ChadClarkesMOSSBlog

IIS Web Sites are merely reference pointers for SharePoint Web Applications. These reference pointers contain information as well, so it might be better to think of them as an object that inherits the sharepoint web application. You can have an extranet application with FBA and an Intranet with AD authentication go to the same content in sharepoint.

BEST PRACTICE: A lot of the time I see organizations that wait weeks to create their default web application because they are waiting on a A record in DNS to be created. This is ridiculous. You don’t have to wait, and in fact it is bad practice to create web applications with host headers in them. The default web application should be created with a port number off of the Server Name. This way your sharepoint environment is not dependent of DNS naming. And say someone wants to change the name of their sharepoint site. This concept makes that easiar to handle.

Before we get into the steps involved in this best practice scenario. Lets look into what makes an IIS web application unique from one another and also how IIS directs traffic and composes a sharepoint site.

First off, the uniqueness of an IIS web site is determined by three things: Server Name/IP Address, Host Header and port number.   Since your servername is already registered on your network for its IP Address, the server name can be used for sharepoint web application out of the box.  When you do an A Record DNS Mapping to your servers IP address, or a B Record to your server name…  When a request is routed by DNS, it is appended with the host header information as well as the IP address and port number.  This is a point that some IT Personnel do not understand, IIS goes down the list of IIS Websites until it maps not only the IP address and port number, but also the host header.  So you can have multiple port 80 web sites on the same IIS Server.

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I studied on SkillPort, which I have access to through my current company. They have great tutorials walking your through what you need to know for this exam. It deals mainly with the deployment and configuration of WSS 3.0.

Here are some topics to be versed on:
- Farm Topologies
- Hardware clustering: software, hardware, load-balancing, and fail-overs
- NIC card configurations
- ISA Server 2006 and how it can be utilized for security in relation to WSS 3.0
- DNS configurations (A records) as well as Alternate Access Mappings
- Log Files and Monitoring of servers related to WSS 3.0 (MOM, WSS Logs, IIS Logs, Windows Server Logs)
- SharePoint Designer
- Localization of SharePoint (Language Packs)
- WSS Upgrade (2.0 to 3.0)
- Stsadm
- Backup and Restore Strategies (Disaster Recovery: OOB)
- WSS Security Administration

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On Saturday February 7th, 2009, I will be presenting PerformancePoint Server 2007 and how it integrates with WSS 3.0 at the Kansas City Office Geek's SharePoint Saturday Event!  It will be at the Centriq Learning Center off State Line Rd and around 78th St.  I'm very excited to be a part of such a prestiges event!  I have been volunteering for quite some time.  I put together the flyer and helped distribute it.  We will have MVP's from around the country coming in town to present on SharePoint Technologies.  If you are any where near Kansas City that weekend.  I would stop in!  Go to the web site to register… 

http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/kc

Hope to see you there!

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If you are experiencing printing problems with your reporting services pages in either sharepoint integrated mode or native mode, here's the deal.  Tuesday (10/13/08) microsoft release a hotfix for windows XP.  Something to do with Killbits.  Anyways, but one of the issues this hotfix takes care of is security holes within activex controls.  One of these security holes is utilized by the reporting services print activex control.  So your reports won't print.  Well don't you worry cause before this hotfix came out, microsoft released a hotfix for sql server that replaced the print activex control with a modified version that will work despite the new security update. 

 HOWEVER, this hotfix for sql server DOES NOT fix reporting services sharepoint integrated mode!  so if you are using sharepoint integrated mode, you are still screwed.  Well, its time to call microsoft and wait in the queue for 2 HOURS, and ask them for the new updated version of reporting services sharepoint integrated mode msi.  In which, you have to uninstall the old msi, run a cumulative update (which may have bugs in the large batch of hotfixes applied), and reinstall sharepoint integrated mode with the new msi file.  HUGE headache!  But luckily, being a consultant, I just aided in identifying the issue and let the client handle the fun stuff of calling microsoft and getting the CU and new MSI.  Well, if you are experiencing problems…  This might be your issue.  I don't have the KB numbers and error messages on me at the moment, but I'll post them soon.

 Error: "Unable to load print control"

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I am now a MCTS for MOSS.  It wasn't very difficult.  Some of the questions are a bit detail oriented.  It was light on Search stuff, more heavy on InfoPath.  d 

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We are utilizing MOSS 2007, Visual Studio 2008, and WSS extension 1.2. 

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I've been looking into a way to have a search web part interface with an OOB ListView web part.  I've been using SPContext.Current.Web.GetLimitedWebPartManager(), and grabbing the local web part with a PersonalizationScope.User.  I am placing the web part on the View's aspx page, Search.aspx.  I am claiming the web part and casting it into a ListViewWebPart.  The ListViewWebPart has an attribute listviewxml and viewguid.  I've tried changing both of these and saving the changes using SPLimitedWebPartManager.SaveChanges() method.  I have successfully changed the title of the web part in a personalized view, but the view never changes.   Also I've successfully changed a Shared View, but this would only allow one person in at a time.  I'm looking to either present a dynamic in memory view to the personalized web part or create a personalized view that I can assign a personalized web part to.  

