SBS 2008 - PDF Search in Companyweb SharePoint

Here are some excellent instructions for enabling the SharePoint spiders to crawl and index PDF files and their text content: SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Services V3 PDF search and indexing.

While the post does have the correct icon for us to download and install, though the name in the post and the actual file name are different, we need a new version of the iFilter for 64bit systems: Adobe - Acrobat : For Windows : Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit ...

• The correct file name for the XML edit: icpdf_3.gif

In a nutshell:

1. Download the above iFilter v9 from Adobe's site.
2. Extract the installer from PDFiFilter64installer.zip.
3. Click Start and right click on Command Prompt and Run as administrator.
4. Click Continue at the UAC prompt.
5. net stop iisadmin [Enter]
6. In Windows Explorer, double click on the PDFFilter64installer file.
7. Copy the PDF icon to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Template\Images
8. In the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\Template\Xml\ directory edit the DOCICON.XML file.
9. Paste the following into the (ByExtension) section that is sorted alphabetically by extension (ours went under the "onetoc2" extension):
10. (mapping key="pdf" value="icpdf_3.gif") (Change the round brackets to Greater or Less Than as Blogger's editor does not like them)
11. There will be a need to save the modified XML file to the server's desktop and then copy it back into the XML folder through two UAC prompts.
12. Back at the command prompt: net start iisadmin [Enter]
13. Click Start and type Windows SBS Native Tools Management [Enter] in Search.
14. Click on the IIS Manager.
15. Under the SS-SBS (MySBSDomain) click on Application Pools.
16. Right click on the following and Recycle them:
• DefaultAppPool
• SBS Sharepoint AppPool
• SBS Web Applications application pool
• SBS Web Workplace AppPool
• SharePoint Central Administration v3
• Post the PDFs.
17. Or, instead of recycling the services, append the System Path with: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe PDF iFilter 9 for 64-bit platforms\bin\ and reboot!

The update to the System path is suggested in the Adobe installation instructions.

Once the SharePoint application pools have been recycled, we will see:

PDF document icons

One very, very important thing to remember: Upload the PDF files AFTER the Adobe PDF iFilter is installed so that the files are indexed. Otherwise, they will not be indexed until they are touched!

This is very important if there are thousands of PDF files to place into a document library or libraries.

UPDATE: Added the System Path variable to be appended in the last step, and made some grammar error corrections.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2008 - Companyweb + Outlook Anywhere = Smooth

This is just too kewl:

Companyweb and Outlook Anywhere

Take a look at the content in the Outlook Reading Pane. The highlighted document in the list above it is actually in the Companyweb\Shared Documents folder back in the office.

The edit to the Word document was accomplished by opening it through Outlook 2007 that is connected back to SBS via Outlook Anywhere (RPC/HTTPS). We opened it in Offline Mode, and edited the file while in Offline Mode. Keep in mind that if there will be a need to edit files in Offline Mode, they should be checked out for the duration of those offline edits.

Now that we are diving into SBS 2008 installs on a larger scale, supporting SBS 2008, and along with the writing of the SBS 2008 Blueprint book, there has been a need to discover as many of the "hidden" features SBS 2008 has to offer. Given the vast number of features in the product, many can remain "hidden" for years! ;)

Outlook 2007 plus the SBS 2008 Companyweb Internal Web site certainly demonstrates a very powerful reason to upgrade. Things operate very smoothly between them.

Time savings can be another reason to consider an upgrade for a small company especially when the cost for support runs over one hundred dollars per hour. When Office 2007 is installed on a workstation in an SBS 2008 network and Outlook is fired up for the first time, it picks up the user's setup via the server.

Yes, okay, Outlook 2003 does that too. But, Outlook 2007 actually goes one step further and picks up the Outlook Anywhere settings (RPC/HTTPS) and puts them in place for us. There is at least a couple minutes of time saved, one possible post Office install step the tech can no longer forget, and thus a support call that has been avoided. It is one less step on that setup checklist.

