26 October, 2012

SharePoint 2013 Known issues

If you are looking for known issues in SharePoint server 2013 then please appreciate Microsoft for publishing a wonderful article as mentioned below:

SharePoint 2013 Known issues:

SharePoint 2013 for IT pros

Install prerequisites for SharePoint 2013 from a network share

Download Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

Query variables in SharePoint Server 2013

25 October, 2012

Microsoft MCSE certifications in 2013

Exam 70-331
Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
"The candidate is an IT professional who plans, implements, and maintains a multi-server deployment of SharePoint 2013. Has a working knowledge of and hands-on experience with SharePoint Online. Has broad familiarity with SharePoint workloads. Have experience with business continuity management, including data backup, restoration, and high availability. Has experience with authentication and security technologies. Has experience with Windows PowerShell."
Read more about Exam 70-331 at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-331

Exam 70-332:
Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
"The candidate is an IT professional who plans, implements, and maintains a multi-server deployment of SharePoint 2013. Has a working knowledge of and hands-on experience with SharePoint Online. Has broad familiarity with SharePoint workloads. Have experience with business continuity management, including data backup, restoration, and high availability. Has experience with authentication and security technologies. Has experience with Windows PowerShell."
Read more about Exam 70-332 at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-332

MSCE: SharePoint – Microsoft Certified Solutions Engineer SharePoint
"To earn your MCSE SharePoint certification, start with the MCSA: Windows Server 2012 certification, then pass Exams 331 and 332."

MCSE: SharePoint (SharePoint Server 2013)


Exam 70-331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013(Release February 05, 2013)
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-331
Exam 70-332: Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013(Release February 05, 2013)
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exam.aspx?ID=70-332

24 October, 2012

This Website does not support workflows created by SharePoint Designer.


Issue: This Website does not support workflows created by SharePoint Designer.

One of my clients today came up with unique issue that he is not able to create any workflow in the designer. 


Troubleshooting: 

1.      Based on the error message, I have checked the permissions of the clients; he has Full control permissions on the site.  

2.      The website was allowed to use the Designer

3.      Check the permissions on the library where he was trying to create workflow. Correct permissions were in place for the workflow history library as well.

4.      Both of these libraries inheriting permissions from the site. No question of permissions issue on the site level.

5.      Tried to disable contributor access in the designer.

6.      Tried to change the proxy via designer. 

7.      Workaround to the problem was adding him as a site collection admin. However, this was not a permanent solution to the problem.

Little hard goggling help to resolve the issue. 

Resolution:

Exit and then start Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

The site owner should verify that the affected user has been added to the list of users who have permissions to the Workflows library. If not, add the user to the list: 

1.      In Office SharePoint Designer 2007, in the Folder List, right-click the Workflows library, and then click Properties.
2.      Click the Security tab.
3.      Click Manage permissions using the browser.
4.      In the browser, on the Permissions: Workflows page, click New, and then click Add Users.
5.      Add the user to the list.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

List Attachments over 50MB need more than an increase in Maximum Upload Size


Issue: Unable to attach a file more than 50 MB in SharePoint List. 

Troubleshooting Steps:

Checked the default size of uploading file in CA.  It was set to 100 MB. 

Tried to upload the file of the size 60 MB, successfully uploaded. However has issue attaching the file which is more than 50 MB only with SharePoint Lists. 

We all know we have a best friend of all the times GOOGLE. Thanks to Google team to create it. It saves me most of the time. 

Resolution:

I found the below article which says that every site is also binded with a run time upload size of 51200 MB. Anything attached more than this give you error message and below article save you from the this bug. 

Well explained reference.
http://blogs.msdn.combbgeoffroarchive20080319list-attachments-over-50mb-need-more-than-an-increase-in-maximum-upload-size.aspx

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Users are not deleted from SharePoint site after leaving the company


Our company's security policy is to immediately delete user accounts in AD after when an employee leaves the company. The user account still shows valid in SharePoint people picker/ all people group etc. 

Normally on full import of AD users all users are import into SharePoint from AD, then if new user requests to log into SharePoint it checks against AD and adds user, but SharePoint doe not remove users if removed from AD, so Site Admins sometimes wanting to find a script to iterate thru the current users listed in SharePoint and test against AD, if user does not exist in AD then remove from SPUsers?

Answer to the above concern would be that after the profiles have been imported. If a user  is deleted in AD then after 3 successive full profile imports there profile will be deleted also. If
deactivated their MySite will be cleaned up, but not their profile.

You also need to understand about the difference between SharePoint users used for security and Profiles. They are related, but not the same thing.

First, Profiles.

1. Moss is setup to import all the users in your AD domain as profiles into the SSP that you create. However, this action is not scheduled. Profiles will not be imported until you either do a manual import or setup the schedule for Full and incremental imports. This imparts no security rights to the user
at all.

2. After the profiles have been imported. If a user is deleted in AD then after 3 successive full profile imports there profile will be deleted also. If deactivated their MySite will be cleaned up, but not their profile.

Second, Authentication/Authorization (Assuming you are not using any kind of Forms Based Authentication)

1. SharePoint depends on Windows Authentication via IIS to establish the user's identity. (this happens completely external to SharePoint)

2. SharePoint checks the user's AD identity and group membership, as established in #1, to see what the user has the ability to do in SharePoint.

You can successfully authenticate and still not gain access to SharePoint.

