SharePoint 2010 Secrets

Any one interested in knowing about what to expect from SP 2010. Read here: http://www.sharepoint2010beta.com/SharePoint2010SecretsIssue1.pdf

And look for more sneak peek videos here:
http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/Pages/default.aspx

Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging ... The components for the 64-bit debugger are not registered

I had installed Visual Studio 2008 64 bit version on Windows Server 2008 and after install it complains about this error. Tried the specifed solution but remote debugging components are not a part of the features list in install setup. So digged down the install cd and found
"Remote Debugger/x64" folder. There we go found the installer about which Visual Studio was complaining. Error is gone! And I can hit F5 in my project without any errors :-).

Thought I will post this if someone might end up in same situation and so don't have to waste time digging around for solutions.

Could not normalize the SPItem after installing SharePoint Connector for FAST

I had setup SharePoint connector on my FAST server and provided SharePoint username and password which has go read access to sharepoint site. However, when starting the document processing the content retreiver fails and complains about not being able to retreive content because of unauthorized access to the item its trying to retrieve. Following is the exact error details: com.fastsearch.esp.connector.sharepoint2007.adapter.SPAdapterController: Could not normalize the SPItem 3b370549-3f6f-4d3f-b7c8-1d98884101ce;450526c0-5b6c-452a-a655-b1093b7e9d46;1. Exception: com.fastsearch.esp.cctk.framework.NormalizationException: Could not get content for the url: 'http://moss/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=1'. Exception: com.fastsearch.esp.cctk.framework.AdapterException: Error downloading file: http://moss/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=1 from server: moss.gnosispower.com HTTP Status code: 401. HTTP Status msg: Unauthorized Looking on the IIS logs for the get request for "'http://moss/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=1" no username is associated. Not sure which user account document processing stage is using to retrieve the content.

So investigated further on this issue and ended up solving it by configuring Web Authentication Proxy. For some reason one of the dcoument processing stage when requesting content from sharepoint was not using the SharePoint username/password specified in the configuration. So have to setup Web Authentication Proxy to force it to use a specified account while retrieving content.

Hope it might help some one, sometime :-)

“Could not connect to config server at 16005”

Today I dived into installing FAST evaluation version at my home server. First thing I see in the Admin GUI Logs is an error thrown something like below:

“Could not connect to config server at 16005”

Initially the error doesn't tell you much about the real issue, but having a closer look at logs list it was complaining something about "License file cannot be checked out".

Well there can be few reasons for this license file complaint, either the format of port details or FQDN or any other entry is not right as it should be or something else that could be missed easily. So I went into the /etc directory where FAST was installed and looked at fastsearch.lic fileAt closer look only (or may be because of my dumbness LOL!!) I found that the license file was expired. So there we go all I have to do is to request for another evaluation version and upgrade my license file at this location:
FASTSEARCH%\etc\fastsearch.lic and restart FAST installation. (restart is done by simply going into Start->Programs->FAST ESP->Stop FAST->Start FAST)

Note: Even the evaluation version is not freely available you will have to be a partner or customer of FAST/Microsoft to be able to get a valid license.

Cheers,
Kunal

asp.net ajax client-side framework failed to load

"asp.net ajax client-side framework failed to load"

Many of you must have seen this error on some occasions or the other. While there are many posts if u google regarding this error, saying different things. For me it was a strange situation, so the solution provided in this post might be or might not be applicable in your case. But it's worthwhile to give it a go as there is a reason why this error came up in my situation.

Little bit of background: I had this web app running on my VM. Project was created using VS 2008 and VM was having upto .Net 3.5. And the ajaxcontroltoolkit.dll was in the bin folder.

Now I moved this visual studio solution into my home server having VS 2008 and .Net 3.5 SP1. Everything running fine on home server.

Next day I had to take the solution back into my VM on work machine. So copied the solution, opened it and hit F5 (to run the web app!). And what is see on my face is "asp.net ajax client-side framework failed to load".