Further Reading:

• SharePoint and Outlook – The Perfect Link

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2008 - Windows SharePoint Services Considerations Plus Not One Recycle Bin, But Two!

One of the primary reasons we did not move too many of our client's primary data storage onto the Companyweb site in the SBS 2003 time frame was the lack of an ability to recover those "accidentally" deleted items.

All of that has changed with the introduction of Windows SharePoint Services version 3 and the built-in Recycle Bin system.

The catch for us implementing WSS V3 on SBS 2003 was the inherent limitations of the 32bit OS that was already loaded down with a number of different SBS related and third party related services. Thus, we only implemented in a limited number of client settings where WSS would be used, but not cause too much additional stress (especially RAM related) on SBS 2003.

With SBS 2008 and the WSS v3 product that drives the new Companyweb Internal Web site, we are seeing a whole new opportunity. We can utilize the out of the box Companyweb on SBS 2008 to a great extent and not worry too much about RAM or database limitations for our small to medium sized clients.

We have the flexibility to tie Companyweb and any other WSS based Site in an SBS 2008 Premium based installation into SQL 2008 which will give us a lot of headroom when it comes to site performance. Tying SharePoint into SQL 2008 also alleviates much of the data volume concerns we have had to date ... though both site performance and database sizes will be tied to the physical server box's configuration.

Have a client that wants to have an Internet facing WSS v3 site? Then SPLA the Windows OSs needed and SQL 2008 Web Edition for them as that will put their licensing costs at dollars per day depending on the end configuration as opposed to licensing SQL 2008 Web Edition per processor on Open Value or Open License which is very expensive.

So, back to the Recycle Bin business:

Companyweb SharePoint User Recycle Bin

The user has deleted the document, and it now sits in the Recycle Bin waiting for them or someone else to delete it. If there are a large number of items in the bin, clicking on the item selection box just above the first item's check box will select everything.

Okay, in our above screenshot, once deleted from the Recycle Bin where does that document go?

When logged onto a workstation with our Domain Admin account, or on the server itself, we can open the Companyweb site and navigate to the Site Collection Recycle Bin setup:

1. Click on Site Actions near the top right of the page
2. Click on Site Settings.
3. Click on the Recycle Bin link under Site Collection Administration

You will see the following:

SharePoint Admin Recycle Bin - User Bin View

Of course, the User Recycle Bin is empty because the user has already emptied it. Now, there was a momentary lapse of reason on the user's part and they now realize that the file that was deleted from the Recycle Bin was still needed!

Not to fear! We now have a Recycle Bin's Recycle Bin!

SharePoint Admin Recycle Bin - Admin Bin View

We can restore that file! Nice and simple isn't it? :)

Not only that, when we restore that file, it goes back to its original location on the Companyweb site, not back into the User Recycle Bin.

BTW, it is important to note that the Recycle Bin system in WSS v3 also works when the user is using Explorer View to work with site content.

This one feature will save us a huge amount of pain over "lost" or accidentally deleted files on the Companyweb or any other WWS v3 site we manage on behalf of our clients.

Some links for you:

• Microsoft Office Online: View, restore, or delete items in the Recycle Bin
• SBS Companyweb Admin Bin (Internal SBS 2008 link - copy and paste)
• Microsoft Service Providers License Agreement (SPLA) site.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008: Web

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2008 and Office Live Small Business

Office Live Small Business (OLSB) has some integration within SBS 2008. It can be found in the SBS Console. The OLSB has two elements to it:

1. The Office Live Small Business Applications site (SharePoint).
2. The Office Live Small Business Web site.

Out of the box, this is what is included with the default Office Live Small Business Applications site:

• 50MB of storage space.
• 5 Users for the Business Applications site (SharePoint).

Now, the Office Live Small Business Applications may indeed have a place for those small offices that do not have a Small Business Server installed.

