Upcoming Events... Cool Stuff, In Person!

Are you in the Portland area?  Are you a SharePoint fan?  A favorite MVP of mine, Zubair Alexander will be presenting at SharePointlanda 2015 this coming Saturday (Nov 14th).  You can still join him!

Not into SharePoint? Are you thinking about Windows 10 for your enterprise instead?  I've got you covered for that too...  My fellow Tech Evangelists are hitting a bunch of cities across the US over the next several weeks.  Boston, Atlanta, Philly, Dallas, to name just a few.  Learn more at Ignite Your Business.

And for you folks who are stuck in the office, check out Part 7 of Blain Barton's "To The Cloud" series! Blain Barton welcomes Microsoft MVP Adnan Cartwright to the show as they discuss the inner workings of Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 R2 and how you can manage roles and features in the cloud.

• [10:04] DEMO: Introduction to Server Manager

If you're interested in learning more about the products or solutions discussed in this episode, click on any of the below links for free, in-depth information:

Websites & Blogs:

• Blain Barton's Blog
• Florida IT Server Group
• Integrity Solutions
• Check out the book! "Setting up your business in the cloud"

Videos:

• (Part 1) To the Cloud! What the Cloud can do for your Business
• (Part 2) To the Cloud! Getting Started with Office 365
• (Part 3) To the Cloud! Storing your files in the cloud with OneDrive for Business
• (Part 4) To the Cloud! Keeping track of customers with Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• (Part 5) To the Cloud! Managing Devices in the Cloud with Microsoft Intune
• (Part 6) To the Cloud! Building and Running Servers without the Hardware

The Imperfect Lab: Not So SharePointed

On my list of thing to try with the Imperfect Lab was deploying a SharePoint Farm from the new portal since there is this nifty wizard that just does all the work of building the servers for you.  Just a few clicks and boom, SharePoint!

But alas, it was not quite to be. While the portal does do what it claims, produces a test/dev scenario of SharePoint, it's completely isolated.  And completely isolated isn't exactly what I wanted. When you use the portal configuration "wizard" you are prompted for several bits of information that you can't get around.

1. You are prompted to give a domain name for a new FOREST domain.
2. You must create a NEW virtual network.

Because I wanted to create a little Imperfect Lab "team site" and experiment a bit with SharePoint 2013, I wanted to use my existing domain and my existing network.  But that isn't an option allowed via the portal "journey", to get what I want, I'll have to build it out the old-fashioned way, one server at a time.

Had I know this before I started this project, I might have considered creating the SharePoint farm first, then using that domain and network as the basis for the rest of my lab projects.  Oh well, that’s why we experiment in the first place right?  Live and learn. I guess I'll swing back around to this SharePoint project a bit later.

Meanwhile, if a completely isolated SharePoint playground is something you need, by all means check out the new Azure portal and give it go.  And if you need more than what the test environment provides, you might find the complete Planning for SharePoint 2013 on Azure Infrastructure Services guide useful.

IT Pro Events This Week!

Pacific IT Professionals has a few upcoming single day events this week, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, Sept 20th in Los Angeles - Ed Horley and Richard Hicks will be talking about IPv6 and DirectAccess in the Enterprise.  Find out more at http://www.meetup.com/pacitprosla/events/26490521/?a=socialmedia.

On Friday, Sept 23th in San Francisco - CA Callahan will be covering SharePoint Administration for the Unexpected Administrator.  You know who you are - you inherited a SharePoint installation or have been asked to get one running.  Once you've got it going, then what?  This one day event will give you a chance to pick the brain of a true SharePoint expert and author of several books on SharePoint WSS 3.0 and SharePoint Foundations.  For $99, you can't afford to miss out on this "everything but the kitchen sink" session - bring a question, you'll get the answer!  For more details and to register go to http://techdays.org/2011/09/spwithca/

SharePoint TechDay in San Francisco!

Have you found yourself in charge of a SharePoint installation you didn't plan for? Have you installed SharePoint and are wondering "Now what?" If so, don't miss the SharePoint Administration for the Unexpected Administrator - September 23rd from 10-5pm in San Francisco.

CA Callahan, the author of Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, will be covering 6 hours worth of SharePoint tips, tricks and topics. Personally, I turn to her books whenever I have a question about something in SharePoint.

Registration is open now!

Interesting Vendors and Products from SPTechCon

Last week, I popped over to the SPTechCon Expo Hall to check out some of the SharePoint related products that are available.  I’m relatively new to SharePoint, so this seemed like a great opportunity learn more about other ways to take advantage of SharePoint.

