November 7, 2012 
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Source: http://voices.yahoo.com/get-active-databases-sharepoint-2010-farm-11694386.html?cat=15
Follow these steps to list all active databases in the SharePoint 2010 Farm:
July 26, 2012 1 Comment
One of the most common problems I see in a client built SharePoint environment is multiple site collections comingled in the same content database. While this isn’t the end of the world, it’s a problem because SLAs, security, and even back strategies are often assigned to specific databases based upon the needs of the users that will be using the site collections hosted in each database. If a site collection is not hosted in the database that the admin intended because SharePoint simply picks the first available content database with room the administrator may unwittingly incorrectly back or, even worse, fail to backup a particular site collection because it does not exist in the proper database. This is why I am a proponent of backing up at the Native SQL level but also at the site collection level.
On to the point of this article, how do I use PowerShell to create a site collection and assign the appropriate database
Here are the steps to how you can create Content Database Per Site Collection In SharePoint 2010 using Windows PowerShell
July 23, 2012 0 Comments
We are doing a fresh installation of SharePoint server 2010 on a new farm using AutoSPInstaller which is getting failed with error message ” New-SPConfigurationDatabase : Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. At D:\SPInstall\SharepointInstall\AutoSPInstaller\AutoSPInstallerFunctions.ps1:..”. A summary of the solution is detailed below.
• Symptom – A new SharePoint server was unable to synchronize with its SQL server backend.
• Cause – The servers were both in a DMZ and were unable to properly communicate with the domain controllers in the secure network.
• Resolution – You opened the necessary ports for authentication (listed in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832017) in the firewall between the DMZ and secure network.
July 4, 2012 0 Comments
SharePoint 2010 Top 10 tools for SharePoint Administrators
, CKSDev makes SharePoint development easier. , SharePoint Manager is a SharePoint object model explorer. , CAML.NET: IntelliSense for CAML. http://karinebosch.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/caml-designer/ , CAML Designer makes creating CAML queries a lot easier (successor of U2U CAML Query Builder). http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer , you’ll always need a tool to view the ULS log files. ULS Log Viewer is probably the most popular one of the lot. , the SharePoint Maxer tool helps checking for capacity planning limits. , the SharePoint Flavored Weblog Reader (SFWR) helps troubleshooting performance problems by analyzing the IIS log files of SharePoint WFEs. , the Migration Dragon for SharePoint 2010 is a tool that can help to migrate file and folder structures from the file system to SharePoint 2010 Document Libraries leveraging the batching mechanism of the SharePoint managed client object model. , Muse.VSExtensions, a great tool for referencing assemblies located in the GAC.
July 4, 2012 1 Comment
SharePoint 2010 best practices for Backup and Recovery
, backup and recovery. , provides good explanation of what get’s
July 4, 2012 1 Comment
SharePoint 2010 Installation, Configuration and Operation Best Practices
, provides advice on how to get and keep your environment up and running. This list is created by members of the Microsoft Consulting Services team. , provides advice for the IT Pro how to keep team collaboration sites manageable. Created by Microsoft Consulting Services. , discusses how to keep My Sites manageable. Created by Microsoft employees. , discusses content deployment best practices. Created by Microsoft employees. , SQL Server 2008 best practices. Created by Microsoft employees. , People and Profiles. Created by MS employees. , Search. Created by MS employees. , general considerations regarding service accounts. , installing SharePoint 2010 and SQL Server 2012. , least privileges for administrative and service accounts. , least privilege model for service accounts. , least privilege user accounts. , account permissions and security settings. , a PowerShell script for quickly
January 9, 2012 1 Comment
How to rename SharePoint 2010 Central Admin Database GUID (Globally Unique Identifier)?
Is there a easy way to rename the Central Administration Content Database?
In this post you can find all the steps you needed to rename SharePoint 2010 Central Admin database with GUID to a friendly name
1. Login into SQL Server using Management Studio
2. Right click on the SharePoint 2010 Central Admin Database with GUID | Click on Rename
3. Copy the database name and past it into a notepad. Click anywhere outside of the database to exit edit mode without changing the name
4. Right click on SharePoint 2010 AdminContent database which you want to rename and take a backup
5. Now restore your database with new friendly name. Call it SharePoint_AdminContent_DB
Now I have SharePoint AdminContent database with out GUID
6. Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration | Application Management | Manage Content Database
7. Use this page to manage content databases for this web application. Click a content database name to change its properties.
Click on the database to manage it’s settings
8. Specify database connection settings for this content database. Use the Database status options to control whether or not new Site Collections can be created in the database. When the database status is set to Ready, the database is available for hosting new Site Collections. When the database status is set to Offline, no new Site Collections can be created.