But, for clients with more than 5 users and a need for way more than 50MB, here are the associated costs:

Office Live Small Business Per User Costs

Now, factor in the need for additional storage:

Office Live Small Business Per GB Costs

For those clients that have SBS 2003 or SBS 2008 setup and are utilizing the CompanyWeb site internally and externally the Office Live Business Applications site and its associated costs will not make much sense. This is especially true if their CompanyWeb or additional SharePoint setups have been customized for their business workflows and systems.

Essentially, the out-of-the-box setup of the Office Live Small Business Application Web site makes sense for a start up company with no on site SBS server. The Office Live site can be customized to a degree to at least give the company a collaborative starting place on the Web.

The Office Live Small Business Web site on the other hand comes with 500MB out of the box. For most small business Web sites, this will more than suffice. The costs to add more storage space are identical to the above Business Application storage costs.

One thing to keep in mind: The URL for the Office Live Small Business Web site can be rather long. In the case of our Springer Spaniels Limited site the URL came out to: http://springerspanielslimited.web.officelive.com/.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2008 and SPLA

We have not been pushing too hard to get things rolling in our SPLA program with an SBS focus as of yet.

The primary reason is that SBS 2008 will actually fit a lot better into a multiple user/company hosting setup.

The reasons:

1. Remote Web Workplace has the ability to setup the resource links on a per user basis.
2. SharePoint can be configured with a subsite that is linked in RWW for a given user only. This gives exclusivity to the sub site to specific users or groups of users.
3. Terminal Services Applications (formerly SoftGrid) can be published to the RWW site via a link.
4. Users can be assigned a specific desktop for RDC only ... so no more full list of computers.

Enrolled in the SBS 2008 beta yet?

If not, we suggest heading into it soon as it will have a direct impact on your SMB/SBS SPLA business.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - Quick Companyweb Internet Access Link

When we have published the Companyweb site to the Internet via the CEICW and the Remote Web Workplace, there is a very quick way to gain access: Create an Internet shortcut.

Here are the quick links to the Companyweb root site:

• SBS 2003
• https://rww.mysbsdomain.com:444
• SBS 2008:
• https://rww.mysbsdomain.com:987

With this knowledge in hand, we can setup a number of interesting data sharing scenarios based on the built-in SharePoint setup in both versions of SBS.

We could create a document library that only a particular set of domain and non-domain (Extranet) restricted users have access to such as ExternalCompany.

In the above example, we would have the following links:

• SBS 2003
• https://rww.mysbsdomain.com:444/ExternalCompany
• SBS 2008:
• https://rww.mysbsdomain.com:987/ExternalCompany

One could also go so far as to create a SharePoint site that uses the above URL or another set by the domain admin with the appropriate permissions set for that site.

Depending on the situation, an Active Directory OU, Group Policy, and NTFS ACL setups could be utilized to restrict a particular group to the SharePoint site only.

For those that require a distinct separation from their Active Directory domain, the External Collaboration Toolkit for SharePoint would work well. The setup in this case would require us to have a second server setup with IIS6/7 and SharePoint V3 installed.

If the extranet business relationship and data security warrants it, a second level authentication setup could be utilized in the form of AuthAnvil from Scorpion Software. This method of security would completely restrict access to any Internet facing resources to those who hold an AuthAnvil hardware token and a valid user name and password. The cost for the product is very inexpensive relative to the extra level of security it provides.

Some SharePoint related links:

• Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog
• The Sean Blog: SharePoint Extranet Collaboration Toolkit.
• Technet: External Collaboration Toolkit for SharePoint site.
• Somewhat relevant Microsoft document: SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Document: Deploying on an Extranet by Using ISA Server 2000 and ISA Server 2004.
• Windows SharePoint Services search results from Microsoft Downloads site.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2003/8 - SharePoint Mapped Network Drive

For some of our clients we are facilitating the transition to SharePoint as a default document and file storage location by creating a mapped network drive to a folder on the Companyweb SharePoint site.

