The Managed metadata service application is a welcome addition to SharePoint 2010 and is one of my favorite Enterprise Content Management features within this release. In this two part series I plan to delve into the configuration of the Metadata Service Application and then finish off with real life examples on utilizing our metadata throughout our SharePoint sites.  So what is the Managed Metadata Service Application all about and what value does it bring over what we had in SharePoint 2007? The Managed Metadata’s  primary purpose is to provide you with a central location to store...

We continue our journey in configuring our SharePoint 2010 farm and today we shift our focus to one of the many exciting new inclusions in SharePoint 2010, “Office Web Apps”.  Office Web Apps was first introduced with SharePoint 2010 and soon after released to the public integrating with Windows Live SkyDrive (currently in beta form) to compete with Google Docs.  Office Web Apps is an online version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote allowing users to access these applications and their respective documents from any Internet connection and most notable web browsers.  For those...

We all have to agree that search plays an integral part of any successful SharePoint deployment and is an area that Microsoft continues to invest in with each new release of SharePoint. Microsoft went as far as acquiring FAST 2 years ago which it now offers as a separate add-on to SharePoint for those willing to invest in high end enterprise search.  In addition to FAST, SharePoint 2010 search comes in a number of flavors each offering their own feature set and capabilities which I have duplicated at the end of this article as an Appendix for convenience. Today we will introduce SharePoint Server...

SharePoint My Sites are commonly referred to as “Facebook for the enterprise” and are personal site collections providing each user with the ability to store private and public information such as documents, pictures, status updates, etc easily and efficiently.  My Sites in SharePoint 2010 takes social enterprise computing to the next level and builds upon what we have come to love in previous versions.  Microsoft saw the need to continue to invest and enhance SharePoint’s social networking capabilities, and as web 2.0 technologies continue to sprawl all over the world wide web, Microsoft have...

I first introduced Service Applications and User Profile Service Synchronization back when SharePoint 2010 was in beta, and as many of you who would have attempted this feat, would have come to realize that there were a couple of known issues, in particular those around utilizing a least privilege model with service accounts.  I’m confident in stating that these issues have now been resolved with RTM and in today’s article I will share with you my step by step guide in setting up the User Profile Service application, focusing on its configuration and administration and how we can...

In my last article I provided you with a guide in setting up your SharePoint 2010 farm providing it with the capabilities in receiving incoming email which can then be delivered directly to your SharePoint libraries and or lists.  Today we wrap up our 2 part series on email flow in SharePoint 2010 in which I will provide you with another step by step guide in configuring your SharePoint Farm in order for it to send outgoing emails through your Microsoft Exchange server. The environment This article builds on the SharePoint Farm setup that I have documented here. It consists of the following servers...

Today we continue down our journey in setting up our SharePoint 2010 farm, with the focus on configuring incoming email for SharePoint 2010.  When SharePoint 2007 was released, there was a lot of discussion and rumors around Exchange 2007 being the last version of Exchange to provide Public Folder support, and that SharePoint 2007 was going to be it’s alternative. Microsoft quickly changed its stance and continues to support Public folders in Exchange 2010.  However, there still might be a number of compelling reasons why you would want to consider storing incoming email messages in SharePoint...

SharePoint 2010 is definitely generating a lot of buzz out there in the community, especially amongst partners and customers and with the official launch only a day away, I thought it would be ideal to update my installation which I first blogged about here using all the RTM bits.  For those of you that aren’t aware, SharePoint 2010 and SQL 2008 R2 are now available for download via TechNet or MSDN and will be available to Volume Licensing customers post launch, 12 May 2010. The below setup will be based on SharePoint 2007 best practices and SharePoint 2010 TechNet documentation on “proposed”...

Windows 2008 R2 has introduced a number of compelling features that would entice any Windows administrator to upgrade to, and the most welcomed feature in my own opinion would have to be the Active Directory Recycle Bin.  Previous to the R2 upgrade, system admins and the like would have had to rely on paid 3rd party software that would take care of accidental deletions of users or even worst organizational units.  Those who did not make the investment in 3rd party software would have had to rely on system state backups which is always a disruptive process in the event that you needed to perform an...

Today I will continue my series of articles on Microsoft’s latest Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) and will focus our efforts in publishing Windows 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web) and Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) to the world wide web via TMG.  If you missed my first article on installing Forefront TMG, you can access it here. This article is assuming that your Remote Desktop Services infrastructure is already in place and that your RD Gateway and RD Web Access are on the same server.   Refer to my 3 part series on Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2 which...