There were a lot of vendors that concentrated on using SharePoint as a document management solution, but that’s not an area I’m seriously considering for our SharePoint installation.  Primarily, I was looking for management tools since maintaining SharePoint is one of many things I manage on a day-to-day basis, so making things simpler is always a plus.

Here are a few products I might be looking at more closely this year:

AvePoint DocAve for SharePoint – AvePoint has a suite of products that are geared toward administration, data protection, compliance and migration.  Tools that catch my eye are their Administrator, SharePoint Antivirus, Report Center, Backup and Restore, Auditor and Migrator.

Commvault’s Simpana 9 – An information management software that touts up to 50% reduction in storage costs, 90% reduction of redundant data and 50% faster backups.  It includes modules for e-discovery, deduplication, records management and data archiving.  Works with file servers, email, SharePoint and a host of other places you store data, regardless of if that is on physical or virtual devices. 

MetaVis Migrator for SharePoint – Support migration from SharePoint 2010, 2007 and 2003, Exchange public folders and other file systems into the other SharePoint installations using a Windows Explorer interface. 

Later this week I’ll be hitting the expo floor at RSA in search of products to secure email. 

New SharePoint 2010 Books to Consider

Do you have SharePoint 2011 on your project horizon?  If so, don't forget to check out the following books when gathering your resources.

First, check out this recent post about a collaboration of knowledge from Microsoft MVPs on the MVP Award Blog - Over 20 SharePoint MVPs Contribute to SharePoint 2010 Book. You can find "Real World SharePoint 2010" at Amazon and other retailers.

If SharePoint Foundations is more your focus, look for CA Callahan's upcoming book "Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010" due out in mid-February. Callahan is also a Microsoft MVP and I've had the honor of getting a sneak peak at some of the content and am looking forward to adding this volume to my SharePoint references once it's available.  Also,if you are looking for some of Callahan's up to the moment tips and tricks, check out her blog.

(Curious about what makes a Microsoft MVP? Check out this post by Eric Ligman that sums up how to become, find or nominate an MVP.)

Upcoming Tech Events in 2011

Looking to fill your calendar with some free or low cost tech events in early 2011?  Consider some of these:

• TechNet Events Presents: Virtualization 101 - Microsoft Evangelists will talk about the creation of the hypervisor and demonstrate usage scenaros ranging from the home user up to multinational corporations. Discussions will also include how virtualization has given rise to "the Cloud".  The event is free and will be in San Francisco on 2/2/11, but check the list for dates in Los Angeles, Irvine, Denver, Portland and others locations on the west coast.
• Data Connectors Tech-Security Conferences - Just like the one-day event I attended a few weeks ago, Data Connectors will be all over the west coast in early 2011.   In particular, find it in San Jose, CA on 2/10/11.
• She's Geeky unConference - For all those women who embrace their geekiness, save the date for "She's Geeky Bay Area #4" running January 28-30th. 
• Register by 1/21 and snag a free Expo Only pass to the SPTechCon (The SharePoint Technology Conference) in San Francisco February 7-9th.  The full event doesn't fall into the "low cost" category, but if SharePoint is your thing, you might want consider more than just the expo.
• RSA 2011 - Another one of my favorites, the "Expo Plus" pass at RSA gets you into the expo hall, the keynotes and one conference session of your choice. RSA will be at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, February 14-18th. 

Plan your time well and you won't have to be in the office for much of the first quarter! 

Upcoming Tech Events

In case you are lacking in some tech related places to be, here are a few good options for the upcoming week.

November 2nd - You should vote, of course.  But when you are finished that, swing by the Pacific IT Professionals meeting in San Francisco.  There will be a presentation from NetApp on storage solutions, followed by two Microsoft specific topics -  BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) and MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack).  I'll be doing the MDOP presentation, so if you aren't sure what applications come inside that pack and what they do, this will be a great chance for you to get an overview.

November 3-4th - The gogoNet LIVE! IPv6 Conference in San Jose. I hear the pre-conference workshops are booked up, but it's not to late to attend the 2 days of sessions on planning and transitioning to IPv6.  I'll be helping out with some of the conference logistics on the 3rd and am hoping to slip into a few of the presentations as well.
 
Today and the next couple Thursdays - Callahan, a Microsoft MVP and book author on SharePoint, is offering up several free webinar presentations on SharePoint Foundation.  Today's session is already started, but you might want to check out what she has to offer in the coming weeks. If I was migrating my current SharePoint WSS 3.0 installation to Foundations, I'd start my planning with anything Callahan has to offer.

