all this information as part of their next subscription update!

Video 45 posted

I have just completed another video that is now available on YouTube. This video looks at the recycle bin facilities available on Windows Sharepoint V3. You’ll see how the two stage process allows users and administrators to recover deleted files if necessary. The recycle bin is one of the major improvements of Sharepoint V3 over previous versions and makes life much easier for users and administrators.

Click here to view the video directly on YouTube. Don’t forget all my other videos on YouTube which you can access via http://www.youtube.com/saturnalliance. As always, comments and feedback are welcome.

Why people don’t use Sharepoint

There are two markets here that I plan to address with this post. Firstly, the SMB technology reseller and secondly the client.

I hear everywhere in SMB community that Sharepoint is the great untapped product (that’s right), we should be doing more with it (that’s correct again) and it has greater revenue potential for the reseller (right again). So why the hell isn’t it being implemented? Simple. Firstly, the SMB reseller has probably never looked at Sharepoint, they don’t understand what it is, how to install it, how to maintain it and so. “I’ve already got too much to do” is the common catch cry. Ok, but is the stuff your doing generating you profit or is it just fund to play with? Is there a way you could be more efficient? Or do you just love playing with the technology?

Most SMB resellers seem to run their business in total disarray. Put simply, they don’t have a business, they have a hobby! They enjoy “fiddling”. They don’t want to get involved with running a business, marketing and stuff, they just want to “fiddle”. I have no idea how some of these people stay in business (but they do admittedly). Most are technically excellent but business paupers. They make money sure, but do they actually make a profit? Could they walk away from their business for even a week? Could they put a value on their business if they wanted to sell it? Are they getting value for all the time they “fiddle”? I doubt it. All they want to do is “fiddle” believing the better they “fiddle” the more they’ll get paid.

They believe that their technical skills are superior to other resellers and that’s why they have their clients. Wrong! Search engines and blogs are levelling the playing field. Now anyone who knows how to search properly can be just as skilled as anyone else. Every day, technical knowledge is being devalued simply due to the reach of the Internet. So what’s left? For some who “fiddle” not much because they don’t have any other skills to offer. They don’t understand their own business so how the hell do they hope to understand their customers’? If something breaks, they are there promptly to fix it but when it comes to helping a client be more efficient in their business processes they are lost because their own business is a mess.

So a “fiddler” looks at Sharepoint, shrugs their shoulders and continues on installing Windows updates. “No use to me“, “I don’t understand it“, “It doesn’t do very much” and so on and so on. They want to be the technician and nothing else. Unless you use a tool like Sharepoint in your business you are never going to understand it. Imagine not using Excel in your business. Guess what? It’s a tool just like Sharepoint and there doesn’t seem to be any problems using that does there? But enough bagging of resellers, I’ll let them get back to manually installing Windows updates while I continue ranting.

Now if the reseller has no idea about Sharepoint then the poor old client isn’t going to either are they? The stuff that comes from Microsoft is confusing and targeted at Office Sharepoint Server simply because that makes revenue for Microsoft (understandable). So even if they slightly cotton onto the benefits of Sharepoint who is going to install it for them? Not their reseller (who is still busy in background installing Windows updates). Even if the client finds someone to install it, who is actually going to help them integrate their business processes into it? Not the reseller because they have no idea about running a business, they’re too busy with their hobby.

So sadly Sharepoint sits in a corner neglected and unused. Finding resellers and customers with the drive to want to change their business for better and become more efficient is almost impossible these days. So many places I see should have the sign “We do things the same way because that’s the way we have always done them” plastered above their front door (wouldn’t do any good on their web site since if they even have a web site they don’t make use of that either!). In these tougher economic times doesn’t it make sense to look at improving your business? Most say “nahh, takes too long” which translates to “I’m too afraid to try something different and potentially fail“.

Sharepoint has a lot stacked against from every angle and boy is it an uphill battle. The saving grace I see is that eventually all our technology will be living in the cloud and Sharepoint (or some iteration of it) will happily fit inside, unlike some resellers and customers. But, I could be totally mistaken because, as I said, some people seem to do pretty well out of their hobby! Maybe I’m the one who has it upside down?

Windows Sharepoint Services Operations Guide – Free download

I have uploaded the first chapter of my Windows Sharepoint Services Operations Guide and made it available for free download. This chapter will give you a better idea of exactly what the Guide contains. To download Chapter 1, simply click here.

