Secrets of SharePoint

June 2011 - SharePoint Tips

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  • Use the max-age Attribute with BLOB Caching to Reduce the Number of Client Requests to SharePoint Servers

    When configuring BLOB caching for MOSS 2007 and SharePoint 2010, it is possible to specify an optional max-age attribute in the web.config element. This attribute determines the amount of time, in seconds, that SharePoint clients should cache resources locally (typically in the browser’s temporary files area) that are served from a WFE’s BLOB cache. For example, the following web.config element instructs clients to locally store .GIF and...
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  • Using Custom Columns to Improve Search Results

    Categorizing content helps users effectively find documents within the site. This can be done via SharePoint through the use of custom columns or meta data. Create these columns at the global level of the site collection and add them to the required content types. The document libraries or lists associated with these content types will then inherit these custom columns. These custom columns can also be set as required fields. For example, you may...

  • Managing sites in SharePoint 2010 Using PowerShell cmdlets

    In SharePoint 2010 you can manage sites through Windows PowerShell. You can create new sites in a site collection using the New-SPWeb cmdlet: New-SPWeb http : // SP / TeamSite -Template "STS#0" – Name "Team Site" ` -Description "Description of Site" – AddToTopNav – UseParentTopNav You can retrieve an existing site using the Get-SPWeb cmdlet: Get-SPWeb http : // SP / TeamSite You can configure a site...

  • Use SharePoint BLOB Caching to increase performance

    BLOB caching, or disk-based caching, is an out of the box (OOTB) caching mechanism that is built into the MOSS 2007 and SharePoint Server 2010 platforms. It is commonly used to speed-up access to large and relatively static resources that are stored in content databases, such as images, videos, javascript files, and more. Performance improvements are gained by storing these assets on web front-ends (WFEs) once they’ve been requested by a client...
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  • Using SQL Aliases in Your SharePoint Farm

    SharePoint depends on its connections to one or more SQL Server instances for the overwhelming majority of its content and configuration data. The loss of a SQL Server can spell disaster for SharePoint, particularly if the lost SQL Server can’t be restored and a new SQL Server instance (with a new name) must be used. The use of SQL Server names and/or addresses in difficult-to-alter SharePoint database connection strings is what makes this situation...
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  • Using Dashboards to Quickly Communicate

    For an Intranet, determining key company metrics and showing them graphically can help keep staff focused on the same goals. SharePoint provides a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) web part which is set up by default in a site created using the Reports template. This web part is also available in other site templates such as Team / Collaboration. Setup a KPI list and a data source such as Excel, a SharePoint list or any external data source to hold...

  • Adding List Items using PowerShell

    SharePoint 2010 offers over 500 new cmdlets that we can use to automate the SharePoint 2010 environment through Windows PowerShell. The cmdlets go as deep as SPWeb, everything beyond SPWeb requires additional scripting, such as adding fields, views and items. Here’s an example showing how to add an item to the Announcements list in SharePoint 2010: $spWeb = Get-SPWeb -identity http : // SP $spList = $spWeb . GetList ( “ Lists / Announcements...

  • Quickly Access the SharePoint Hive

    If you use SharePoint on a daily basis, you are probably familiar with the SharePoint hive. In SharePoint 2010, the hive is called the SharePoint root. The SharePoint root is used by SharePoint to store features, logs, binary files, templates and much more. It’s commonly used when performing administrative tasks in SharePoint. Changing location to the path is fun, the first time, but after typing the path 100 times, it gets a bit tedious. In...

  • KPI Values in SharePoint 2010

    Previous versions of SharePoint had limitations to folders support for the KPI Lists. Whenever you tried to set Folder as a source of your KPI, SharePoint gave you an error that the folder can't be selected. To avoid such situation you had to maintain KPI values in different list or use Views. The issue with Views is that they don't allow you to assign the permissions per View, so you can't have groups of data and assign different permission...
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  • Tips for Applying Cumulative Updates

    John Ferringer -Expert in Residence READ THE DOCUMENTATION FOR THE UPDATES CAREFULLY. The info they provide about how to execute the installs is very important. This is not simple, and the process described there (or here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/bb735839.aspx and here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263467%28office.12%29.aspx) is worth its weight in gold BACK UP YOUR FARM BEFORE UPDATING. If something...
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  • PowerShell commands for SharePoint 2010

    SOS Member santhiswaroop To find the PowerShell commands n SharePoint 2010, try these: > Get - Command -Noun SPSite You can get the all PowerShell commands: > Get - Help Get-SPSite You can get the Name, Syntax, Description, Related Links, Remarks To Retrieve content database for a specific site collection: > Get - SPContentDatabase -Site http : // SPServer01 Results: ID :96 dfa345 - 43 df - 3 edg - bbc6 - 1 l4e8ee105le Name : WSS_content...

  • Troubleshooting Cumulative Updates

    John Ferringer -Expert in Residence If you get an error during the installation of a cumulative update, hot fix, patch, or service pack, you need to closely look at both the event log of the server it happened on AND the upgrade log file that will be created when you run the installer. Microsoft states that you'll need to work to resolve the blocking issue in those log messages, then re-run the SharePoint Config Wizard to see if you've resolved...
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  • Things to Check Before Applying Cumulative Updates

    John Ferringer -Expert in Residence When preparing to patch your environment, make sure to check two things about your environment before running the installers: 1. If you are running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, you must first apply the same patch for its free version before running the server version. That means that if you're installing the April 2011 Cumulative Update for MOSS 2007, you must first install the April 2011 CU for...
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  • The Best Timer Job is a Dumb Timer Job

    SOS Member Eric Gregorich I have completed several projects using SharePoint Timer Jobs and for each project I am reminded how Timer Jobs can be a pain to implement and test. Yet they are often necessary to meet the requirements of the application. Here is what I have learned regarding Timer Jobs. Make them stupid! Rather than creating timer jobs that DO things, create Timer Jobs that simply tell something else to do the work. Imagine that you use...

  • When to Apply Cumulative Updates

    John Ferringer -Expert in Residence When Microsoft first started releasing Cumulative Updates for SharePoint 2007, the recommended guidance that came with them was to apply them to your SharePoint environments as soon as you could. Well, over time that story has changed, and the message now is to only apply a cumulative update if you know that it contains specific updates, patches, or fixes that your environment needs to address a problem or issue...
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