harbar.net component based software & platform hygiene
May 2008 Blog Posts

Even easier way to obtain MSFT hotfixes

For a while now Microsoft have been offering online hotfix requests which minimise the need to call CSS and raise an incident to get your hands on a hotfix. However the link to the request form was hidden in the "hotfix information" section of the KB and often missed by customers. Today support.microsoft.com have improved things significantly with the following graphic at the very top of each KB article for which a download is available: This takes you to an improved hotfix request form allowing you to select language, OS etc and then send a...

Leveraging the platform - Caching in SharePoint WCM scenarios

Late Friday afternoon/evening I had an interesting call with a customer who was experiencing severe perceived poor performance on their SharePoint 2007 WCM application. The problem was resolved simply by implementing OOTB functionality - namely Caching, in particular the disk-based caching, and they agreed it was appropriate to post here. Basically the site is a regular Publishing site albeit used for the most part internally. The site does feature however a significant amount of "binary content" which is linked to from the pages. It had been running fine for quite a while, but not in volume. They hadn't planned for or...

SharePoint 2007 Post SP1 Fixes

This is a list of the post Service Pack 1 hotfix packages for SharePoint 2007, primarily for my own reference. This is not a list of fixes, but rather the update packages. [[UPDATE]] Updated and moved to: www.harbar.net/articles/postsp1.aspx.

Office SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Licensing

Consistently and by a considerable margin, the most popular search terms that lead people to this site are around MOSS Licensing and the For Internet Sites (MOSS FIS) edition. This is also a hot topic in customer engagements, in classrroms, at conferences such as TechEd and in general conversations about using SharePoint 2007 for Internet sites. This is not all that surprising given the amount of misinformation out there. In addition Microsoft obfuscate the topic with many layers of misdirection. I know for a fact that this isn't deliberate on the part of the vendor, but one could be forgiven...

New version of Application Pool Manager

Finally managed to finish up a new version of the Application Pool Recycle Utility for SharePoint Developers! This release features many enhancements and a couple new features based on feedback. You can download the new release and view more information here. [Update 26/05/2008] Please note this is the last major release of the original codebase. Whilst minor fixes will continue to be made, future major releases will target Windows Server 2008 only.

How to install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 on Vista x64/x86 - The Bamboo Team Blog

Here's an *unsupported* way to get WSS SP1 up and running on Vista. Like I say *unsupported*!!! How to install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 on Vista x64/x86 - The Bamboo Team Blog

Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog : Announcing: SharePoint WCM book available at TechEd 2008

While the book will be available shortly after this TechEd, we will have the first 1400 copies of the book at TechEd that we'll be giving away. So keep your eyes open when the book releases! If you're coming to TechEd, swing by the SharePoint booth for a chance to get a copy and have Andrew to sign it for you! Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog : Announcing: SharePoint WCM book available at TechEd 2008

MOSS 2007 Content Deployment QFE Pack Now Available via MSFT CSS

[UPDATE] Don't be deploying these fixes, go get the Infrastructure Updates instead (which include these fixes). Whilst assisting customers recently who are experiencing issues with Content Deployment (CD) in MOSS 2007, it appears CSS now has a huge QFE that addresses a ton of known issues (60+) specific to (CD). For now it looks like you can only get it via Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS). Like other hotfixes, it's likely this QFE pack will be included in a future MOSS update roll up but there are no details or confirmation on this at present. The QFE pack helps address some...

SUGUK hits Edinburgh in June

We are pleased to announce the first SUGUK meeting in Edinburgh. The event will take place at the stunning Scottish Parliament (no snide remarks about using it for something useful please!) on Thursday June 19th. A special shout out to Stephen Hynds for organising the venue. If you get there early you'll be able to take a wee tour. The event will include two sessions by Steve Smith and myself: MOSS 2007 on Windows Server 2008 - Spencer Harbar Learn how to leverage the...

Finally decent x64 drivers for Atheros WLAN in MacBook Pros

For those with the pre-Penryn MacBook Pros running Vista x64 you will no doubt be bloomin' annoyed by the conflict issue between the wireless driver and the sound card which results in white noise and annoying clicks and pops when using a WLAN connection. At last a complete fix for this is now available - via - wait for it - Windows Update! Now you could solve this previously for hunting down Atheros drivers from dodgy laptop forum type sites - but that's helva risky. This way is much better!

Using Kerberos with SharePoint on Windows Server 2008

[UPDATE] Please note that SharePoint 2010 does not support Kernel Mode Authentication, and disables this by default when Web Applications are created. Please see this post for more details.   As I demonstrated during the Kerberos session at the Manchester SUGUK meeting last month, there is an extra step required to enable Kerberos Authentication for SharePoint when using Windows Server 2008. One of the security changes in IIS 7.0 is that Windows Authentication is performed by default in the kernel. This is a good thing! It eases the configuration required for Kerberos and improves performance significantly. Because HTTP.sys is handling the authentication, it is...

Web Deployment Tool Beta 1 (Go Live) just released

Wondered what happened to app center? Want to sync your IIS (and remain supported) Want that sync to include SSL Certs? GAC? Regkeys?  DSNs? - well apart from the last two (for which you should be shot) :) Check out the Web Deployment Tool which has reached Beta 1 and for which there is a Go Live licence.

DOC to PDF Document Convertor for MOSS

Sweet article on how to create a MOSS Document Convertor for DOC to PDF utilising thier components and minimal code - which is always a good thing :) The article also so provides good guidance and examples for creating your own Document Convertors, a very useful but under utilised capability of the Content Management features of MOSS. Add DOC to PDF and Other Conversions to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Aspose Components

My must have Mac OS utilities

One of the great things about my MacBook Pro (or any computer running the excellent Mac OS X for that matter) is that pretty much everything just works and for the most part everything you need is included in Mac OS. Things have certainly changed since my early days in this "industry" cramming all manner of dodgy third party applets into the system folder! There are however a small number of essential utilities I wouldn't wish to be without when I am on the turtle-neck side of my MacBook Pro. Battery Health Monitor This bad boy I hopefully won't use much, but checks...

Triple Boot MacBook Pro

Running Mac OS X, Windows Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 on a MacBook Pro. This article series details a process for installing Mac OS X, Windows Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 on a MacBook Pro with complete driver support. While it is not the only way to setup such a system, this approach minimises the configuration necessary and avoids shell commands, and the need for third party boot loader utilities. The scenario this approach is intended to address is as follows: Primary OS for day to day use – Windows Vista Ultimate x64 Service Pack...