May 02 2013

SharePoint 2010 How to enable Email Notification on Issue Tracking List

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint,SharePoint 2010,Technology — Kamlesh @ 7:33 pm

SharePoint comes with a out-of-the-box Issue Tracking list template.  A sample Issue Tracker list is shown below:

Sample Issue List in SharePoint 2010

Sample Issue List in SharePoint 2010

Here is a simple task to be accomplished in SharePoint.  As soon as a new request is assigned to a User, an email should be sent to the user intimating about the task.

You try to look for email setting under List Settings -> Advanced Settings:

"Issue

List Settings -> Advanced Settings -> List Setting does not show Email options

But the Email setting for notification is missing in this screen.  This behavior is by design. The Email Notification is relied to Outgoing E-Mail settings in Central Administration.

To fix this, you need to launch Central Administration, go to System Settings and select Configure outgoing e-mail under the Email and Text Messages (SMS) section. This will show the below screen:

Outgoing Email Settings in Central Administration

Outgoing Email Settings in Central Administration

Based on your environment setting, enter the 3 values in the above screen. Click OK to save your settings.

Once done, go back to your Issue Tracking list and navigate to its List Settings -> Advance Settings option.  You will now find the Email Notification setting here.

Email Notification section is enabled after making changes in Central Administration

Email Notification section is enabled after making changes in Central Administration

Enable the email notification option and save the details. Next time, when you create a new Issue, it will send the email to the respective Assigned To user.

Notification bar will indicate that Email Messages will be sent to Assigned To person

Notification bar will indicate that Email Messages will be sent to Assigned To person

As shown above, while creating a new Issue, SharePoint will provide you notification that this List is email enabled.

 

Apr 02 2013

The workbook cannot be opened – SharePoint 2010 (error fix)

Category: Excel,Microsoft,SharePoint,SharePoint 2010,Technology,Troubleshooting — Kamlesh @ 9:53 pm

While publishing a Excel Sheet from Microsoft Excel 2010 to my local development SharePoint Server 2010, I got this error on the browser – “The workbook cannot be opened“.

Quick steps to publish Excel data into SharePoint: File -> Save & Send -> Save to SharePoint -> (Select your location) – (Use Publish Options to select the scope of excel data)

Workbook cannot be opened error in SharePoint 2010

By the way, I used the instructions in Chapter 1 of Real World SharePoint 2010 book to build my SharePoint 2010 virtual machine for development.  I guess I created multiple AD users (sp_farm, sp_serviceapp, sp_apppool,  SQL_service) and messed up with some settings. Let us forget the past and move ahead to troubleshoot the above error.

  1. Quickly searched Internet and got multiple ways to resolve this problem.  I was not sure which one will suit my need.
  2. Thought why don’t I first get the exact issue in the log file.  Went through the Log file in SP_ROOT\Logs folder, but it didn’t help.
  3. Got an idea of trying verbose logging for Excel Services.  SharePoint 2010 Central Administration -> Monitoring section -> (Reporting Section) Configure diagnostic logging . Selected Excel Services Application and changed the two drop-down values to verbose.
  4. Performed the action of save/publish from Excel again to repeat the error with additional logs.
  5. This time I managed to get the below error message in the Log File: Error initializing Safe control – Assembly:Microsoft.Office.SharePoint.ClientExtensions
  6. This error is well documented on this Microsoft KB983007. You will get a hint here that this is due to security issue with your Managed Accounts setup. Meanwhile, do not forget to revert back the verbose logging settings that you performed in earlier Step 3.
  7. My next task was to find out the Managed Account which is responsible for Excel Services.  To to this, I went back to Central Administration -> Security section -> Configure managed accounts option.
  8. Clicked on Edit option against each account and reviewed the farm components using this account. I found that WROX\sp_serviceapp account was using Excel Services Application.
    Identify managed account which is using SharePoint Services
  9. My next task was to review the security settings of sp_serviceapp user in SQL Server.
  10. I launched SQL Server Management Studio and connected to the default instance which is used by SharePoint.
    Review SQL Server Logins
  11. Reviewed its permission as shown below:
    SQL Server Login Properties
  12. Noticed that this account didn’t had permission to WSS_Content_3000 and WSS_Content_Team databases, which were the actual Content Databases used by the Web Applications on which I was trying the Excel save/publish operation.
  13. Went ahead and assigned db_owner and public roles for both these databases for the user sp_serviceapp.
    SQL Server login - gave permission to SharePoint managed account
  14. Save the above changes by click OK button. (No reboot / iisreset is required)
  15. Tried the Excel save/publish operation once again and it worked now!  Below is the expected result:
    Published Excel Sheet

I hope that some of the above steps that I shared above will help you to resolve similar errors in your environment.

