For a better SBS 7

I’ve now submitted some suggestions of what could be done to SBS 7 to improve it before it releases. Here’s what I think is are worthwhile inclusions:

1. Automatically install the TIFF iFilter. Windows Server 2008 R2 includes the ability to add TIFF iFilter as a feature. Even though it is not enabled by default I reckon it should be simply because SharePoint Foundation 2010 is installed. Why? Well, and iFilter lets you index the content in file files for which that iFilter is designed for. Thus, an iFilter for TIFF files means they can be indexed and searched by SharePoint 2010. So many documents are scanned using the TIFF file types (e.g. faxes) and if they end up in SharePoint (which makes the most sense for them generally) you’d want them indexed? I reckon so, that’s why I recommended it.

2. Include Search Server Express 2010. This is a biggie I believe. Search Server Express 2010 is a free download from Microsoft that is built on SharePoint technology that allow you to not only index SharePoint information but information from Exchange public folders, web sites and NETWORK SHARES. This means that with Search Server 2010 installed on SBS 7 all the user information stores in shares could be index and made SEARCHABLE through SharePoint! That also includes the ability to search information within documents that have been configured with an iFilter (see point 1 above). How many businesses have an internal search server? Not many, here’s an opportunity, I believe, to give businesses functionality they really need to help them find the information in their network.

There has also been plenty of discussion around including Office Web Apps in some version of SBS, which I certainly agree with. Interestingly in my testing I am finding that I am unable to install Office Web Apps and Search Server Express 2010 together. I am still trying to resolve the issue in case I have over looked something simple and I’ll report here soon about what I find.

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.

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?

That’s enough for starters, because I want my cake and to be able to eat it as well. That’s the web way.

SharePoint 2010 migration on SBS 2008 released from Microsoft

Microsoft has just released a technical document on installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008. You will find it here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff959273(WS.10).aspx

It great to finally have a guidance document from Microsoft on this process but there are a few issues from what I see.

The major one is around section 10 whose heading is – Step 10: Connect the ShareWebDb database to SQL Server 2008 you’ll find that the contents are actually identical (word for word) with Step 12: Connect the ShareWebDb content database which appears to be a simple editing over sight.

Step 10 should in fact detail how to attach ShareWebDb to SQL 2008 which isn’t that hard but unless that is done first you are not going to be able to complete step 12 of actually connecting the database to SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Apart from that major issue I also believe the document could contain some additional items of information, such as:

1. The document speaks of using SQL Express 2008 but doesn’t appear to mention the fact that this version of SQL although free is limited to databases of 4GB in size. So if your existing companyweb on SBS 2008 is greater than 4GB the detailed process won’t work.

If you however install SQL Express 2008 R2 you can then have a maximum database size of 10GB and if you then use remote blob storage like I explained in a previous blog post, you can have a database up to 16GB. You can always use a full blown version of SQL 2008 which overcomes the database limit but if you want a free version make sure you go SQL Express 2008 R2.

2. After the migration process is complete and you bring up the new SharePoint site it will look almost identical to WSS v3. That’s because SharePoint Foundation 2010 has a visual upgrade feature that you have to select to upgrade the look and feel of the site. I believe that a major reason why people would want to go to all the trouble of installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS 2008 is so they can benefit from the new interface.

So after you do the upgrade go into the site settings for the site and select the visual upgrade option to change the look and feel of your site to new SharePoint interface.

3. If you have configured PDF icons and indexing on your existing version of WSS v3 on SBS 2008 you’ll have to reconfigure it on SharePoint Foundation 2010. Getting the PDF icon is pretty simple, here’s my video tutorial on the process:

<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-bXcJYEByAgc/UPyvs-MW4SI/AAAAAAAAHos/dYbGAo4mInw/videoa89c58e2d71f%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('3eaa25eb-80c4-413a-92a0-f684cbe49d52'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "

http://www.youtube.com/v/ay6Xvb2oIUU?hl=en&hd=1“;” alt=””>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay6Xvb2oIUU

but getting PDFs to index now that is something much more tricky under SharePoint Foundation 2010. The solution is in my SharePoint Guide (which is yet another great reason to purchase it!).

3. If you try and install SQL 2008 Express on the SBS 2008 server you won;t be able to until you uninstall the existing SQL 2005 Express Management Studio. Not a major issue but handy to know when you are doing the prep work.

So there’s a few things I’ve noticed about the document upon first glance. The big issue is the fact that Step 10 needs to be correct to show the process of attaching the old WSS v3 database to SQL Express 2008.

I’ll let you know what more info I find as I dig deeper.

Tech Ed 2010 Australia wrap up

Now that Microsoft Tech Ed 2010 Australia is a done deal I’ve been lucky enough to be joined on another Need to Know podcast by Wayne Small to give us a round up of everything at the event.

The details of the podcast are:

http://www.ciaops.com/n2k – 25MB (40mins)

or via direct download:

http://bit.ly/cia-n2k2

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 for more episodes coming soon.

SharePoint on Aurora

Given that SBS Aurora doesn’t include Exchange or SharePoint the first question I had was, could you actually install SharePoint Foundation 2010 on SBS Aurora? The reason for my questions is that, at this point, SharePoint 2010 is not available in BPOS (it will be soon). So what if you were busting for SharePoint 2010 on SBS Aurora?

The good news is that in my testing you can install SharePoint Foundation 2010 just like normal. You firstly need to make sure a version of SQL is installed on the server. I used SQL Express 2008 R2 (which has a 10GB limit). I then installed SharePoint Foundation 2010.

The files copied across as expected.

You have to create a new farm and connect to the SQL database you have already installed but that is straight forward.

Next the SharePoint Configuration wizard runs.

You then run the setup wizard and bingo you have SharePoint Foundation 2010 running on SBS Aurora.

SBS Aurora beta install

Now that SBS Aurora beta is out thought I’d take you through an install.

Yep, new install please.

Yep use the only disk in the system and blow it away.

Hmmm..looks a lot like stuff I’ve seen before, i.e. copying, expanding, installing etc.

Would be nice if the completing installation gave you a percentage complete like the previous components did. My initially install got hung up and I reset here and it didn’t like that at all. Maybe it was because my SBS 2008 machine was also running. So I shut down the SBS 2008 box and started again.

I live on this big island the South Pacific called Australia where we speak the English (Australian) dialect but we still use US keyboards. I don’t understand but it does work (generally).