Don't miss these Upcoming Events

PacITPros will be having there monthly meeting on August 3rd.  PacITPros member Sam Bowne will be presenting a recap of items that came out at Defcon and Blackhat. Doug Spindler will be talking about security items related to the recent Microsoft Zero day exploits that have come out.  Don't forget to RSVP!

Coming up in early November, there is the SharePoint Intelligence one-day conference in Santa Clara.  For $350, spend the day attending a variety of sessions and networking with others involved with SharePoint. I'm hoping I can score a little training budget from the office! If you are in Southern California, the event will be held in mid-September.

SharePoint and Document Management

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a free seminar that featured a document management solution that integrated with SharePoint. As a new SharePoint administrator for a company that already has a content management system in place, I was curious has to how they compared.

KnowledgeLake has several product components that can be used to capture, image and manage enterprise content from various sources. The seminar demonstrated several of the products running on top of SharePoint 2010.

• Imaging - View, annotate and index images from a web browser using a SilverLight based document viewer; scan batches of documents; centralize the configuration of indexing, database validation and lookups; scan and index documents without ever leaving the SharePoint interface.
• Capture - Scan documents in batches; use OCR technology to extract document meta-data; use “key from image” technology to easily apply document meta-data; save documents to SharePoint from anywhere you have a web (HTTP) connection.
• Connect - enables users to save content on an ad-hoc basis - such as Office documents, PDF files and e-mail messages; provides integration to virtually any line of business application; monitors the files you retrieve from SharePoint and updates SharePoint as you save changes to your documents.
• Workflow - attach a business process to documents in Microsoft SharePoint, including routing of documents for approval, reviews and/or the document's lifecycle. Workflows can be user-initiated or automated based on the actions of the scanning and capture software.

Since we started looking at managing our documents electronically through our enterprise, I’ve been an advocate for using technology to help streamline processes, make important documents easier to find and better protect data that might not otherwise be recoverable in the event of a fire or flood.

While I won’t be looking to replace our current document management system, ImageRight, I was please to see that there are other products available that have a similar feature set, while taking advantage of a portal that a company might already be utilizing.

My TechEd Session Wish List

Had a great time at TechEd this year, do not get me wrong. But like all the other conferences of the past, there is often too much good stuff to get it all in.

This year, just about all the breakout sessions are available online. While some may think this reduces the value of actually attending the conference, I disagree. The more intimate sessions, like Birds-of-a-Feather and the “Interactive” style sessions were not recorded. So when I could, I attended those sessions over the traditional breakouts, chatted with Microsoft experts in the TLC areas, or spent time networking with others in the Expo and Community Lounge.

If I could have tailored TechEd to fit my schedule and I had more than 4 days, here are the sessions I would have attended. I did get to a few of them during the conference, they are marked with a (*). Since it will probably take me a while to view all the ones I missed, if you caught one of these and it’s especially good or bad, comment and let me know!

Management Track
MGT314* – Technical Introduction to Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010

Office & SharePoint
OSP314* – Microsoft Outlook and Exchange 2010: Better Together Overview
OSP208 – Microsoft Office 2010 for IT Professionals
OSP203 – (SharePoint) Designing Governance: How Information Management and Security Must Drive Your Design

Security, Identity & Access
SIA333 – Useful Hacker Techniques: Which Part of Hackers’ Knowledge Will Help You in Efficient IT Administration?
SIA230 – Why Security Fixes Won’t Fix Your Security
SIA306 – Night of the Living Directory: Understanding Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Recycle Bin, Undeletion and Reanimation

Unified Communications
UNC303* – Upgrading from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2007 to Exchange Server 2010: Tips, Tricks and Lessons Learned
UNC307* – What’s New in Archiving, Retention, and Discovery in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1
UNC201 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1: An Overview of What’s Coming
UNC306 – Going Big! Deploying Large Mailboxes with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 without Breaking the Bank
UNC203 – What’s New in OWA, Mobility, and Calendaring in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1
UNC301 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010: Sizing and Performance – Get It Right the First Time

Virtualization
VIR310 – Networking and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V: Deployment Considerations
VIR403 – Virtualization FAQ, Tips and Tricks
VIR316 – Remote Desktop Session Host vs. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Smackdown

Windows Client
WCL304 – Best Practices Guide to Managing Applications
WCL205 – Windows 7 Deployment Tips from Early Adopters

