Warm up your SharePoint Web Applications on Windows 2008 R2 using the IIS 7.5 Application Warm-Up module

I have just recently built a new SharePoint 2007 farm on a complete Windows 2008 R2 server platform and part of my standard build procedure is to implement a warm up routine, usually in the form of a script that is scheduled every morning to launch my SharePoint Web Applications. Most of you will most likely know what I am referring to here, the slowness that end users experience when loading a SharePoint site for the first time in the morning!? By default IIS will recycle its worker processes during the night, in my case IIS 7.5 tells me this happens at 1:04 AM. You can locate this information in...

Restoring Data Protection Manager (DPM) Database onto a new server

I’m currently using Microsoft’s Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 to provide consolidated disk based snapshots of our File Shares, Exchange, SharePoint and SQL databases. I am in the process of upgrading our servers to Windows 2008 R2 and DPM was next on my list. I really didn’t want to re-create the wheel and start from scratch (I have over 5TB’s worth of replicas on my Dell MD1000 and a plethora of protection groups setup). In today’s post, I will provide you with a step by step guide in restoring your DPM server whilst retaining your DPM database and DPM replicas, and also explain a...

Upgrading your Content Database to SharePoint 2010 – Database Attach method

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint, SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010 on Dec 16th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Welcome back to the second article in this series on upgrading a SharePoint 2007 content database to SharePoint 2010. In part 1 we deep dived into the preupgrade tool that Microsoft made available with SharePoint 2007 SP2 and today we will complete our upgrade journey utilising one of the 3 upgrade models that are available to you by Microsoft. These are listed as follows; In-place upgrade Database attach upgrade to a new farm Hybrid approach (Read –only databases or Detach databases) There is a wealth of information regarding these different approaches on the Microsoft TechNet site under the...

Upgrading your Content DB to SharePoint 2010 – Part 1, The preupgradecheck

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint, SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010 on Dec 8th, 2009 | 0 Comments

I’m sure there are a lot of SharePointers out there who are excited about the 2010 release and as I have been working my way through the installation and configuration of this updated beast, I have also been providing you with posts along the way sharing my experiences. Today isn’t any different, and in this two part series I will be providing you with a guide to upgrading your SharePoint 2007 content databases to SharePoint 2010. There are already some great resources out there regarding upgrade options and preparation guidance including those from Microsoft on the TechNet Site and others...

Creating your first Web Application & Site Collection in SharePoint 2010

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint, SharePoint 2010 on Dec 1st, 2009 | 0 Comments

We are at the final article in this series in getting your SharePoint 2010 environment up and running, however the fun doesn’t end here (there will be plenty more posts on 2010 now that our test environment is up and running) . In this post I will be providing you with a step by step guide in creating your first SharePoint Web Application and Site Collection to host your sub webs. If you need to catch up on my previous posts in this series you can access them from the following links; Installing SharePoint 2010 Beta on a Windows 2008 R2 Server Configuring SharePoint 2010 Beta Service...

Configuring SharePoint 2010 Beta Service Applications and User Profile Service Synchronization

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint, SharePoint 2010 on Nov 25th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Welcome back to part 2 of this series in getting the basic bits and pieces of SharePoint 2010 beta up and running. If you recall in part 1, I provided a step by step guide in installing SharePoint 2010 Beta on a Windows 2008 R2 server. Today’s article will extend our setup and I will be providing another step by step guide in configuring SharePoint 2010 Service Applications in particular the User Profile Service in which I will create an Active Directory connection to import our users. Before delving into the step by step guide, let me provide you with a primer on Service Applications in...

Installing SharePoint 2010 Beta on a Windows 2008 R2 Server

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint 2010 on Nov 24th, 2009 | 0 Comments

With all the excitement around the recent public release of SharePoint 2010 beta, I am sure there are a lot of you who are installing, contemplating installing or have already installed the most anticipated version of SharePoint to date, albeit in beta form. In this introductory 3 part series I will provide you with step by step guides in the installation and basic configuration of SharePoint 2010 which also includes User Profile Synchronization and the creation of your first Web Application and Site Collection. The series will proceed as follows; Installing SharePoint 2010 Beta on a Windows...

Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2 – Part 3 – RD Web Access & RemoteApp

Posted by George Khalil in Windows 2008 R2 on Nov 23rd, 2009 | 0 Comments

Welcome back to the 3rd and final article in this series in installing and configuring your Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2, with the focus of today’s article around Remote Desktop (RD) Web Services (formerly referred to as TS Web Services) and utilising RemoteApp to publish applications to our RD Web Access web page and to the client desktop. For those that missed the previous 2 articles, you can access these from the links below; Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2 -Part 1 – Installation Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2 – Part 2 – RD Gateway RD Web Access is a...

SharePoint 2010 Beta 2 released to TechNet & MSDN subscribers – Rest of the public to follow soon.

Posted by George Khalil in SharePoint 2010 on Nov 17th, 2009 | 0 Comments

This has to be one of the most anticipated releases of the decade, SharePoint 2010 Beta 2. SharePoint Developers, Architects and Administrators have been waiting anxiously to get their hands on the latest beta which may potentially be a “feature complete” release of SharePoint 2010, albeit in Beta form. SharePoint 2010 Beta 2, and let’s not forget Office 2010 Beta with its bits and pieces are made available for download to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. For those that don’t have those subscriptions, the predicted wait may only be a couple of days away, 18th November as stated...

Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2 – Part 2 – RD Gateway

Posted by George Khalil in Windows 2008 R2 on Nov 16th, 2009 | 0 Comments

Welcome to the second article in this series on Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 R2. We were first introduced to the Remote Desktop (RD) Gateway in the first release of Windows 2008 and as previously mentioned in part 1 of this series, the RD Gateway was formerly known as Terminal Server (TS) Gateway. TS Gateway opened up Remote Access barriers providing access to our Terminal Servers via SSL or port 443, as opposed to the conventional “legacy” VPN access through either IPSEC or L2TP. In Windows Server 2008 R2, not much has changed and in today’s article I will provide you with a step...