Sharepoint Welcome Page Option Missing

In Sharepoint, by default you have the Home.aspx as the default welcome page. But you do have an option to create a new page and set that as your default welcome page.

At times you would notice that this option is missing.This is probably because your Publishing feature for your site is not activated.

Go to Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Manage Site features -> SharePoint Server Publishing    -> Activate.

Now browse back to Site Settings page. You should see the Welcome page link.

You can choose you custom Welcome page now. J

Sharepoint 2010 Upload Size Limit - IIS7 and Windows Server2008

In Sharepoint 2010, though you increase the file upload limits from Central Administration (to more than 50 MB), you wouldn’t be able to upload files more than 28MB. You would get an error whenever you try to upload a file of size greater than 28MB.It is the default IIS configurations that is giving these errors. When you are running Windows SharePoint Services on a Windows Server 2008-based computer that has IIS 7.0, you would not be able to upload files that are larger than 28MB even though you have configured the large file upload settings.

We will have to manually change some values in IIS to fix this issue.

By default these are the values for upload limit in

SharePoint Server 2010: 50 MB

IIS 7: 30 MB

Follow the below steps to fix this issue:

1) Increase the SharePoint Item Upload Limit from Central Administration

Browse to Central Administration -> Manage Web Applications ->Select web application -> General Settings -> Change the Maximum upload size -> Click OK

2) Increase the IIS 7 request limits

Navigate to IIS Manager -> Select the local host -> Choose Request Filtering -> Edit Feature Settings -> Change the value for Maximum allowed content length(Bytes)

3) Increase the IIS7 connection timeout length (optional)

If you need to upload large files, there are chances that the connection times out depending on your internet speed. If you want, you can increase the connection timeout to a larger value. The standard is 120 seconds. If you have users with low speed internet connections, increase this value.

Navigate to IIS Manager -> Select the Web Application -> Manage Web Site -> Advanced Settings ->Expand Connection Limits ->Change Connection Time-out (seconds)

Fixing Sharepoint 2010 List Threshold Issue

One of the major reasons that Sharepoint 2010 came up with the LVT (List View Threshold) feature was to improve the performance of Sharepoint. In MOSS 2007, there was no way to restrict the number of items in a list .Though Microsoft had recommended a maximum of 2000 for better performance, I don’t think that anybody would have taken it seriously.

In Sharepoint 2010, they have come up with a solution for this by making this a web application level change from Central administration. By default the value is set to 5000.

At the same time we need to make sure that the users don’t have a difficult time when their Sharepoint site is migrated to Sharepoint 2010.Here is how to change this.

1.  Browse to Central Administration

2.  Application Management -> Manage Web Applications

3.  Select the Web application for which you want to change the LVT.

4.  On the ribbon at the top, click General Settings -> Resource Throttling.

5.  A new pop up window comes up.Change the LVT to a different value and press OK.

This is how you change it. But let us be responsible Farm Administrators.

Make sure that the number is a reasonable one. If the number is on a higher side it will take a toll on your farm performance. Educate your Sharepoint users to create views, so that they can have different views of the list.

Moving SQL Database to a different drive

This situation usually arises when we might have to move SQL DB files to other drives at times due to space crunch. We can follow this activity to move these types of databases.

• Configuration database
• Central Administration content database
• Content databases
• Service application databases

This activity was carried out in MOSS 2007 with SQL 2005

P.S.

i) Make sure that a backup of the database is already taken before you start with this activity.

ii) Also check the DB owners remain the same before and after this activity.

iii) You might have to do a full crawl after completion of activity if results are not showing up in search

1) Quiesce the Farm

This is done to ensure that no new user sessions are initiated. Browse to Central Administration -> Operations -> Global Configuration -> Quiesce farm. Click "Start Quiescing".

2) Stop the below SharePoint Services

Type services.msc in Run.

1. Office SharePoint Server Search (alternatively net stop OSearch from command prompt)

2. Windows SharePoint Services Search (alternatively net stop SPSearch from command prompt)

3. Windows SharePoint Services Timer (alternatively net stop SPTimerV3 from command prompt)

4. Windows SharePoint Services Administration service (alternatively net stop SPAdmin from command prompt)

 5. Windows SharePoint Services Tracing service (alternatively net stop SPTrace from command prompt)

6. Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (alternatively net stop SPWriter from command prompt)

 

3) Detach Database

Login to SQL Server. Run the below query:

use master

go

exec sp_detach_db @dbname = N ‘DBName', @keepfulltextindexfile='true';

go

Where DBName = content db /search ssp db you want to move

4) Move files to target location

Move the data and log files from the current drive location (F:\) to the target drive location (D:\).

