Remove the performance breaks when using VMWare 5.0 and Windows Cluster services

There are probably a lot of SharePoint Farms that use a Microsoft SQL cluster. Even now with new possibilities like Always-On for SQL 2012. But not only if you use SharePoint might this be of interest for you.

About a year ago, a customer of mine had some very bad performance with his SQL Server. The SQL was version 2008 R2 using the Windows Cluster Service hosted on a VMWare ESX 5.0 private cloud. Nothing unusual and of course the first thoughts were pointing to the VMWare servers. But let’s take a look at the performance test we performed on the cluster.

Log Parser Studio 2.2

Log files are a hassle. Too many entries and bad formatting make it a challenge to work with logs. So if you are already familiar with Microsofts LogParser, you’ll love to hear that there is an even better way to work with Log files.

Log Parser Studio is a Windows Tool that uses LogParser and gives you a GUI to work with. This way it's easier to create adhoc reports of your logfiles. You can export the query as a script and then automate your tasks.
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Log-Parser-Studio-cd458765

LogParser
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=24659

Getting Started with the Log Parser Studio
http://blogs.technet.com/b/karywa/archive/2013/04/21/getting-started-with-log-parser-studio.aspx

Fire up those caches

Picture by Caroline Gutman

If you’re working with SharePoint you probable heard already about something called the Warm-Up Script. It won’t keep you warm in the night and you must ask your partner or cat to do so. The Warm-Up script prefetches SharePoints ASPX pages and loads them into the IIS cache. This will help to improve the user experience. There are different approaches to do this. But beside of the script itself, the proper configuration will get things really started.

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Opening Word file from SharePoint 2010 causes Office to crash

Today I wasn’t able to open a Word file from the SharePoint Server. Every time I opened the document from the server, Word crashed. Saving the file to disk and opening it then worked just fine. What made it even worse was that SharePoint thought the file was opened exclusive for my user account and I couldn’t do any action on the file on the server e.g. deleting. Bugs! I don’t like them, but it’s always a good feeling when you found out how to get rid of ‘em.

Creating a bookshelf with the Content Query Webpart in SharePoint

A lot of information these days comes in form of an eBook or similar format like a simple PDF. In SharePoint the easiest way to present this information to the user is as a list. For the more ambitious there is the metadata navigation, which brings a lot of beauty for handling list content. I will use a more sophisticated approach via the Content Query Webpart (CQWP) to present the information like books on the bookshelf.

Preparation

Before we can start, we’ll need to step back for a moment and think about the data structure we’ll need in order to support the view we are creating here. There are a few questions you must ask yourself:

• Where and in which document library will you store you eBooks?
• Will you mix different content types in that document library or will you create a new library for every document type?

In my case, I have more documents other than just eBooks. I’ve decided to keep all documents in a single document library and to identify the documents by their content type. Therefore, one of the first steps will be to create the library, the columns and the content type.

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SharePoint 2015 is peeking thru

Today I was working with the SharePoint Design Manager on Office365 when I found something interessting:

Wave 16 can already be selected in Office365

It seems like Microsoft is already testing Office Wave 16 in the field or at least preparing for it. It is possible to select the Option for SharePoint 2015, but you will get an error that uploading has been disabled by the administrator.

How to identify which w3wp.exe process belongs to which Application Pool in IIS

I received an e-mail today, where I was asked how to identify the IIS Application Pool and the corresponding w3wp.exe process. Actually it doesn’t need much and no extra tools are needed.

1. Open the Windows Task Manager by right clicking on the Taskbar and selecting Start Task Manager
2. In the Menu, open View / Select Columns…
3. Search the list for Command Line and enable the check box



4. Look for the w3wp.exe processes and expand the column for the command line

As you can see, the process is started with the name of the Application Pool in the IIS management console

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Readers galore - Microsoft published 130 eBooks for free download

Microsoft provides developers and IT professionals with new reading material and released 130 free eBooks on various topics. Beside of the PDF format some of the books are offered as MOBI and EPUB formats as well.

Microsoft manager Eric Ligman is regularly publishing free E-books and other information material on his MSDN blog. Eric and his employer are now stacking up the pile and provide a staggering 130 additional E-books for free download.

Configuring the Content Query Webpart to use seperate xslt template files

The Content Query Web Part is without doubt one of the most powerful webparts that come along with SharePoint. And because there are so many bits you can tweak, it’s probably one of the most complex as well.

As you might know I’ve used the CQWP in the past to create a calendar view for Milestones and Events. For these changes I’ve added the new templates directly into the existing ItemStyle.xsl file. Even thou this is a valid way to do it, I was a bit unhappy with the solution, because you always need to manipulate a SharePoint original file. If you make a mistake, you might brick all of your other CQWP used in the SiteCollection. So there has to be a better way to do this.

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This post is genuine

Recently I found out that some of my blog posts have been copied from different people to their own blogs. This is flattering, however sometimes valuable information is lost if only parts are copied. I can only hope that if people copy my texts, they also add a link to my blog, so the readers know where the origin is.

For you as a reader is sometimes very hard to distinguish between a genuine text and a copy. That is why I started to mark my blog posts with a "This post is genuine" logo. You can see it here as well on the left side of this post. It will certainly not stop the people from copying my blog posts, and that's not my intent. But it will make it for you as a reader much easier to verify.