By default on SBS 2003 we have the startup script (SBS_LOGIN_SCRIPT.bat) that is located in the scripts folder under SysVol on the server. That is where the following entry would be placed.

Out of the box, SBS 2008 does not use a logon script. So, we need to create the logon script under the SysVol scripts folder and update the User Roles with the Logon.bat file name. Any users already created will need to be either updated manually or use the Change a User Role Wizard to redefine the appropriate user accounts once the User Roles have been updated.

To do this (note that the "" are required):

• SBS 2003 Companyweb SharePoint v2
• net use m: "\\companyweb\DavWWWRoot\General Documents"
• SBS 2008 Companyweb SharePoint v3
• net use m: "\\companyweb\DavWWWRoot\Shared Documents"

Note that the mapped drive is not at the root of the SharePoint site.

From there we can create a folder structure that will be accessible via Internet Explorer internally or via the Internet as well as Windows Explorer and any application with ease.

We find that once users get used to toggling the "Explorer View" in the SharePoint site they tend to forget about the mapped network drive for most tasks.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SR1530HSH + Server 2008 and Intel ProSet - Receive Side Scaling and Teaming

Now that we have Windows Web Server 2008 x64 (trial software download) configured on an Intel SR1530HSH 1U chassis with 4GB of RAM and a Xeon X3220 Quad Core CPU.

This particular box will be configured with the SharePoint V3 role for Internet facing site collections.

Before we went to add the unit to the SBS domain, we wanted to team up the adapters in Fault Tolerance mode. Version 12.4 of the Intel ProSet (link to download via the PRO/1000 PT support page) drivers support teaming on both the x86 and x64 versions of Server 2008.

This is the message we received once we ran through the team setup process:

New Team Wizard

One or more adapters in the team do not support Receive-Side Scaling. Receive-Side Scaling will be disabled for the team.

Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) gives us the ability to utilize the multiple cores on this particular server to process network packets that are received. Given that this is a Web server, having that ability to streamline network performance is more important than initally having the fault tolerant team.

So, we will leave teaming between the on board NICs for now, and proceed to install an add-in dual port Gigabit PCI-E NIC that will support RSS while teamed.

You may remember RSS because of the issues the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 introduced on our SBS boxes when RSS went live after applying the Service Pack (previous blog post).

From Intel's support site: Intel® Server Adapters - Receive Side Scaling on Intel® Network Adapters

When Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is enabled, all of the receive data processing for a particular TCP connection is shared across multiple processors or processor cores. Without RSS all of the processing is performed by a single processor, resulting in inefficient system cache utilization.

Notes

• This setting has no effect if your system has only one processing unit.
• RSS must be enabled for Intel® I/O Acceleration Technology to function.
• To enable RSS on Microsoft* Windows Server* 2003, you must install Microsoft's Scalable Networking Pack. The Scalable Networking Pack is part of Windows Server 2003 SP2. It is not included in SP1 and requires a separate download. See http://www.microsoft.com/ † for more information.

RSS Configuration
RSS is enabled on the Advanced tab of the adapter property sheet. If your adapter does not support RSS, or if your operating system does not support it, the RSS setting will not be displayed.

Teaming

• If RSS is not enabled for all adapters in a team, RSS will automatically be disabled for the team.
• If an adapter that does not support RSS is added to a team, RSS will automatically be disabled for the team.
  If a non-Intel adapter is added to a team, RSS will automatically be disabled for the team.
• Non-Intel adapters with RSS enabled cannot be added to a team

Further Intel NIC support links:

• Network Connectivity - What's new in the latest release?
• Network Connectivity - Intel® Network Adapter driver and software release versions
• Intel PRO/1000 PT Server Adapter Download Page for Server 2008 x64
• Intel ProSet version 12.4 for Vista and Server 2008 x64 Download page

On the SharePoint note: We have had a number of adventures into building some custom SharePoint V3 infrastructure lately.