Windows Server
WSV208* – Best Practices in Architecting and Implementing Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
WSV333 – DNSSEC and Windows: Get Ready, ‘Cause Here It Comes!
WSV201 – 10 Hot Topics Every IT Admin Needs to Know about Windows Server 2008 R2
WSV303 – Death of a Network: Identify the Hidden Causes of Lousy Network Performance
WSV301 – Administrators’ Idol: Windows and Active Directory Best Practices
WSV307 – Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Developer Tools, Languages & Frameworks DEV211 - Microsoft Professional, Master and Architect Level Certifications: Notes from Those Who Have Conquered and Lived to Tell the Tale

Let's not "View All Site Content"

I've been managing our company's new SharePoint (WSS 3.0) "intranet" for about a month or so now and have been slowly introducing features to different departments based on needs. Most of the time, I've simply been setting up the sites, pages or libraries they need and making them accessible through the navigation areas.

Some things were left off of the navigation intentionally, like subsites for special projects and other bits of the SharePoint content that were really meant to stay in the background. However, all of it is accessible using the "View All Site Content" link on the top of the default left navigation bar, much to my dismay.

Turns out, I'm not the only person who wants that link to disappear easily and there are a variety of solutions available on the Internet, depending on your needs. For my organization, I really just needed the link to not be visible. I'm not deeply concerned about people having the permissions to access that view, I just want it to be difficult to get to that view in the first place!

Since I'm not a SharePoint designer guru, nor am I very good at CSS, I wanted a simple solution that would give me the option of removing the link without having to poke around in the "master pages" and whatnot. I found Mark Wagner's post How To: Hide/Remove "View All Site Content", complete with a downloadable solution package that was perfect for my needs. It was quick and easy to install and didn't even require the restart of IIS.

Upcoming Events for Techies

The Citrix and Microsoft Roadshow – a free, half-day event being held in multiple locations across the US covering desktop virtualization. If you are in CA, catch it in Sacramento on May 25th, inSan Francisco on June 10th or in Los Angeles on June 17th.

Enterprise Content Management in SharePoint – another free, half-day seminar hosted by Microsoft, QuickStart Intelligence, and KnowledgeLake. Learn how to lower costs and increase productivity by transforming your existing Microsoft SharePoint into an Advanced Enterprise Content Management system using SharePoint 2010. This is being held June 18th in Microsoft’s San Francisco office.

Also don’t forget about the Microsoft Bus Tour if you’ll be on the east coast, which starts today! I’m hearing some cities are already fully booked, so don’t miss out if you can still grab a slot.

The Bus Tour ends at TechEd in New Orleans and I’m looking forward to a fun-filled week of learning. Visit me at the Springboard booth in the TLC area if you are going to be there.

Icons and Indexing for PDF files on SharePoint

Part of our SharePoint project is making sure that users can find what they are looking for (including within PDF documents) and that there are icons next to the documents that accurately reflect the file type. There are a variety of blog posts and information out there regarding this from several years ago, but I'd like to summarize this up for those of you who might be doing what I've done - installed WSS 3.0 on Server 2008.

Out of the box, WSS 3.0 only indexes standard Windows file types, which are Office files and basic text files. It will also only show the proper icons for Office files. All other files get the default "blank paper" icon.

To allow for searching of PDF files, you'll need the proper iFilter installed on your server. We are using version 9 of the Adobe Acrobat product line, so by installing Acrobat Reader 9 on the server all the necessary files were installed. No need to download any other iFilter components separately.

Then I followed the steps as outlined in KB 927675. This article was last reviewed in May 2007, but the steps haven't change for Server 2008. However the data I found in Step 3 for the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension\.pdf registry setting was different than in the article. It was {4C904448-74A9-11D0-AF6E-00C04FD8DC02} on my installation.

Next you'll need the icon files. You'll want the 17 x 17 pixel one from the Adobe website. If you have any other icons for specialty file types you'll wanted added to your server, you might as well gather them all up and make sure they are 17 x 17 as well. Copy them all to \Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES.

Then open the XML file that WSS uses to reference which file types display which icons. This is at \Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\XML\DOCICON.XML. (Saving a backup copy is always a good idea at this point.)

Add a mapping key for each of the file types at the bottom of the file, above the /ByExtension closing tag. XML is case sensitive so make sure you use same case and spacing as previous entries. The key will be Mapping Key="ext" Value="iconfile.gif" OpenControl='''/. Replace "ext" with "pdf" or whatever file extension you are adding a icon for, and adjust the "iconfile.gif" name to reflect the correct name of the image files you added.
Then save the XML file.