Click on the dropdown and make it OFFLINE
9. Do not remove the database, just click OK to make it OFFLINE
10. Open command prompt and run the stsadm command
cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\14\BIN\
11. Delete the original database which contain GUID by running this command.
stsadm -o deletecontentdb -url http://CentralAdminURL -databasename SharePoint_AdminContent_<GUID> –databaseserver YourSqlServer
sample Script:
stsadm -o deletecontentdb -url http://mysp:2012 -databasename SharePoint_AdminContent_02de613c-ae5b-4617-9d88-0b53a3f6610f -databaseserver mysp
12. Now add the new Admin Content database with out the GUID using the following command
stsadm -o addcontentdb -url http:// CentralAdminURL:portnumber -databasename SharePoint_AdminContent_DB -databaseserver YourSQLServer
sample Script: http://mysp:2012 -databasename SharePoint_AdminContent_DB -databaseserver mysp New Admin Content Database is added to with out GUID 13. Let’s open SharePoint 2010 central administration and see what happens. Looks like SharePoint 2010 central administration is running from a new database 14. Now I am going to delete SharePoint 2010 Central Administration database with the GUID name
stsadm -o addcontentdb -url 
15. One last time I am going to access central administration to make sure all are fine. Yes, it’s working now from the new database
If you follow above steps you can rename SharePoint 2010 Central Admin Database GUID (Globally Unique Identifier
January 9, 2012 0 Comments
How to create SharePoint 2010 least Privilege Service Accounts in Active Directory? How many accounts do we need to install
SharePoint 2010?
Best practice you should have at lest three services account to install SharePoint 2010
- SQL Server Service Account: SPSql
- SharePoint Setup Account: AdminSP
- Server Farm and Database Account: SPFarmAdmin
1. Open your Active Directory and create a new OU
2. Create three SharePoint 2010 least Privilege Service Accounts in Active Directory
3. Add SharePoint Admin/Farm account (AdminSP and SPFarmAdmin) as a local administrator to each server which your going to install SharePoint 2010
4. Add SPSQL account in SQL Server 2008 R2 and give following account access: dbcreator, securityadmin and sysadmin
Best practice you should have at lest three services account to install SharePoint 2010
- SQL Server Service Account: SPSql
- SharePoint Setup Account: AdminSP
- Server Farm and Database Account: SPFarmAdmin
Add both AdminSP and SPFarmAdmin account to local administrator group to each server which you want to install SharePoint 2010
December 29, 2011 0 Comments
When creating a new SharePoint web application it creates a new IIS web Site with backing databases that can be used for creating new SharePoint sites.
To create new web application in SharePoint 2010
Central Administration | Application Management | Manage web applications | click New
Select the following required information and click OK to create new web application
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Authentication |
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IIS Web Site If you select an existing IIS web site, that web site must exist on all servers in the farm and have the same name, or this action will not succeed. If you opt to create a new IIS web site, it will be automatically created on all servers in the farm. If an IIS setting that you wish to change is not shown here, you can use this option to create the basic site, then update it using the standard IIS tools. |
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Security Configuration Kerberos is the recommended security configuration to use with Integrated Windows authentication. Kerberos requires the application pool account to be Network Service or special configuration by the domain administrator. NTLM authentication will work with any application pool account and the default domain configuration. If you choose to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), you must add the certificate on each server using the IIS administration tools. Until this is done, the web application will be inaccessible from this IIS web site. |
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Public URL The public URL is the domain name for all sites that users will access in this SharePoint Web application. This URL domain will be used in all links shown on pages within the web application. By default, it is set to the current server name and port. |
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Application Pool Choose the application pool to use for the new web application. This defines the account and credentials that will be used by this service. You can choose an existing application pool or create a new one. |
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Database Name and Authentication Use of the default database server and database name is recommended for most cases. Refer to the administrator’s guide for advanced scenarios where specifying database information is required. Use of Windows authentication is strongly recommended. To use SQL authentication, specify the credentials which will be used to connect to the database. |
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Failover Server You can choose to associate a database with a specific failover server that is used in conjuction with SQL Server database mirroring.
Search Server |
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Service Application Connections Choose the service applications that this Web application will be connected to. A Web application can be connected to the default set of service applications or to a custom set of service applications. You can change the set of service applications that a Web application is connected to at any time by using the Configure service application associations page in Central Administration. |
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Customer Experience Improvement Program |
Enable Customer Experience Improvement Program
Warning: In order for Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) to collect data, both CEIP and browser CEIP, at the farm level, should be enabled. |
December 29, 2011 0 Comments
What we have in SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Manage Web Application?
In Left hand side we have option to create : New sites | Extend sites | Delete sites |
In the General Settings: Manage Features | Managed Paths| Service Connections| Manage Authentication | Providers Self-Service Site Creation | Blocked File Types | User Permissions| Web Part Security| Security User | Policy Anonymous | Policy Permission | Policy Policy |
December 29, 2011 0 Comments
SharePoint 2010 Application Management page in SharePoint 2010 Central Administration
December 29, 2011 0 Comments
December 21, 2011 1 Comment
Where I can download Remote Blob Storage installation files for SharePoint 2010?