One of them was to setup SharePoint V3 on SBS in a side-by-side install but using the Front-End Farm setup instead. We need SharePoint to be connected to the SQL 2005 back end on SBS instead of the SQL Express installed via the Stand-Alone mode. All in all, this setup was relatively painless. This configuration gives us the scalability needed by a full SQL back end for the SharePoint Sites. It also gives us a quick step into a dedicated farm setup.

We will try and get some SharePoint focused posts out to you as time permits.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - Reusing a user profile - Exchange and SharePoint changes needed

In some cases, a client wants a new employee to take over the old employee's profile.

One way to do this is to create the new user and migrate the old user's email settings, a PST export, and data to the new network based profile. In many cases, where the profile is task/position independent this works fine.

Sometimes, the employee's position and their network profile is position dependent. When a client goes through a change in employees and wants the new employee to take over the existing position profile, the shift is pretty simple to do.

We make the necessary changes to the user's profile in the User Management console on the SBS server:

• User name
• Name properties
• Email addresses
• Exchange x400 setting (E-mail Addresses tab)
• Alias (Exchange General tab)

Once we have completed the changes and the user logs in, there are a couple of other changes that need to be made where the previous employee's name would still be reflected:

1. The Exchange mailbox name that shows in Outlook
2. The user's name that comes up on the SharePoint CompanyWeb site.

To change the user name that appears behind "Mailbox - User Name" in Outlook we need only run through the setup steps via the Mail icon in the Control Panel and choose the new user name on that user's machine. Outlook should not be running when we run through the process.

In Windows Vista x64 versions the icon can be found here:

View 32-bit Control Panel Items

The following screen shot is what one would see on XP and in this particular case, a 32bit install of Windows Vista:

Windows Vista Mail Icon

A step by step as per a Vista/Office 2007 install:

1. Double click the Mail icon
2. Click the E-mail Accounts button
3. Double click the user's email Exchange profile
4. Change the User Name field to the new user's name
5. Click Check Name
• The new user name should become verified. It will then appear underlined.
6. Click Next and Finish.

Start Outlook and one should now see "Mailbox - New User" the correct name.

Send an email from the account to one of your test email accounts to verify that Exchange is properly tagging the email with the new user's name as well.

The above process is very similar for Outlook 2003 on Windows XP Professional.

To change the name that appears on any SharePoint Companyweb content:

1. Open the CompanyWeb page while logged in as the new user
2. Click on Site Settings near the top of the page.
3. Click "Update my information" under Manage My Information" near the bottom
4. Edit User Information
5. Change the "Display Name" to reflect the new user's name.
6. Save and Close

All posted content on the CompanyWeb site will now reflect the new user's name for all posted content via the original existing user profile.

One thing to let the new user know about: When all of the necessary name changes and profile shifts have happened, the local profile directory on the computer will not reflect their own name ... at least until that machine is replaced and they log into the new machine for the first time.

UPDATE 2008-05-16: Added the x400 change (thanks Tim) and the Exchange Alias change. Note that users with Exchange in Cached mode will not see the Alias change right away.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Windows SharePoint Services Version 3 learning & SBS 2008

As soon as we found out about the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Primer book being updated and released last December, we put in an order for some.

The book is going to be used to facilitate training here in the shop for those wanting to attempt the 70-282 exam: Designing, Deploying, and Managing a Network Solution for a Small- and Medium-Sized Business.

We were also interested in the new section for the 70-631 exam: TS: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Configuring. Since we have some up coming client demands for customizing SharePoint installations to their particular needs, this section was of particular interest to us.

To date, there has been a dearth of Windows SharePoint Services Version 3 (WSSv3) information out there. Yes, there are some documents one can download from Microsoft's Web site, but they really did not flesh out the how and why of WSSv3.

