When creating a web application in SharePoint 2013 it will communicate with SQL Server to create the supporting content database. Depending on what steps are used to create the Web Apps it sometimes creates the SharePoint database with a not-so-‘friendly’ database name and it may contain a ginormous GUID, (which I pronounce Goo-id) as part of the database name. When working with these databases it can become challenging to specify the name of the database within PowerShell or SQL Server so you’ll want to rename the database to a more user-friendly name. You may also decide you need to move the database to a different location on your hard drives, but you don’t want to recreate the Web… Read More
Continue ReadingRenaming the GUID-Challenged Central Administration Database
The Central Administration content database that is created during the installation of your SharePoint farm is probably the second most important database, with the SharePoint Configuration database being the first most important, so it is imperative that you are able to easily reference this database when performing administrative tasks. If you perform the SharePoint installation using the GUI the Central Admin database is created with a not-so-user-friendly name that includes a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). This name makes it challenging to work with when writing scripts that reference the database because of the GUID included in the name of this database. You can avoid the GUID from being applied to… Read More
Continue ReadingSharePoint Windows Explorer Operations Perform Very Slowly
The ability to upload files into SharePoint using the Windows Explorer window makes the migration of content into SharePoint significantly easier. The Windows Explorer mode option in SharePoint is also very beneficial if you want to move content from one location to another location in SharePoint. However, if you have not made one quick configuration change to Internet Explorer the time it takes to perform the upload, copy, or move within SharePoint is horribly slow. You can follow these steps to significantly decrease the time necessary for these operations: In Internet Explorer, open the Tools menu and click Internet Options Click the Connections tab Click the LAN Settings button Uncheck the “Automatically detect settings” box Click OK until all… Read More
Continue ReadingBlocked File Types Prevent use of Site Templates
Recently, I discovered I wasn’t able to create a new SharePoint 2010 site using the out-of-box (OOB) team site template in my portal Web application. However, when I tried to create a site using the blank site template, the site was created successfully. After digging deeper into the odd behavior I was experiencing, I discovered that I had previously blocked some file types for my portal Web application and one of those file types that I had blocked was the .png file type. Knowing a blocked file type prevents a file from being uploaded, and even downloaded, in SharePoint I decided to check to try to determine which file types… Read More
Continue ReadingMicrosoft Ignite Review
Last week, I spent time with over 23,000 of my closest friends in Chicago at the Microsoft Ignite conference learning, networking, eating, and enjoying a bevy as we absorbed as much information as possible on topics including Windows 10, SQL Server, SharePoint, Office 365, and Azure just to name a few. Within these areas there were sessions containing information for IT Pros, developers, information workers, and anyone else working in any capacity of technology and not just Microsoft, as there were several mentions of Apple products as well. This was the first conference of its kind in the fact it combined TechEd and several product-specific conferences, like SharePoint and SQL… Read More
Continue ReadingVulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft recently announced a security bulletin (MS15-047) informing the public of vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint Server which could allow remote execution as discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 3058083. The affected software includes all editions of Microsoft SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, and SharePoint 2013. The threat assessment coming from Microsoft is viewed as important being a successful attacker could run arbitrary code in the security context of the W3WP service account on the target SharePoint site. Therefore it’s time to secure your SharePoint Server since at the time of the release of bulletin MS15-047 Microsoft had not been notified that these vulnerabilities had been publicly used to attack customers. Before downloading and deploying the security update make sure all updates offered… Read More
Continue ReadingIT Pro and Developer Early Adopters Excited About Microsoft Preview of Office 2016
If you’re ready to stick your toe in the water or just plain jump in head first with excitement about Office 2016, now you can! Microsoft released the preview of Office 2016 for IT Pros and Developers. As the disclaimer states, it doesn’t have all of the features of the final product but it does give you a chance to at least get your feet wet and explore. So while we don’t know everything that Microsoft has in store for Office 2016, here are a few of things to get excited about: Data Loss Protection (DLP) for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel IT Pros request for Click-to-Run deployment Technical improvements to Outlook… Read More
Continue ReadingSharePoint 2013 Service Pack 1 Re-Release
Hopefully, you read my previous blog, I posted roughly two months ago, where I advised you not to immediately install any Service Pack (SP), Cumulative Update (CU), or Hotfix, unless it was absolutely necessary for your environment. I suggested, and have done so for several years, that you wait two months, to see if there are any issues introduced with the newly released software ‘Update’. My suggestion is because if there are issues introduced in the ‘update’ they would be discovered by those who chose to, or had to, deploy the recently released update. Unfortunately for them, they will be the ones who discover, report, troubleshoot, and test the fixes… Read More
Continue ReadingSharePoint 2013 Service Pack 1 Release
This week Microsoft announced the release of SharePoint 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1). But, don’t react too quickly as I am sticking with my two month rule of not applying SP’s or Cumulative Updates (CU’s) until the kinks have been worked out in them. If you don’t have an immediate NEED to apply these SP’s, then as I will be doing, hold off to see if SP1 introduces any other issues. When you are ready to apply SP1, you can obtain information from several KB articles listed in this post. Similar to previous versions of SharePoint there are different flavors of the Service Pack, one for the SharePoint 2013 Foundation… Read More
Continue ReadingConfiguring SQL Server Log Shipping on SharePoint Content Databases
Implementing data redundancy is one of the most effective ways to avoid data loss in any application. Although this article discusses configuring redundancy for SharePoint content stored in SQL Server by configuring SQL Server log shipping, redundancy should not be limited to only data redundancy. Any possible single point of failure, including hard drives, cables, and DNS or IIS entries should be taken into consideration to ensure you are able to quickly recover from what could be a disaster. There are several methods to choose from when determining the type of data redundancy you need to ensure business continuity. A few of these methods include; SQL Server clustering, database mirroring,… Read More
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