 

Mar 14 2013

Database Size Ranges Revisited – Small Medium Large

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint,SharePoint 2010,SharePoint 2013 — Kamlesh @ 12:21 am

Are you planning to migrate/upgrade your database and the DBA asks this question “What is the size of your Database? Is it small, medium or large?“.

When SharePoint 2010 got released, I had written a blog post about this one here.  Microsoft has updated this with a very minor revision as part of SharePoint 2013 documentation:

Size Range in Databases

Size
Size Range
Remarks
Very Small Up to 100 megabyte (MB)Introduced newly in SharePoint 2013 documentation
Small1 gigabyte (GB) or lessSharePoint 2013 / 2010
MediumUp to 100 GBSharePoint 2013 / 2010
LargeUp to 1 terabyte (TB)SharePoint 2013 / 2010
Extra LargeMore than 1 terabyte (TB)SharePoint 2013 / 2010

This not only applies to SQL Server database, but is valid for any other databases like Oracle, IBM DB2, MySQL.

This article is related to Relational Databases (RDBMS).  Big Data is not kept in mind while writing this post :-)

 Reference: Technet article on SharePoint 2013 database

Oct 26 2011

Microsoft Certified Architect announced for SharePoint

Category: Certification,SharePoint 2010,Training — Kamlesh @ 9:15 pm

Microsoft recently announced the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) certification for SharePoint Server 2010. Earlier to this, MCA was only available for Windows Server, SQL Server and Exchange Server.  This announcement was made during the SharePoint Conference 2011.   Candidates who are interested in MCA, should complete the per-requisite of Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) in SharePoint.

Individuals who earn an MCA have achieved the capstone certification from Microsoft, proving their ability to architect large-scale complex solutions with Microsoft technologies.

Please refer to Spencer Harbar’s blog post for more details and here is the official MCM SharePoint site.

Tags:

Sep 26 2011

SharePoint 2010 VHD with Service Pack 1

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint 2010,Technology,Virtualization — Kamlesh @ 8:01 am

Since 2009, Microsoft has released multiple versions of SharePoint 2010 VHD (a.k.a 2010 Information Worker Demonstration and Evaluation Virtual Machine).  Microsoft also upgrades its Evaluation Virtual Machines from time to time.  You may find many websites sharing the SharePoint 2010 VHD Download links, which may be outdated by now.

Below is the latest VHD containing Service Pack 1 builds of all products.  This was published on 13-Sep-2011:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27417

The above link contains three Virtual Machines with setup of Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1, SQL Server 2008 R2, Office 2010 SP1, SharePoint 2010 SP1, Project Server 2010 SP1 and Lync Server 2010 SP1.

Update (16-Jan-2013):

Today, while navigating my own blog, I noticed that Microsoft has refreshed this VHD on 26-Mar-2012. In addition, I can now see companion content and documents related to SharePoint 2010 Value Pillars.

Jun 21 2010

SharePoint Chat with MVP Experts on 23-June-2010

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint,SharePoint 2010 — Kamlesh @ 1:19 pm

Once again the Live Monthly Chat on SharePoint is back.  This month chat with MVP Experts will be held on Wednesday 23-June-2010 9am PDT.

Do you have questions about SharePoint? Want to learn more about the recently launched SharePoint 2010?  By popular request, SharePoint MVPs from around the world are participating in a live chat event about SharePoint. These Q&A events are a great opportunity to tap into the vast knowledge of these industry professionals who are regarded as the best in their field.

Learn more and add these chats to your calendar by visiting the MSDN event page http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/chats/default.aspx

As always, Melissa Travers (Sr. MVP Lead, Community and Online Support) will be coordinating this Online Live Chat event.

Jun 18 2010

Search Server 2010 – The trial period for this product has expired in SharePoint 2010

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint 2010 — Kamlesh @ 2:35 pm

Finally, the mystery behind this error is resolved.  Many users were reporting “The trial period of this product has expired” error with SharePoint  2010 and Search Server 2010 combination.  Earlier, some Technical users responded that this may happen if you are using Beta Version of Search Server 2010. Still some users, using RTM version of Search Server 2010, were also getting the same error.

Today, Microsoft Team confirmed that this is a False Alarm message in Technical Forums here.

This is a false alarm. It is not time bombed and your farm will continue to work. If you click on the health analyzer warning you will see “

“Explanation :    The licensing information not available”. The MSSx sku does not have licensing module since its a free product. By default the rule “Trial period for this product is about to expire.” is enabled in the health analyzer. The bug here is that we didn’t disable this rule. The rule kicks in and its unable to find the licensing module and throws an exception (you can find it in the LOGS folder).

Workaround: In central admin go to “Central Admin” => Monitoring => “Review Rule Definitions” => click on “Trial period for this product is about to expire” rule under configuration and edit it. Uncheck the “Enabled” checkbox.