So, we were pretty excited to receive the SMBNation books in mid to late January.

One should be prepared, 70-631 gets three chapters devoted to it. So, it will give a really good medium to big picture of working with WSSv3 with some finer technical details. There are exam preparation questions at the end of each chapter to facilitate one's knowledge building endeavors.

So, to dive deeper into WSSv3, the various install scenarios, and customizing WSSv3 sites, we need something more.

We recently received these two books:

• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Version 3.0 Inside Out (0735623236)


• 
• Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (0470127287)


• 

So far, the Microsoft book is by far the clearest and most organized of the two.

Our reading method is to work through the Microsoft chapter while augmenting what we read with the detailed information that can be had from the Sybex version. Both have very detailed information, but the MS book tends to be a little more intuitive in its layout and presentation.

Together, the two books are both technically excellent, providing good methodology for installing, configuring, and securing WSSv3 sites. Both come with CDs that provide an electronic version of the books, as well as multiple utilities, templates, and more.

For clients who discover WSSv3's abilities, the sky is the limit! WSSv3 is a sweet spot for revenue growth in our company. Having someone on staff who can work magic with site presentation as well as providing an excellent grasp on bringing the various WSSv3 components together specific to a client's needs is worth their weight in Gold.

One of the benefits we see with the new SBS 2008 Premium Edition that contains a stand-alone server license and SQL 2005 license is a dedicated database server for SharePoint. For busy internal and/or externally facing WSSv3 sites, having the ability to dedicated RAM and CPU power to the site can provide a very solid foundation for promoting an upgrade to SBS 2008 Premium.

Even smaller clients that utilize volumes of data for their business via VPN will see a huge benefit in dropping the VPN bandwidth overhead for access to their data on WSSv3 via a Remote Web Workplace SSL secure session.

In our opinion, all three books are highly recommended. For the MSBS Primer, check out SMBNation, for the other two, visit your favourite local technical book seller or online merchant.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Books Released

With the advent of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS), there has been a relatively small pool of resources available for those of us who need to install and configure WSS sites.

We have:

• Product Site: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• Product Help: Help for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• TechNet: Windows SharePoint Services TechCenter
• Microsoft Download Search: SharePoint Services
• 5W/50 Series - Windows SharePoint Services Version 3.0 and 40 New Templates - Introduction and Overview (Part 1 of 3)
• 5W/50 Series - SB: Installation and Configuration of Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 (Part 2 of 3)
• 5W/50 Series - Customizing Windows SharePoint Services Version 3.0 and building a practice around WSS 3.0 (Part 3 of 3)

The 5W/50 series is an excellent overview and run through the install and configuration of WSS.

While the Web sites can be very helpful, there is still a huge need to fill in the gaps.

Today, according to popular book sellers, we have a couple of excellent new book based WSS resources available to us:

• SMB Nation: Microsoft Small Business Specialist Primer: Your Certification Path to Success!
• Microsoft Press: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Inside Out

As soon as we found out about the MSBS Primer from SMB Nation we placed an order for some.

With the release of the MS Press book apparently being today, we will be ordering a copy or two of it as well.

Having the books around for reference, or to take along for a working trip to read and study, is an excellent way to delve into a product's install, configuration, and management methodology as well as a great way to discover the "why" things work the way that they do.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - SharePoint Version 3 - Service Pack 1 Released

We have some WSS v3 sites that will be updated soon with Service Pack 1.

Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows SharePoint Services on December 8.