As the plan for the Guide is to be a work in progress Chapter 1 is now Version 1.00. As additional information is added I will upload updated versions of the chapter. I have decided to release what I have completed so far on the Guide for the simple reason I want to gauge the demand for this out in the market. Hopefully there will be enough demand for me to warrant giving the unfinished parts of the guide more priority.

I believe that most people will find the guide to save them a lot of time if they are planning on configuring Sharepoint. There are plenty of tricks and traps that I have discovered over the years from my own experience and from the Internet. A good example is what I have been working on lately. I have been testing the migration from Sharepoint v2 on SBS 2003 (i.e. http://companyweb) into Sharepoint v3 installed on the same SBS machine. The migration to SBS Premium with SQL isn’t too hard but on SBS Standard with Windows Internal Database, well that is another story. It has taken me many, many hours to develop and document a procedure that works and is relatively quick and easy. That is where I think the real value of the Guide lies.

So, even if you have no interest in the Guide download Chapter 1 and have a look and let me know if there anything else you feel that I should be covering. My aim is to make it the best possible source for Sharepoint (especially on Small Business Server) and appreciate any feedback (robert@saturnalliance.com.au) you can give me.

Is knowing how to search more important?

When you need to know something these days where do you go? Google (sorry Microsoft but that’s the fact). Now the good thing about Google is that it returns just about everything that matches your search, which conversely is also the problem with it. I know lots of people who say they can’t find ANYTHING with Google. The reason why? They have no idea how to use Google properly. I doubt whether many people have read about the advanced search features Google offers. All they do is type the first thing that come into their head into the search box and expect what they want to be on the first page.

I think that I am getting pretty good at finding what I want these days. Typically, it does take some time, some refining and bouncing from site to site but eventually I do find it. Case in point. I was looking for some information on using the command stsadm -addcontentdb and Windows Internal Database (microsoft/ssee##) and Windows Sharepoint v3. After some refining I found a site that didn’t give me the answer but gave me enough clues to deduct a solution that worked. Yeah. Now, is it fair to say that I’m a good searcher or a deducer? With the power of Internet search these days I’m pretty sure that the answer you are looking for is out there BUT first you have to find it. Then typically the search results you get is usually not a direct solution to your problem, you gotta apply a bit of lateral thinking to find the solution that you require.

Now perhaps I do have an advantage being qualified as an Electrical Engineer and perhaps all those years at university did actually provide me some benefit in the methods I use today to locate information. To be an expert these days you don’t need to know the answer you just have to know where to look. The faster you can obtain an answer the smarter you are I believe. So if you haven’t looked at the advanced search features Google offers then I strongly suggest you do because it will put you ahead of the pack. As for improving you ability to decipher, decrypt and deduce an answer, well that only improves with practice. Remember a craftsman is only as good as their tools and for information workers Google is the tool of choice. So sharpen your skills so you can wield it like a master.

Windows Sharepoint v3 Operations Guide

I’d like to announce the release of my Windows Sharepoint v3 Operations Guide. This guide is specifically aimed at Windows Sharepoint Services (WSS v3) rather than Microsoft Office Sharepoint Services (MOSS) and specifically aimed at Small Business Server (SBS) networks.

The Guide is available in three ways:

– Any one single chapter for AUD$49

– All chapters for AUD$149

– All chapters and DVD of required files updated regularly for AUD$249 annual subscription

All payments can be made via http://donation.saturnalliance.com.au

For more information about the content see:

http://supportweb.ciaops.net.au/Shared%20Documents/wssops.aspx

Much of the content is till in the final stages of completion but the chapters on installation on a Windows Server and SBS are complete. If there is enough demand for what I’m creating then I’ll spend more time working on completing the all the chapters.

Each chapter will include a comprehensive step by step process including screen shots at all the relevant stages. As improvements, updates and enhancements are made they will be included in the product and made available to subscribers immediately. For subscribers the DVD will include the actual Sharepoint installation files, SQL 2005 Express as well as all the relevant documents from Microsoft and myself.

So, have a look and let me know what you think and what you would like to see as I would like to really develop something that is worthwhile to all those working with WSS v3 out there. Keep an eye here as well as the link above as I begin to post more information about what the Guide will contain.

No one seems to know

I’ve been doing some research lately into the different versions of SQL server into which you can store Sharepoint V3 data.

