SharePoint

Oct 21 2009   1:20PM GMT

Microsoft IT professional resource - RunAs Radio

Posted by: Troy Tate
Microsoft, podcast, webcast, Powershell, sql, dba, Development, IIS, AD, Active Directory, education, IT education, virtual machines, Virtualization, SharePoint

I just came across an excellent resource for IT professionals working with Microsoft products. It is called RunAs Radio. There are weekly podcasts about topics of interest to those of us who support Microsoft products. The podcasts are in multiple formats such as mp3, wma & AAC (iPod). I was particularly interested in the presentations on performance management. There are several presentations on this one topic. Some sample topics include:

Clint Huffman Analyzes PerfMon Logs! Mr. Huffman is the creator of the Performance Analysis of Logs tool found at Codeplex. I have found this tool very useful in tracking down server issues to show folks “it’s not the network!”

Shane Creamer Goes Deep on Performance Monitor! This is a very interesting presentation. There is a link to the video presentation portion and another link to the various audio formats. The video presentation has a very long gap in audio at the beginning (almost 12 minutes). This is because the video portion is only capturing the presenter’s audio portion and not the commentators’. You really should download both audio and video to get the full impact of the presentation.

Steven Choy Measures Server Performance!

Other topics that might be of interest includes SQL, Active Directory, IIS, cloud (Azure), Powershell, virtualization, SharePoint, information security, and many other Microsoft-centric technologies. I have subscribed to the RSS feed so I can keep up with new presentations as they are released. If you run any Microsoft technologies, or you just want to learn about some recommended best practices, then check out this resource. There might be something here that will help you “save the day”.

Thanks for reading and let’s continue to be good network citizens!

May 26 2009   8:41PM GMT

Microsoft releases SharePoint Designer 2007 for FREE!

Posted by: Troy Tate
Microsoft, SharePoint, website, design, website administration, website admin, tools

SharePoint Designer 2007 is Now Free – Office SharePoint Designer 2007 provides the powerful tools you need to deliver compelling and attractive SharePoint sites and quickly build workflow-enabled applications and reporting tools on the SharePoint platform, all in an IT-managed environment.  You can use SharePoint Designer 2007 to create and deploy interactive solutions on the SharePoint platform, without having to write code.  It also provides the professional-quality design tools you need to create great-looking SharePoint pages that are compatible with a wide range of browsers.  Additionally, site administrators and IT managers can control exactly how SharePoint Designer 2007 is used to help ensure information workers have a managed and controlled experience.

If you are interested in learning more about SharePoint Designer 2007, please be sure to check out:

·         Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007 Product Overview

·         SharePoint Designer demos

·         SharePoint Designer webcasts

·         Help for SharePoint Designer 2007

·         Future direction of Sharepoint Designer 2007:  video

Mar 26 2009   7:38PM GMT

Do You Manage Sharepoint and want training? - Free Microsoft How-to Videos

Posted by: Troy Tate
SharePoint, technet, training, videos, how-to, Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Powershell, Powershell, scripting, podcast, free training, training resources

It’s always nice to come across free training, especially in the economic times most companies are experiencing today. It is also good to be able to do some self-education to better prepare yourself for whatever may lie ahead in your career.

Microsoft offers lots of training materials. I previously wrote about a couple of them

Did you see this? - FREE TRAINING: Technet Virtual Lab: Managing Bandwidth Using Windows QOS

Did you see this? - 10 Cool Powershell scripts virtual lab

I just came across another Microsoft training resource that covers Microsoft SharePoint. Take a look at the SharePoint Products and Technologies “How Do I?” Videos. Maybe you can find the solution to that problem that has been nagging you or your users or do something nifty and cool and impress the users! You can download the videos in lots of different formats including WMV, iPod, and MP4.

Thanks for reading & let’s continue to be good network citizens.

Nov 11 2008   4:07PM GMT

Did you see this? - Microsoft SharePoint Toolkit

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, Networking, tools, Microsoft Windows, Monitoring, Development, reporting, internet, WAN, LAN, debugging, performance monitoring, SharePoint, design, MOSS, troubleshooting, Performance, howto, network analysis, Metrics, awareness, diagnostics, toolkit, analysis

Many organizations are finding value in the Microsoft SharePoint technologies. Whether you use the free Windows SharePoint Services or the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, your organization will gain a lot of value from using these services. To enhance your ability to manage these technologies, there is a project on Codeplex called the SharePoint Toolbox. Per the website, the purpose of this project is as follows:

This project includes powerful and useful tools and add-ons for SharePoint that help developers and IT pros implement SharePoint based solutions more quickly and managed them more effectively. Contributions will come from the Microsoft SharePoint Product Group, Microsoft SharePoint Online Services Group, Microsoft Information Technology Group, and Microsoft Consulting Services Group.

I have personally used the CopyTimer utility  to measure throughput from remote sites to a SharePoint server. It worked well and helped gather some excellent data about the site and global network performance.

Enjoy using these tools and give me some feedback on what you find useful and how SharePoint provides value to your organization.

Oct 9 2008   3:00PM GMT

Alternatives to e-mail attachments - SharePoint is risky!

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, Networking, Firewalls, Storage, Security, DataManagement, intellectual property, email, Data security, Policy, SharePoint, Exchange, design, website, risk, policy enforcement, vulnerability

I’m looking for some help on this topic and have posted a question to the ITKE community. Hopefully someone out there has had some experience with this service for your organization and can provide some valuable insight.

One group I participate in is a mailing list from SANS. If you have not attended a SANS event or education, then you should try to get to one of their events. They are one, if not, the premier non-vendor related security and systems administration group in the IT industry. I posed the same question to this peer group and have had some very good responses. Some suggestions for solutions have come back and include:

Microsoft Office SharePoint (http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/default.mspx)

OpenText – Livelink (http://www.opentext.com/2/sol-products/sol-pro-llecm10.htm)

Webex Connect – (http://webex.com/enterprise/index.html) (There are other flavors for small & medium business)

 Accellion -  http://www.accellion.com)

 

These are very interesting solutions and I will certainly be looking at all potential candidates. One thing that bothers me about the SharePoint option is its security capabilities. SharePoint is typically Microsoft Active Directory integrated. This has major security implications and in fact CSO magazine has posted a recent article on this topic. I recommend that you read the article and understand what risks the SharePoint solution may open for your organization.

Why Security Pros Hate Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft’s SharePoint collaboration platform is all the rage in today’s business world, especially since third parties gained the ability to plug security holes. But managing it can still be a nightmare for IT security shops.

I am still looking for more references and ideas for this solution, so please share what you are doing for your organization and it will be much appreciated by me and other readers.

Jul 17 2008   2:29PM GMT

Did you see this? - SharePoint Administration Toolkit (Office SharePoint Server)

Posted by: Troy Tate
administration, tools, Microsoft Windows, DataCenter, DataManagement, SharePoint, design, MOSS, howto

SharePoint Administration Toolkit (Office SharePoint Server)

This article provides information for farm administrators about Batch Site Manager and the updatealert operation for the Stsadm command-line tool, which are available in the April 2008 release of the administration toolkit for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.