• WSS v3 SP1 x86 Edition Download - Full WSS + SP1
• WSS v3 SP1 x64 Edition Download - Full WSS + SP1
• WSS v3 SP1 Only (download page)
• WSS v3 SP1 x86 Download File Link (link to file)
• WSS v3 SP1 x64 Download File Link (link to file)
• SBS - Side-by-Side documentation for WSS v3 on SBS
• MS KB 936998: Description of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 and of Windows SharePoint Services Language Pack 3.0 Service Pack 1

Some install related issues:

• During Install
• MS KB 942101: You receive an error message when you try to apply any of the 2007 Office Service Pack 1 packages on a computer that is running Windows XP Service Pack 2
• MS KB 942618: The /log command-line switch and the /passive command-line switch do not function as expected when you run the installation package that contains Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1
• MS KB 942621: The SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard unexpectedly runs when you use quiet mode to install 2007 Microsoft Office System Servers or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and you apply a service pack, an update, or a hotfix
• After Install
• MS KB 942619: After you apply Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1, an event is logged in the Application log on the server: "User, group, or role 'WSS_Content_Application_Pools' already exists in the current database"
• MS KB 942995: You are prompted unexpectedly to restart the computer after you install a 2007 Office service pack or a 2007 Office update
• MS KB 944447: After you install the 2007 Office System Servers SP1 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 on a server that has the Foxit PDF IFilter installed, .pdf document types are not indexed

As always, read through the documentation to make sure none of the client's infrastructure will be impacted by the application of the service pack.

And, have a good backup in place and a recovery plan "B" in place before running the service pack on the server or server farm.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - SharePoint v3 Application Templates and more

We are in the process of preparing a new client site with an SBS install that will have Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3 installed beside the default SBS WSS v2 installation.

We will be following these guidelines: SBS - Installing SharePoint Services 3 on SBS (previous blog post).

Also, there are 40 new application templates available for WSS v3 that give us the ability to customize WSS v3 sites for our clients. They are available here: Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

For a quick description of the new templates and their features: Descriptions of Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

The primary goal for the WSS v3 site in this case is to replace a huge part of the clunky binder system that is being used for company process manuals with a Wiki site. The binders are very much out of date, and in many instances the contents are no longer applicable.

We will facilitate the user's understanding of the wiki site and its use with a couple of half day training sessions. One to train them in the use of the site, and the second to follow up and run through some of the finer aspects of updating and maintaining the site.

The goal is to get everyone involved in the upkeep of the wiki based manual, especially the people who do the tasks described therein.

In the long run, this will facilitate the accuracy of the contents and provide a simpler employee transition process as knowledge will no longer be lost when an employee leaves.

For us, Windows SharePoint Services provides an excellent avenue for providing value added services. When clients see the various possibilities to improve their business processes with WSS based Web sites, they see the long term value of having them setup.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - SharePoint Version 3 Kills CRM Web Client - Hotfix Available

This one comes via the newsgroups.

After installing SharePoint Services 3.0 on SBS, the CRM Web Client will fail to start. An IISReset would temporarily fix the issue.

KB 934790: Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: April 12, 2007.

From the KB:

• When you run a program that uses the SPWorkflowManager.ForceDehydrateHttpContextWorkflows() event to work with files that are saved in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library, the expected Web page is not displayed. Additionally, you receive the following error message:
  
  Service Unavailable

Product Support Services will need to be contacted for the hotfix. That link indicates that Microsoft will require up to 8 hours to respond.

If you need the hotfixes a bit quicker, then get in touch with the Online Concierge (previous blog post). They may be able to provide them via email immediately.

A direct link: Windows Server 2003 Online Concierge.

UPDATE: I goofed on the title. It is Version 3 of WSS, not SP3 for WSS 2! My apologies for the mistake.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS - Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3 on SBS

Some How To articles:

• The Official SBS Blog: WSS 3.0 Installation on SBS 2003.
• TechNet: Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Server Running Windows Small Business Server 2003.
• Official SBS Blog: Trouble Installing SharePoint 3.0 after WSUS 3.0.
• Which points to KB 934790: Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: April 12, 2007.

To quote from the Official SBS Blog on the proper order of things:

How to install SharePoint 3.0 and then WSUS 3.0.

1. Install SBS R2 including WSUS 2.0.
2. Install WSS 3.0 using the side by side installation steps in the white paper. Complete all steps.
3. Upgrade to WSUS 3.0.