P.S. even if I don't mark every my posts with the genuine logo, it doesn't mean that those without are copied by myself. It just means I'm sometimes too lazy or have the opinion it's not necessary.

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Pictures of the European SharePoint Conference 2014

Like last year I've visited the European SharePoint Conference. This year the conference took place in Barcelona and I must admit it's a very interessting place to be. If you have never been to Barca so far, you should add it to your list. So far here are a few impression from this years event.

Arrival in Barcelona

The conference place from outside

The lobby of the conference place

Check-In and grab your gear

These two guys were having a bath in the morning

Break time in the hotel garden

Keynotes

Jumping between the sessions

People twittering IRL

More chatting going on

The exhibitors are waiting for us

Session in progress

Girls just want'a have fun

Gala dinner

Av. Diagonal

1st Place in the AvePoint Walk Challenge

La sagrada familia

Impressive from the outside and even more from the inside

Fontana Magica in all it's glory

You might get wet

Ops :)

Best Tapas in town. Trust me!

View from Montjuïc

The BFG9000

Castell de Montjuïc

Looking down from Castell de Montjuïc on the city

People in the streets are having a party

The Barcalona lizard

Entrance to Park Güell

The grand staircase

Updated SP1 for SharePoint 2013 has been rereleased

Stefan Goßner announced on his blog that the updated version of Service Pack 1 has been released.

Please be aware that the knowledge base articles for the updated Service Pack are different from the recalled Service Pack:

• KB 2880551 - SharePoint Foundation 2013 SP1
• KB 2880552 - SharePoint Server 2013 SP1
• KB 2880553 - Project Server 2013 SP1
• KB 2880554 - SharePoint Server Language Pack
• KB 2880555 - SharePoint Foundation Language Pack
• KB 2880558 - Office Web Apps Server 2013 SP1

The files can be downloaded from here:

• SharePoint Foundation 2013 Service Pack 1
• SharePoint Foundation 2013 Language Pack Service Pack 1
• SharePoint Server 2013 Service Pack 1
• SharePoint Server 2013 Language Pack Service Pack 1
• Project Server 2013 Service Pack 1
• Office Web Apps Server 2013 Service Pack 1

For more information you can read the official announcement on Bill Baer's blog.

Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2013 has been retracted

Microsoft has retracted the Service Pack 1 for SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Foundation 2013, SharePoint Designer 2013 and Office Web Apps Server 2013. The reason for this move is stated by Microsoft in the knowlege base article:

We have recently uncovered an issue with this Service Pack 1 package that may prevent customers who have Service Pack 1 from deploying future public or cumulative updates.

If you have already downloaded the Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2013, it is recommended you wait with the installation for an updated version of the Service Pack 1.

If you have already installed the Service Pack 1, you should not expect any problems. However Microsoft will release a patch to fix the problem in your Service Pack 1 version. It is recommended to wait for this fix before your install any other patches. Bill Baer has a post that covers this issue.

SharePoint 2013 with SP1 also known as Slipstream installations are not affected by this issue.

The Retro Powershell - Looking good in 8-Bit | Part 2

Last year I wrote a post how to style your PowerShell to look more like the good 'ol Commodore 64. Unfortunately the font of the PowerShell didn't look quite right. In this post I'll show you how to patch this as well so you get the true feeling.

My two cents | Microsoft Office for iPad

On yesterday’s Microsoft Press event it was announced that Office is coming to the iPad. It was a rather small event and overall it was surprisingly quite short as well. That nothing else was shown at the event might be a dignify to the importance of this announcement. First Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella came on stage and said few words about the strategy Microsoft has for the future in cloud computing. Minutes later Julie White, the Office general manager, took on and showed the press the new Word, Excel and Powerpoint version for iOS devices.

None of Apples leaders showed up at the press event. However CEO Tim Cook was giving his virtual Congrats via Twitter to Satya Nadella and his team for the Office on iPad launch.

Welcome to the #iPad and @AppStore! @satyanadella and Office for iPad
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) 27. März 2014

In return Nadella answered the message from Cook with a Tweet of his own.

Thanks @tim_cook, excited to bring the magic of @Office to iPad customers #cloud4mobile
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) 27. März 2014

This is the true excitement behind the launch. With Cook at Apple and Nadella at Microsoft the two big players in the field are taking actions to harmonize their relationship. Could you imagine this event with Jobs and Balmer? Yep, you would only need to add popcorn to the equation.

Crossroads: Adding a Cisco Switch into your Hyper-V installation

This Blog is mainly about SharePoint, but from time to time there are other topics that might be of interest. That’s why I’ll start a new section called Crossroads were I’ll keep you posted about other news that will fit into the broader context of SharePoint.

Today I’ll start with the question: Did you know, that you can add a virtual Cisco Switch to your Hyper-V installation? Best part is, you might even use it free of charge.

Update on InfoPath and SharePoint Forms

As Microsoft has announced on their blog, Infopath will be discontinued after the version 2013. This means the next version of SharePoint will not support the Infopath Forms Services. However they are already investigating in an alternative. This will be necessary for several reasons.