Include the .mdf files and .ldf files

5) Attach Database

Login to SQL Server. Run the below query:

use master

go

exec sp_attach_db @dbName = N'DBName',

@filename1 = N'LocalPathToFile\DBName.mdf',

 @filename2 =N 'LocalPathToFile\DBName.ldf'

go

Where DBName = content db /search ssp db you moved

                    LocalPathToFile = file location

6) Start the below SharePoint Services

Type services.msc in Run

1. Office SharePoint Server Search (alternatively net start OSearch from command prompt)

2. Windows SharePoint Services Search (alternatively net start SPSearch from command prompt)

3. Windows SharePoint Services Timer (alternatively net start SPTimerV3 from command prompt)

4. Windows SharePoint Services Administration service (alternatively net start SPAdmin from command prompt) 

5. Windows SharePoint Services Tracing service (alternatively net start SPTrace from command prompt)

6. Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (alternatively net start SPWriter from command prompt)

7) UnQuiesce the farm

Browse to Central Administration -> Operations -> Global Configuration -> Quiesce farm. Click "Reset Farm".

8) Try testing your application now.(access the sites, test search and ensure search settings are intact)

Configuring Replicating Directory Changes

While provisioning the User Profile Service (UPS), we can synchronize user profile information using the User Profile Synchronization Service. Synchronization between AD and SharePoint should be done using a domain account, called the synchronization account, i.e. DOMAIN\SPFarmAccount. This synchronization account requires Replicate Directory Change permissions in the domain.

Below are the steps on how you do this.

1. Open Active Directory Users and Groups with local machine Administrator permissions.

2. Right click the domain and select Delegate Control.

3. Click Next on the Delegation Control Wizard welcome page.

4. On the Users or Groups page, add the domain\account of your SharePoint farm admin account and click Next.

5. On the Tasks to delegate page, select “Create a custom task to delegate” and click Next.

6. On the Active Directory Object Type page, keep the default options and click Next.

7. On the Permissions page, check the “Replicating Directory Changes” and click Next

8. Click Finish to complete the Delegation of Control Wizard.

Zone Creation and Host Entries in ActiveDirectory

In this blog entry, I am creating a new zone in the DNS namely dev.com.

Below steps will help you in that.

1) Go to Start -> Administrative Tools ->DNS 

2) Right click on ServerName -> New Zone

3) The New Zone wizard opens and click Next.

4) Select Primary zone and click Next.

5) Select To all DNS servers running on domain controllers in this domain : DEV.NET and click Next.

6) Create a Forward lookup zone and click Next.

7) Give the zone name as dev.com. Click Next.

8) Select Allow only secure dynamic updates and click Next.

9) Click Finish on zone creation completion.

10) Creation of a new host is the next step.Right click on the newly created zone and select New Host(A or AAAA).

11) Enter the Host name and IP address and click Add Host.

12) Host creation successful message is shown.

13) I am creating 4 host records with same IP address 

a)    collaboration

b)    social

c)    community

d)    partner

14) The following screen shows the four host records.

Publishing Nintex Workflows

1) Browse to the document library/list of your Sharepoint Site/Subsite where the Nintex workflow is present.

2) Go to List Settings -> Workflow Settings ->Manage Workflows with Nintex Workflow

3) This takes you to the list of workflows associated with this document library/list

4) Select the appropriate workflow from the Unpublished Workflows list.

  

 

  

5) This takes you to the workflow design page.

 

  

6) On the Nintex Workflow 2010 ribbon, there is an option to publish.

7) Select the Publish Workflow option and the Nintex workflow is published to the document library/list.

Bulk Check-In of Documents in Sharepoint

1) Browse to the Sharepoint site. Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Modify All Site Settings

  

  

2) On the site settings page , Site Administration -> Content and structure

3) On this page, change the view from Default View to Checked Out To Me

4) Go to, select all the documents -> Actions -> Check In

Reset Sharepoint 2010 Farm Passphrase

Farm Passphrase 

Farm passphrase is a new security feature in SharePoint 2010. Similar to a password, it is created as part of the initial creation of a SharePoint farm. The passphrase is created during psconfig step of SharePoint installation. It is required when we have to add additional servers to the farm. There are times when farm administrators misplace or forget the passphrase.