If you install WSS 3.0 after WSUS 3.0, the SharePoint setup will complete, but the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard that runs after setup will fail to create a configuration database and WSS 3.0 will not be functional.

To obtain the above mentioned KB 934790 hotfix if WSS 3.0 was installed after WSUS 3.0, one is required to call Product Support Services.

This post is further to step 13 (reordered), install WSS 3.0 in side-by-side mode, in the previous blog post: SBS 2K3 R2 - Setup steps and resources.

UPDATE: Missed an important link!

Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Server Running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Link to download SBSWSSv3.doc).

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Mac on SBS - Connecting to Companyweb

To connect the Mac to the Companyweb site, one would think that the simple DNS header of Companyweb in Safari's Address Bar would do it.

It does not.

To connect a Mac with Safari to Companyweb, one must use the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) and the secure port number it uses:

• https://companyweb.mysbsdomain.lan:444

Safari will not like the locally signed certificate, and pop up a warning every time one navigates to the site.

Click on "View Certificate" to bring up the following page:


Change both options to "Always Trust".

This will eliminate the certificate warning in Safari, and enable the Mac user to browse and work with the Companyweb.

Also, the first time the user logs into the site they may need to authenticate against the SBS server. Save the username and password to the Keychain to avoid further password requests until the next password change.

Keep in mind that some features of WSS will not be available to the Safari browser such as "Explorer View".

It looks as if the Companyweb site, or others in WSS 2.x and the newer WSS 3.x will work very well for a heterogeneous environment with low data volume requirements.

Note that WSS 3.x would be the better choice for setting up the shared environment as there are more data redundancy and recovery features built into it like the Recycle Bin. Recovering data for a user from WSS 2.x can be really grief stricken and time consuming.

WSS 3.x also has the ability to work a two way relationship with Outlook 2007. That is, changes to the WSS 3.x site can be made in either WSS or Outlook and both will reflect the new changes.

WSS 2.x and Outlook 2003 is only a one way relationship. That is, one could only make changes on the WSS 2.x site with those changes reflected in the Outlook window.

This would save the need to work with the SMB/CIFS File System Authentication setup (shared folder network access) on every Mac. This point will be clarified further as we delve deeper into integrating our iMac into our SBS based infrastructure.

Some links relevant to WSS 3.x on SBS:

• Trouble Installing SharePoint 3.0 after WSUS 3.0.
• New Documentation: Installing WSS 3.0 on a Server Running Windows SBS 2003. (Word document download page)

So far, our adventures in MacLand have been relatively straight foward. More to come...

UPDATE: 2007-07-06: I missed that one needs to also check the "Always trust these certificates" under the lock image.

However, once that has been done, one no longer gets the certificate not being trusted error, one gets a "Certificate hostname mismatch" error. This one will require more investigation.

The error only comes up the first time the user logs into the Mac. Once they accept the certificate mismatch, they won't be nagged about it again until after they have logged out.

Further info to come hopefully! :D

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

SBS 2K3 R2 Premium - Upgrading WSS MSDE to SQL 2005

I have pretty much upgraded the default MSDE db instance for Windows SharePoint Services to a full SQL database since I can remember.

On SBS 2K3 RTM and SP1 this was a relatively straight forward upgrade to SQL 2000.

ON SBS 2K3 R2 Premium though, it is not so straight forward to upgrade the instance to a SQL 2005 instance.

There are a number of extra steps that one will need to complete in order to upgrade the database instance.

SmallBizServer.net has the low down on how to accomplish this task. The instructions are chock full of screen shots, so it is very easy to follow.

Microsoft also has its own article on the various types of database instances WSS can run and the upgrade processes for each here. This article also specifies the proper method for the Default install of SQL 2005 Workgroup Edition.

Watch yourself though, any mistakes and it could mean a re-install or recovery!

Happy SBSing,

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists