harbar.net component based software & platform hygiene
February 2010 Blog Posts

Groundhog Day: Configuring Back Connection Host Names using Group Policy

Quite some time ago I posted coverage of the DisableLoopbackCheck registry key and how it impacts SharePoint. It’s amazing just how often this comes up on the Interwebz. Scarily the common advice given is to turn this feature off. And that’s bad advice. In my original post I detailed why. In a nutshell: OK in test/dev, NOT OK in Production.  Yesterday my buddy Bob Fox posted a follow up, DisableLoopBackCheck? Let’s do it the right way. His post details how to configure a list of names which won’t be checked. This is all good, but what if you...

Now Available: Interacting with the Excel Web Services API for SharePoint Server 2007

An article I worked on recently has just been published to MSDN. The article walks developers through the basics of getting started with the powerful Excel Web Services API for building BI and Calculation based services on SharePoint Server 2007. Get a quick start with the Excel Web Services API, which enables interaction with published Microsoft Office Excel 2007 workbooks in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 from a remote application. Learn considerations around session state, security, and performance. (6 printed pages) Many thanks to Randall Isenhour, Kimberly Hope and the MSDN crew for their...

The best SharePoint Conference ever is back, with a vengeance!

No disrespect to the SharePoint Team at Microsoft. They put on a *great* show. But well, ya know, it’s an official Microsoft conference, and some things are just done better by the community. Last year in April I flew into London exhausted after a crazy six weeks in Redmond for the SharePoint Best Practices Conference. Despite really needing a months holiday, it was simply the best conference experience I’ve had in over 15 years. A *great* show, great content, great people, great organisation and great fun. By a country mile, the best SharePoint related conference ever. And it’s back,...

MUST READ: SharePoint’s Sasquatch Memory Leak

Over on the rather natty looking new blog from PFE extraordinaire Todd Carter, there are details of a serious issue with SharePoint that everyone should be familiar with. Check it out. Todd's Blog | SharePoint’s Sasquatch Memory Leak

Tips and tricks for running SharePoint Server 2010 on Windows 7

Whilst I was one of the most vocal advocates for the ability to run SharePoint Server on the client OS, it wasn’t really something I ever thought I’d want to run myself. I understood why it was of critical importance to enable this scenario, but I’m a farm guy, topologies are my bag. When the beta release came about I slapped it on a old machine just to see it working and left it at that. I also checked out the quality documentation over on MSDN which provides the convoluted steps to get it singing. Such steps are a good...