To ensure a full new crawl of all the PDF files for indexing, you should restart the server or stop/restart the spsearch service and force a full index using the stsadm -o spearch -action fullcrawlstart. I just restated the server, as we are using a virtual server for SharePoint and VMs restart pretty quickly.

Finally, if you'd like to check out the older blog posts I used as references, check out Configure PDF IFilter in WWS 3.0 and Searching PDFs with WSS 3.0 SP1.

Error Messages: When they could be more helpful...

The last few weeks I've been tripped up by this odd issue with connecting calendars in SharePoint to Outlook 2007. The problem was following me from machine to machine, which made it particularly troublesome. Other people I tested with could properly connect to the calendars, so I knew it wasn't a show-stopper for our SharePoint (WSS 3.0) roll out, but I knew I'd need to get it solved at some point.

The only two symptoms I had that seemed worth any salt was the fact that the "sharepoint.pst" file wasn't being created and Outlook would throw an Informational Event in the Application log, that stated "Operation Failed" (Event 27). So which operation was failing?

Turns out we had an odd collection of things going on that contributed:

1. An Office GPO set a while back during our Office 2007 deployment defaulted newly created PST files to sub-folder in the user's home folder called "outlook" (Ex. home\outlook)
2. Several users (including myself) had an unexplained file named "outlook" (no extension) of 265MB in size in their home folders.
3. Users (like me) who didn't use PST files or had their PST files in a different location before the policy was applied.
   

The GPO policy wouldn't have been an issue, if not for the random "outlook" file that was blocking the creation of the sub-folder for the sharepoint.pst placement. (Bad default PST file creation after the software upgrade from Office 2003? Failed personal mailbox creation if the server/username couldn't be resolved for some reason?)

The Windows operating system will allow the creation of folders that match filenames as long as the file has a file type extension on it, but if the file doesn't have an extension it's not possible to create a folder of the same name. If this problem occurs in Windows Explorer, an error message will pop up.

However when Outlook 2007 was confronted with the inability to create the sub-folder, it failed in a mostly silent fashion - providing only the "operation failed" message, without any additional information that would have been valuable in the moment. A error window or line in that application log error detailing the path to where the sharepoint.pst file was supposed to go would have made the error quick and easy to resolve.

SharePoint 2007 Notes & Oddities

Since working with SharePoint for a couple of weeks, I've noticed a few oddities that I think are worth mentioning. Some I have an explanation for, others I don't.

Oddity #1 - Rich-Text Editor for Web Parts doesn't work properly on 64-bit Internet Explorer.

I get a scripting error when I try to use the rich-text editor and when I edit a wiki page on a machine using 64-bit IE, I get the HTML code instead. This is a known issue with "Level 2" browsers - of which 64-bit IE (7 or 8) is considered. TechNet details out the compatibility issues. This issue still appears to remain with SharePoint 2010 according the compatibility table for that version as well.

Oddity #2 - I can't link SharePoint calendars to my Outlook 2007.

This seems to be a problem that only affects my user account at the moment and it follows me from computer to computer. I have two machines at work 64-bit Windows 7 with Office 2007, and Windows XP SP3 with Office 2007. In both instances, if I select the option to "Connect to Client" I get the prompt to accept the connection and then nothing happens. No link to the calendar, no sharepoint.pst is created, no mention of calendar link in the Sharepoint Lists under account settings. Outlook 2007 reports an information event in the application log - Event 27: The operation failed.

I've had two other people test the functionality with no problems, so this is bizarre for sure. But I want to work out why this is a problem before rolling SharePoint out across the board. If I want to get rid of public folder calendars, everyone needs to be able to link SharePoint calendars into their Outlook. Even me.

Special Note #3 - Make sure the SharePoint site doesn't launch in Protected Mode.

Protected Mode blocks a lot of the functionality of ActiveX, so the drop down Action menus won't work for users in this mode. I noticed this when I accessed the site from Terminal Services RemoteApp. I'll need to adjust some of the policies and IE security features on terminal services to make sure regular users have the same experience they would in the office.

Starting out with SharePoint

This week I’ve started implementing the SharePoint pilot at the office. Right now, the goal is to use it an “upgrade” to our current Intranet and provide some calendar and meeting workspaces for better collaboration.