Firstly, you can install it into SQL 2000 but as we all know this version is old hat and not really recommended going forward, but if you have SBS 2003 ( as opposed to SBS 2003 R2 ) then you can still use the version of SQL 2000 that came with it to store Sharepoint V3 data.

Now the recommended method of storing Sharepoint V3 data is in an SQL 2005 server. Right, if you install Sharepoint V3 you are going to get WMSDE database, which from my understanding is a cut down version of SQL 2005. Why do I say that? Well, when WMSDE installs it ALWAYS installs to C:\WINDOWS\SYSMSI\SSEE\MSSQL.2005 enough said. So you can also install Sharepoint v3 into WMSDE, SQL 2005 Express, SQL 2005 Workgroup, SQL 2005 Standard and SQL 2005 Enterprise.

I understand the limitations that have been imposed on each product (which can be found here). Aside from these limitation of database size, memory and processor usage what I don’t understand is whether there is really any difference in performance or otherwise between the different versions of SQL 2005. Interestingly, I can’t find anything or anyone who can tell me!

Why is this an issue? At the high end of the market where there are plenty of dollars it doesn’t matter but at the small business end there is a HUGE difference. Let me illustrate. If you use the inbuilt WMSDE that comes with Sharepoint V3 you don’t pay anything and you get no database size limitation. The major limitation with WMSDE is that it ALWAYS installs onto the C: drive. So, if you don’t want that you need to install Sharepoint V3 onto SQL 2005 Express which can be located on the drive and directory of your choice. But, SQL 2005 Express (which is still free) has a limitation of a 1GB of RAM usage and a 4GB database size. For most small networks this is probably ok but let’s say you have a bigger rollout planned. So, to overcome this you must upgrade to SQL 2005 workgroup. Now you are going to have to go out and buy the server software BUT if you are on SBS 2003R2 Premium you’ll have it included. Again, you can install SQL 2005 workgroup data onto any drive you want but it still does have limitations. SQL 2005 Workgroup has a 3GB RAM limit but no database size limit. The great thing on SBS 2003R2 Premium is that you don’t need any additional client licenses.

What now happens if you want to put Sharepoint V3 on a member server? You can still use WMSDE and SQL 2005 Express for free but if you want to use SQL 2005 workgroup you are going to have to buy the server software as you can’t install the SQL software that comes with SBS 2003R2 Premium on any other server but the SBS server. Although you do have to have to pay for the SQL 2005 Workgroup server software if you are using SBS 2003R2 you automatically have the client rights for this second server, again saving you money. But let’s say that you want to use an SQL version without limitations, then you need to upgrade to SQL 2005 Standard but when you do this you’ll also need to purchase client licenses for each network user who is going to access the server or a per processor license. Don’t forget that the SQL 2005 Standard edition software is pretty expensive. So as a business at the smaller end of town who wants to implement Sharepoint V3 there are some interesting questions.

Putting all that aside, I want to know what is the fundamental performance difference between WMSDE, SQL 2005 Express, SQL 2005 Workgroup and SQL 2005 Standard. I understand all the memory and database limitation but at its most fundamental level can anyone tell me whether there is any REAL difference? Now I can appreciate there is between WMSDE and all the other versions BUT is there really any difference between Express and Workgroup? What about workgroup and standard? Why so I pay so much more for standard just to get no RAM limitation. Surely there must be more to the higher price than that?

Interestingly, as I said before, I am yet to find anyone or anything that can give me hard evidence as to any differences between the versions of SQL apart from those imposed database and memory. I sort of get the impression that they are all the same product under the skin but simply artificially hobbled to create a range of versions for a range of prices.

Am I wrong? Can someone show me something that demonstrates the fundamental performance differences between the different versions of SQL 2005.

Ah ha, what I have now figured out

In my last post I mentioned how I was having some formatting issue posting updates to the blog using Windows Live Writer. Now that I have looked through the menu options on Live Writer I have solved that issue.

What you need to do under Windows Live Writer is go View | Update Weblog style. This will download a whole swag of formatting layouts and make then the default for Live Writer. Now, Live Write looks exactly like the format of the blog with the same fonts, backgrounds and what not.

So now, as you can see I have my paragraph breaks back! The bottom line is when you install the Community Kit for Sharepoint and you plan to use Windows Live Writer to post updates make sure you also Update the Weblog style in Windows Live Writer before you starting posting. All very simple when you know how eh?