Resetting Farm Passphrase for Sharepoint 2010

1) Login to the Sharepoint server with your Farm Account(should have permission to Sharepoint Config DB). Start the Sharepoint 2010 Management Shell and Run As Administrator

2) $passphrase = ConvertTo-SecureString -asPlainText –Force

3) On the prompt, enter your new Passphrase(Please make sure you write it down, else you wouldn’t be reading this now  :-))

4) Set-SPPassPhrase -PassPhrase $passphrase –Confirm

5) You have to confirm your new passphrase by entering it again

6) Press “Y” .Now your passphrase have been reset

STSADM Overview

        Sharepoint includes the STSADM tool for command-line administration of sites. STSADM is located at the following path on the drive where SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed: %COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin. You need to be an administrator on the local computer to use STSADM.When you invoke STSADM, you supply an operation and a set of command-line parameters in the form:

                 -operation OperationName -parameter value

eg: stsadm -o enumgroups -url http://abc.xyz.com/ 

STSADM provides a method for performing the Sharepoint administration tasks at the command line or by using batch files or scripts. STSADM provides access to operations not available by using the Central Administration site, such as changing the administration port. The command-line tool has a more streamlined interface than Central Administration, and it allows you to perform the same tasks. There are certain operations and certain parameters that are only available by using the STSADM command-line tool.

STSADM.exe is available with the below versions of SharePoint : 

SPS2003 | MOSS2007 | Sharepoint 2010 | Sharepoint 2013 |

Since the release of Sharepoint 2010, Powershell is being used for the Sharepoint administrator operations. The use of the STSADM command has NOT gone away with SharePoint 2010 and 2013 – interesting to note that it’s still called STSADM – as in SharePoint Team Services(2001)

Related Post: STSADM Commands - Reference

Hiding SharePoint Ribbon Control from users

Add this to the head section on master page.

<style type="text/css">
div#s4-ribbonrow {
display:none;
}
</style>

<Sharepoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl runat="server"
Permissions="AddAndCustomizePages">
<style type="text/css">
div#s4-ribbonrow {
display:block;
}
</style>
</Sharepoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl>

This should hide the ribbon control.

Problem with uploading multiple documents. Cannot run Microsoft SharePoint Foundation on this page

Sometimes while you try to upload multiple documents into Sharepoint the below error comes

Problem with uploading multiple documents. Cannot run Microsoft SharePoint Foundation on this page: "http://sitename/documents/Forms/Upload.aspx" 

Usually this error comes up when Upload.aspx file is modified. Perform the below steps to fix it : 

1) Make a copy of Upload.aspx (just to be on the safer side,it is always good to have a copy before you start modifying a file ;-))

2) Open the upload.aspx file and search for

<input TYPE="hidden" NAME="_charset_" VALUE="utf-8"><!--webbot bot="FileUpload" endspan i-checksum="45034" -->

3) Update the following string as follows

<input TYPE="hidden" NAME="Cmd" VALUE="Save"><!--webbot bot="FileUpload" endspan  -->

4) Save your file.

5) Reset IIS

Hope this helped...

Sharepoint Ghosting and Unghosting

Ghosted page - A page which has its contents not stored in the content database but are read from a site definition file (File System). (Default/Uncustomized page)

Un-ghosted page - A page that has been modified from the site definition file, has its contents stored in the content database. (Customized pages)

Any ghosted page modified/edited is considered unghosted.

As a Sharepoint user, I am going to assume all of us know everything in Sharepoint is stored in the database (SQL Server).So for each document there is a row in docs table. The actual file is stored in Content Column. This applies for all files. But there is an exception. Not all .aspx page content is stored in the database. These pages refer files that exist on the servers' file system. These pages are called as ghosted pages.

From a technical standpoint, ghosted pages are those rows in the docs table which have null values for the Content column and a non-null value for the SetupPath column which points to a file on the file system .The referenced file in actual serves as a template and content source. The default home page is a ghosted page. Any web part pages created using the New Web Part Page user interface is also ghosted.

If a document doesn't refer a template on the file system or the Content column actually contains data, those pages are unghosted.

Disabling Sharepoint Designer 2007/Front Page 2003

MOSS 2007 and Sharepoint Designer 2007

To disallow users from editing WSS3.0/MOSS2007, we will have to disable the authoring feature in SharePoint Designer 2007 by editing the Onet.xml file.

Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extentsions\12\Template\ SiteTemplates\XML

Locate the Project Title tag, and then add the following line: DisableWebDesignFeatures=wdfopensite

After the change it look like this :

<Project Title="Team Web Site" ListDir="Lists" xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint" DisableWebDesignFeatures=wdfopensite>

Save the ONET.XML and do an IIS reset

If a user tries to edit using Designer after that he gets the below message: 

This web site has been configured to disallow editing with FrontPage. Contact your web site administrator for more information

Warning:  Editing WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 site by using Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 has a major risk of corrupting the site. Instead, always use SharePoint Designer 2007 to edit the site.

SPS2003 and Front Page Editor 2003

To disable users from editing Sharepoint sites using Front Page Editor/, add the wdfopensite value to the DisableWebDesignFeatures attribute in the Onet.xml file of each SharePoint Portal Server 2003 site template. The DisableWebDesignFeatures attribute is located in the Project Title tag in the Onet.xml file.

Site templates are located in the following folder on the serverDrive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\Template\LangID\SPS*\XML