On a side note, I've worked with the SPGridView control, but trying to get the default context menu's involved a lot of convoluted javascript in which the AJAX Update Panel caused the script issues.  If anyone has found a cleaner more dependable solution for this, please let me know.

                    taxDocuments.ParentWeb.Site.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                    taxDocuments.ParentWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                    SPLimitedWebPartManager currentWebPartCollection = SPContext.Current.Web.GetLimitedWebPartManager("/Tax%20Documents/Forms/search.aspx", PersonalizationScope.User);
                    ListViewWebPart viewwebpart = (ListViewWebPart)currentWebPartCollection.WebParts[0];
                    SPView newView = taxDocuments.Views["TheSearch"].Clone("MySearch", 99999, false, false); ;
                    newView.Title = "MySearch";
                    //newView.PersonalView = true; //read only property
                    newView.Query = BuildTaxDocCamlQuery();
                    newView.Update();
                    viewwebpart.ViewGuid = newView.ID.ToString();
                    viewwebpart.ListViewXml = newView.SchemaXml;
                    viewwebpart.Title = "steve4";
                    currentWebPartCollection.SaveChanges(viewwebpart);
                    SPContext.Current.Web.Update();
                    taxDocuments.ParentWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
                    taxDocuments.ParentWeb.Site.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;

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I am looking for help with a content deployment error that I keep getting.  Another company built out a solution for my current client, and I'm stuck deploying it.  It uses event handlers heavily, and one in particular is causing me much grief.  it appears not to be able to validate the assembly which is verified to be in the GAC.  I am assured that the assembly is not dependent on any external assemblies.  Please help!

 Error Message:

[4/3/2008 10:03:35 AM]: Progress: Importing Role Assignment for Customsite.
[4/3/2008 10:03:35 AM]: FatalError: Could not load file or assembly 'OCR_Process_EventHandler, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0da117b2de34d290' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEventReceiverDefinition.ValidAssembly()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEventReceiverDefinition.ValidReceiverFields()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEventReceiverDefinition.UpdateInternal(Boolean isMigration)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.EventReceiverSerializer.UpdateEventReceiver(SPEventReceiverDefinition eventReceiver, XmlElement eventReceiverData, SPImportSettings settings)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.EventReceiverSerializer.SetObjectData(Object obj, SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context, ISurrogateSelector selector)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.WebSerializer.UpdateEventReceivers(SPWeb web, SerializationInfoHelper infoHelper, StreamingContext context, ISurrogateSelector selector)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.WebSerializer.SetObjectData(Object obj, SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context, ISurrogateSelector selector)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.ParseObject(Type objectType, Boolean isChildObject)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.DeserializeObject(Type objectType, Boolean isChildObject, DeploymentObject envelope)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.XmlFormatter.Deserialize(Stream serializationStream)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ObjectSerializer.Deserialize(Stream serializationStream)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportObjectManager.ProcessObject(XmlReader xmlReader)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.DeserializeObjects()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.Run()

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My WebService is utilizing the DataAdapter Class to perform an update on the database, when I run SQL Profiler the query that comes out looks like this:

exec sp_executesql
N'NewUpdateCommand',
N'@Name nvarchar(50),
@PriContactFName nvarchar(50),
@PriContactLName nvarchar(50),
@PriContactWork nvarchar(20),
@PriContactFax nvarchar(20),
@PriContactCell nvarchar(20),
@PriContactEmail nvarchar(50),
@MainOfficeLocationAddr1 nvarchar(50),
@MainOfficeLocationAddr2 nvarchar(50),
@MainOfficeLocationCity nvarchar(50),
@MainOfficeLocationState nvarchar(50),
@MainOfficeLocationZip nvarchar(15),
@Description nvarchar(50),
@Original_ClientID int,
@ClientID int',
@Name=N'Brinker International',
@PriContactFName=N'Steves',
@PriContactLName=N'Maubley',
@PriContactWork=N'913-876-9876',
@PriContactFax=N'913-098-8765',
@PriContactCell=N'913-987-7654',
@PriContactEmail=N'a@b.c',
@MainOfficeLocationAddr1=N'1234 Burkwood',
@MainOfficeLocationAddr2=NULL,
@MainOfficeLocationCity=N'Tallahassee',
@MainOfficeLocationState=N'Florida',
@MainOfficeLocationZip=N'99111',
@Description=N'This is a good client.',
@Original_ClientID=1,
@ClientID=1

 However, I get the following errror after it runs…

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Line 15
Incorrect syntax near 'NewUpdateCommand'.

 Please take a brief look at this query and see if you can identify anything out of the ordinary.  I can run the stored proc in sql management studio just fine. 

 Thanks,

 Chad

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I have trouble with a staging environment that I recently set up.  I went through the error logs and finally got the staging environment functioning without errors, but previous to working through those errors, we successfully made a content deployment path and job and ran it.  Now, the Destination central Admin is giving permissions issues.  I changed and restarted some services and some component services..  Are there any specific things I should check related specifically to content deployment as far as services on the server? 

Either the URL for the destination Web application is not valid, or you do not have permissions to the Central Administration site on the destination server farm.

Error details: The remote Web service request failed with this message : 'Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.'.

You have specified a URL that begins with http://. Communication to this URL will not be secure and can be intercepted by malicious users.

Problem Solved, the app pool for central admin was running under the service account, "SPSWorker", rather than the admin account, "SPSAdmin". That was a fun debug.

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