You can download rbs_x64.msi file from : http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=165839&clcid=0×409
How do I install and configure RBS for SharePoint?
1. Download Remote Blob Storage from above link
2. Before you install Remote Blob storage, make sure SQL server 2008 enabled FILESTREAM. To enable FILESTREAM
Start | All Program | Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 | Configuration Tools | Configuration Manager
Click on SQL Server Services | SQL Server | Properties
3. Enable following services
Enable File stream for Transact-SQL Access
Enable File stream for file I/O streaming access
Allow remote clients to have streaming access to Filestream data
4. Open SQL Management Studio and performing following task
use WSS_Content If not exists
(select * from sys.symmetric_keys where name = N‘##MS_DatabaseMasterKey##’)
create master key encryption by password = N‘Pa$$word’
5. Next we need to enable FileStreamProvider
use WSS_Content if not exists
(select groupname from sysfilegroups where groupname=N‘RBSFilestreamProvider’)
alter database WSS_Content add filegroup RBSFilestreamProvider contains filestream
If you get error message saying “ FILESTREAM Feature is Disabled” run the following query
6. Next run the following query. This will create a folder in E called Blobdata. This can be different in your case
use WSS_content alter database WSS_Content add file
(name = RBSFilestreamFile, filename = ‘E:\blobdata’)
to filegroup RBSFilestreamProvider
8. Now let’s go and install RBS. Best practice would be to install using command prompt but it won’t give you any steps about what’s going on.
I had problem using Command and I installed using the GUI. If you want to install using command here are the steps
(open command prompt as administrator).
I placed RBS installation file at C:\RBS folder Navigate to RBS folder using your Command Prompt
9. Enter the following code
msiexec /qn /lvx* rbs_install_log.txt /i RBS.msi TRUSTSERVERCERTIFICATE=true
FILEGROUP=PRIMARY DBNAME=”WSS_Content” DBINSTANCE=”YourServer”
FILESTREAMFILEGROUP=RBSFilestreamProviderFILESTREAMSTORENAME=FilestreamProvider_1
10. It won’t give you any indication about the installation. To see if its successfully installed Blob storage, just go to the folder and look for the log file
11. Installing RBS using GUI. Double click on RB_X64.msi
12. Welcome to the installation wizard for Remote Blob Storage wizard pops up. Setup helps you install, modify or remote remote Blob storage.
To continue, click Next
12. Install SQL Remote Blob storage : Licence Agreement
13. Install SQL Remote Blob Storage: Registration Information, the following information will personalize your blob installation
14. Install SQL Remote Blob Storage : Feature Selection
Select the program features you would like to install and select the installation path where you want to install the program
15. Blob Storage Database Connection. You can test your connection against the database
which your setting blob storage by hitting test connection.
16. SQL Remote Blob Storage: Database Configuration
Enter information to configure RBS database settings
17. Filestream Blob Store: Enter Filestream blob store configuration Information
18. Maintainer Task. Enter information to optionally schedule the maintainer task
During installation, the windows task scheduler window will apper. Use this to set scheduled task properties.
19. Remote Blob Storage Client Configuration
20. Install Remote Blob Storage. The program features you selected are being installed.
Please wait while the installation wizard installs remote blob storage. This may take several minutes.
21.To ensure that the installation was successful, open up the Content DB | tables
22. Now open your SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and enter the following scripts
$cdb = Get-SPContentDatabase –WebApplication http://vsp2010be
$rbss = $cdb.RemoteBlobStorageSettings
$rbss.Installed() – This should result in True. Else the next command will fail.
$rbss.Enable()
$rbss.SetActiveProviderName($rbss.GetProviderNames()[0])
$rbss
23. Now set the minimum threshold so that only files larger than a 1 MB will be placed in our blobdata fodler
$rbss.MinimumBlobStorageSize=1048576
24. Go head and upload a document which is larger than 1 MB. This document should end up in the blobdata folder
I uploaded 8 GB of PDF file and it end up in the blobdata folder
December 9, 2011 0 Comments
How to optimize SQL Server 2008 to get best performance for SharePoint 2010 farm?
Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh292622.aspx
- Do not enable auto-create statistics on a SQL Server that is supporting SharePoint Server
3. Harden the database server before you deploy SharePoint Server 2010
4. Configure database servers for performance and availability
5. Design storage for optimal throughput and manageability
6. Proactively manage the growth of data and log files
7. Continuously monitor SQL Server storage and performance
8. Use backup compression to speed up backups and reduce file sizes
Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh292622.aspx
October 19, 2011 0 Comments
Do you want to know how to Install SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1?
Complete step by step instructions to install SharePoint 2010 SP1 on the existing farm. You can find all the instructions at
How to install and configure SharePoint Server 2010 SP1 on the existing SP 2010 Farm