Hope this helps.

Jun 18 2010

Comparison of Search Technologies in SharePoint 2010 Products

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint 2010 — Kamlesh @ 2:20 pm

Search functionality in SharePoint 2010 Products can be Basic Search to Advanced; with many options like People Search and Social Search.  SharePoint 2010 implements search using inbuilt Foundation and Server Editions, as well as external Search Server 2010 product.  The Search Server 2010 product has three editions – Express, Server and FAST Search.  Below is the Search Technology Feature comparison in SharePoint Products.

Download the Visio Diagram covering complete details of SharePoint 2010 Search Technologies.  To view this, download the latest Visio 2010 viewer.

Jun 08 2010

SharePoint 2010 PrerequisiteInstaller Direct Download for Offline Setup

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint 2010 — Kamlesh @ 11:27 pm

If you want to avoid the Internet Connection while running SharePoint 2010 Prerequisite Installer, then you can download the following files in advance and perform a Offline/Network Install in your environment.  In my case, the below list of files are specific for Windows 2008 Server R2 Enterprise operating system:

  1. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client – sqlncli.msi – 7.69MB
  2. Hotfix for Microsoft Windows (KB976462) – Windows6.1-KB976462-v2-x64.msu – 4.13MB
  3. Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405) – Windows6.1-KB974405-x64.msu – 1.47MB
  4. Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64) – Synchronization.msi – 2.59MB
  5. Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – MSChart.exe – 1.76MB
  6. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET – SQLSERVER2008_ASADOMD10.msi = 6.76MB
  7. Microsoft Server Speech Platform Runtime (x64) – SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi – 2.81MB
  8. Microsoft Server Speech Recognition Language – TELE(en-US) – MSSpeech_SR_en-US_TELE.msi – 23.4MB
  9. SQL 2008 R2 Reporting Services SharePoint 2010 Add-in – rsSharePoint.msi – 36.9MB

It is recommended to install the above prerequisites in above mentioned order.

May 27 2010

SharePoint 2010 Command-Line Arguments

Category: Microsoft,SharePoint 2010 — Kamlesh @ 6:39 pm

The following are the Command-Line arguments available for SharePoint Setup Executable File.  My below Example shows for SharePoint 2010 Foundation.

Usage:
/extract:path, extracts the content of the package to the path folder
/log[:path to log file], enables verbose logging for the update installation
/lang:lcid, sets the user interface to the specified locale when multiple locales are available within the package
/quiet, runs the package in silent mode
/passive, runs the update without any interaction from the user
/norestart, prevents prompting of user when reboot of machine is needed
/forcerestart, forced restart of machine once update is complete
/?, shows this help message

If you are extracting the files, to manually run the PrerequisiteInstaller.exe, then it is also possible to have Command-Line arguments for Prerequisites Setup file.

***Command Line Options***
/continue – This is used to tell the installer that it is continuing from a restart
/unattended – No user interaction. Exit codes:
0    – Success
1    – Another instance of this application is already running
2    – Invalid command line parameter(s)
1001 – A pending restart blocks installation
3010 – A restart is needed
Other error codes – From the prerequisite installation that failed last
/? – Display this message

The installer installs from the file specified in the command line options below where ‘file’ denotes the file to install from. If the option is not specified, it downloads the file from the internet and installs. If the option is not applicable to the current operating system, it ignores it.

/SQLNCli:file – Install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client from file
/ChartControl:file – Install Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 from file
/W2K8SP2:file – Install Windows Server 2008 SP2 from file
/NETFX35SP1:file – Install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 from file
/PowerShell:file – Install Windows PowerShell 2.0 from file
/KB976394:file – Install Hotfix for Microsoft Windows (KB976394) from file
/KB976462:file – Install Hotfix for Microsoft Windows (KB976462) from file
/IDFX:file – Install Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405) from file
/IDFXR2:file – Install Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405) for Windows Server 2008 R2 from file
/Sync:file – Install Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64) from file
/FilterPack:file – Install Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0 from file
/ADOMD:file – Install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET from file
/ReportingServices:file – Install SQL 2008 R2 Reporting Services SharePoint 2010 Add-in from file
/Speech:file – Install Microsoft Server Speech Platform Runtime from file
/SpeechLPKDEDE:file,/SpeechLPK:file,/SpeechLPKESES:file,/SpeechLPKFRFR:file,/SpeechLPKITIT:file,/SpeechLPKKOKR:file,/SpeechLPKPTBR:file and /SpeechLPKRURU:file – Install Microsoft Server Speech Recognition Language – TELE from file for de-de, en-us, es-es, fr-fr, it-it, ko-kr, pt-br and ru-ru locales respectively

The above can help Network Administrators to create an Argument File and install the Pre-requisites using a Network Share.

Reference:

Install prerequisites from a network share

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