I tried looking for various solutions by googling it. But none of the solutions made sense to me or didn't fit my situation. Then I thought of leaving the google aside and stressed my mind trying to find the differences. Offcourse .Net 3.5 SP 1 was not available on my VM, but then why should it effect ajaxcontroltoolkit assembly? Still trying to go with gut feeling, I applied .Net 3.5 SP 1 on my VM and saw that the error ranaway.

Now my web app runs fine and the ajax controls were loading fine. Apparently the assembly was JiTed on my home server with SP1 updates which I have to bring to same state on my VM.

Another option you could also try is to repair your .Net 3.5 or .Net 3.5 SP1.

Is MOSS a Records Management System?

I have been asked now and then from my clients and friends a question: Whether MOSS is a Records Management System?

To answer the question in 2 letters. "NO" its not a Records Management System. Having said that MOSS does provide lot of features and capabilities to work as a records management system. Out of the box MOSS provides us with a Records Centre Site template which gives great deals of webparts and features that suits Records Management System. Want to see in detail? Check Here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261706.aspx

As per some of the requirements in Commonwealth Government Archiving policy following statements has to be met for a records management system:

· management and tracking of both physical and electronic documents and records, specifically semi-active and inactive records
· records disposal
· document and records metadata and classification
· conversion of record types, other than those created with MS Office products, to long-term, open preservation formats
· reporting for records management purposes
· electronic recordkeeping storage for automated workflows which would enable documents to be captured as records as part of normal business processes, and
· maintain records in series, consignments, unit for archiving.

More details on the archiving policy is found here:
http://www.naa.gov.au/Images/archweb_policy_tcm2-902.pdf

Lot of the requirements as per the policy can be achieved with MOSS by having a Record Centre portal where documents or records can be directed from main MOSS portal. Check here .Now depending upon to what level the policy needs to be met, customization will be required. Customization could involve following:

-Redirection code from MOSS portal to MOSS records center.
-Records disposal can be achieved by using the Information
-RightsManagement Policy – Expiration policies.
-Metadata information can be stored with the document using content types in MOSS.
-Conversion of records created from Office products will involve custom code or use of conversion tools.
-Reporting of records management is available to an extent for any further reporting it will involve development of custom reports.
-Workflows can be initiated to divert documents to records centers from MOSS portal.

However, TRIM is used as a records repository in most of the government departments. If we need documents in MOSS portal to be integrated with TRIM, then there are 3rd party solutions available which does seamless integration between MOSS-TRIM. These solutions can be leveraged to achieve the desired requirements, some of them available and know in the market are as follows:

TiPS for SharePoint from Infocentrik : http://www.infocentrik.co.nz/solution-partners/tower-software/tips-sharepoint-integration/index.html . This tool does the integration and automatic routing in a great way. Also provides search capabilities and more.

HP TRIM Module: http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA2-0922ENW.pdf . This is a well known tool as well which does routing of documents and other integration levels.

There is a solution provided by TowerSoftware for TRIM Context.

So in nutshell if just MOSS needs to be used for Records Archiving to meet the archiving policy we need some customization. If TRIM is being used then we need to look for options for integration.

How to repair a SUSPECT SQL database

Firstly a very Happy and a Prosperous new year to everyone!

As usual I was doing things on my VPC and I noticed that one of my SQL database was marked suspect. After some thought I guessed that the reason for the database to be marked suspect is because of me turning off my VPC without proper shutdown. The same reason why a DB can be marked suspect after a power failure. Now I was in a fix because I didn't had backup (Another dumb thing to miss on my part). So what should I do now? Well some research brought me good results, ended up framing following query:

EXEC sp_resetstatus ‘DBname’;
ALTER DATABASE DBname SET EMERGENCY
DBCC checkdb(’DBname’)
ALTER DATABASE DBname SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE
DBCC CheckDB (’DBname’, REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS)
ALTER DATABASE DBname SET MULTI_USER

So all you have to do is copy and paste above query in query analyzer and replace DBName with your database name. And you are good to go now!