Our existing Intranet is organized by department, with a subset of users in each department being responsible for updating content in their areas. Right now, we use the combination of a basic IIS website and Macromedia’s Contribute as the client application for updating the pages. We’d had some difficulty with the Contribute application and training, which has resulted in the Intranet being mostly static content.

For this implementation, I’ve set up one site collection with the main site being the company Intranet home page. Then I created additional sites for each department and a couple extra sites for some specialty areas, like our company-wide disaster preparation. Each of these sites will likely have different contributors, so I wanted to allow for different permission sets for each site.

I’ve spent some time populating each site with some of the content that exists on our current Intranet site, playing around with web parts and getting a feel for what I’d be able to implement in this first phase. I’ve spent several days just copying and pasting – it’s almost a little addictive. Our current Intranet has a lot of documents and forms for reference, so I still need to set up the necessary libraries and port that information over to mirror the current web experience in SharePoint.

I’d like to be able to hand over the majority of the content management to the contributors in each department once everything is officially “live” and we've organized some formal training. With the addition of web parts for announcements, discussion boards and wikis, I’m hoping SharePoint will allow our Intranet to become a more fluid destination with fresh information posted by a variety of staff members. I know I’m looking forward to using Wikis to provide more tips from the Helpdesk related to using ImageRight, Shoretel, email and our remote access solutions.

My 2010 Reading List: So Far

It's unfortunate that I feel like I'm starting the year already behind on my "tech" reading list. Here's a quick list of I have within arms reach.

• Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by C. A. Callehan - This has been a great resource for my first attempt at implementing SharePoint. It's a hefty book, I wish it included a PDF version I could convert onto my Kindle.
  
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 : The Complete Reference by Richard Luckett, William Lefkovics, Bharat Suneja and MCITP: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Messaging Design and Deployment Study Guide - These have been part of my Exchange certification study materials, as well as a starting point for deciding if its worth migrating to Exchange 2007 or skipping to Exchange 2010.
  
• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V: Insiders Guide to Microsoft's Hypervisor by John Kelbley, Mike Sterling and Allen Stewart - Would you believe I got this free from NetApp? It got several good reviews on Amazon, so I'm looking forward to getting a chance to sit down with it.
  
• Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and Troubleshooting by Jeremy Moskowitz. I've read his Windows 2000 Group Policy book years ago, so I much appreciated winning this one from him via Twitter.

In addition to books, I've downloaded several whitepapers onto my Kindle for those free moments on the subway:

• Implementing and Administering Certificate Templates in Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Certificate Services Step-By-Step Guide
• Exchange Server 2010: What's New and What's Changed by Allan Jacobs

Authentication Roadblock for WSS 3.0 Access on the local Server

Ran into a fun little authentication issue with IIS 7 and SharePoint recently. I installed a SharePoint farm on one machine and set up my first site collection with a custom host header. Once the site was created I was unable to access it from the host server where I was working. I received an authentication prompt three times and the browser would report that the page load was "Done" but the result was a blank page. The problem did not occur when I set up the site using the host name and a port number.

A peek in the server event logs showed my account failing the authentication with the following:

Security Log Error: 4625
Keyword: Audit Failure
Failure Reason: An Error occurred during Logon.
Status: 0xc000006d

A little Internet searching and a look at one of my favorite troubleshooting resources, www.eventid.net, resulted in a link to Microsoft KB 896861, which explains an authentication issue with Integrated Authentication and versions of IIS over 5.1.

The fix that worked for me was to disable the loopback checking, a security feature designed to prevent reflection attacks. Make the following change to the registry and everything will be right in your SharePoint world.

1. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa


2. Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.


3. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.


4. Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.


5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.


6. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.

Installing IIS for SQL 2005 and SharePoint

I've started planning out an installation of SharePoint at work and have found myself installing some of the necessary WSS 3.0 components in the lab. I want to set up SharePoint as a small server farm on one server, which requires SQL to be pre-installed. Both SQL 2005 (if you want all the services) and WSS 3.0 require IIS, but the default installation of IIS on Windows Server 2008 does not include all the necessary components for either one.

First to support WSS 3.o, you'll need to make sure all the components in this list are selected. But if you go with the just components on that list, you'll still get a warning about "IIS Feature Requirement" when installing SQL 2005. Most of the necessary components overlap with WSS 3.0 except for one - HTTP Redirection - so be sure to select that one as well.

Finally, if you are looking around for some WSS 3.0 installation guides, here is a link to some of the downloadable documentation. Perfect if you are looking for some fresh reading on your Kindle.