3. Security Access in SharePoint is dependent on the AD identity or an AD group of which the user is a member being added as a SharePoint user. Or the user or group may be added directly to a SharePoint group. This will allow the user to gain access to SharePoint resources.

4. If the access is through group membership then the user's identity will only be added to SharePoint when the user logs in and submits something to a document library or list. This adds their identity as a user, but doesn't directly re-associate them with specific rights. The rights are still gained through group membership. But they would now show up in the People and Groups
list.

5. If the user's account is deactivated or deleted in AD their account in SharePoint is NOT deleted, but they won't be able to use it to access SharePoint  anymore because AD won't be able to authenticate them so they'll never get to Authorization. If deactivated, you will still be able to click on their name attached to documents or list items and see their profile. If deleted clicking on these items will normally lead to an error page because the profile isn't there anymore.

6. Removing SharePoint users can be done programmatic, but it is a fairly involved process requiring walking each object in the FARM and looking for the user entries. There are 3rd party products that do this, but I don't normally recommend using them since you are destroying the history of the user in the system.

My normal recommendation is to deactivate users in AD, but let them stay in SharePoint. Once deactivated they won't be able to login, but history of their usage of the system will remain intact.

The users deleted from AD certainly still exist in the SharePoint SSP user profiles. Suggested is to run a full import of user profiles. The first full import (after the users are deleted) will make them inactive. After the 3rd full import they will disappear completely.

To run a full import of users profiles
go to Central Admin > Click your Shared Service Provider under Shared services administration > User profiles and properties, under user profiles and mysite section > Start full import. You must grant yourself the right to manage user profiles: Under user profiles and mysite section, click Personalization services permissions > Select manage user profiles.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Unable to restore files/folders from Site Collection Recycle Bin: SharePoint


Issue:

When we try to restore we get the Error Message: Unable to restore ‘file name’.

Troubleshooting Steps:

Checked on the path from where the Folder was deleted and confirmed that it was not modified or deleted i.e. all the top-level folders/sites where intact to get to the folder.

Checked for the available quota on site.

All looked fine still unable to restore.
Resolution:

Checked the Doclib where the Folder had to be restored and found a folder named similar to the folder which was to be restored. Eg. RC PHASEQ4 as to RC PHASEQ3.

So, renamed the similar folder to something else and tried restore, It Worked. Once restored, reverted the renamed folder to original.

This theory is well supported by

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.
 

Excel calculation Services Fail to start : SharePoint


Issue: We noticed today that the Excel calculation services were not running and we were receiving an error as 


“An error has occurred. Please contact your system administrator if this problem persists."

The SCOM were throwing too many errors as

Alert: Error communicating with Excel Calculation Services
Source: spmwprodweb2
Path: spmwprodweb2.nam.nsroot.net
Last modified time: Alert description: Event ID 5240 from Source Office SharePoint Server on agent computer spmwprodweb2.nam.nsroot.net has triggered this Alert Description: There was an error in communicating with Excel Calculation Services 

There were no application logs in the event viewer related to these errors.

STEPS Performed to correct the issue:

1.       Stopped and started the Excel calculation service.
2.       Ran stsadm –o execadmsvcjobs 

Resolution

We had to switch the service role to another server so service was stopped at One Application server and Started on another Application server. 

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 

I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.


MCSE: Reinvented for the SharePoint and MCSE on Cloud

 Why MCSE:
  • Recognized globally as the standard for IT excellence
  • Validates deep expertise across broad solutions
  • Demonstrates up-to-date skills on changing technologies
MCSE: SharePoint Certification Overview
Microsoft Windows Server Certification Overview
SQL Server Certification Overview
Get Started with a Private Cloud Certification
Courtesy: Microsoft.com

SharePoint 2010 - Loading the Document Information Panel in MS Word throws a warning when 'Run ActiveX controls & PlugIns' for internet zone is set to 'Administrator Approved'


What is Document Information Panel in Microsoft Word?
A document information panel is a form that is displayed within the client application, and which contains fields for the document metadata. Document information panels enable users to enter important metadata about a file anytime they want, without having to leave the client application.

Document information panels are available in Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft Excel 2010. For SharePoint documents, these client applications auto generate the document information panels for a document, based on the metadata schema of the content type assigned to the document.

Problem Description:
If a site falls in the intranet zone and the internet security setting “Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins” for the internet zone is configured to “Administrator Approved” and a user tries to create a new document within a document library, they gets the following warning

Microsoft InfoPath
One or more ActiveX controls could not be displayed because either:

Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page, or
You have blocked a publisher of one of the controls.

As a result, the page might not display correctly.

While troubleshooting the issue, I came across multiple resolutions as well as workarounds and would like to share with all of you.

Resolution
Option 1: Change the IE security setting from Administrator Approved to Enable for internet zone.

Option 2: Customize the Document Information Panel using InfoPath so you can modify the security setting in InfoPath from “Restricted” to “Domain” and re-publish the XSN back to your content type. This will now cause InfoPath to adhere to the “Local Intranet” security settings in Internet Explorer.

Note: Once you publish the Document Information Panel using InfoPath every user must have InfoPath installed on their machines for the Document Information Panel to display.

Option 3: Add the Managed Metadata Control to the list of approved controls. To do this there are two options:

Roll out the following registry modification to all users:

·         HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\AllowedControls
·         Create a new DWORD value that is the GUID for the Managed Metadata control, which is: {64247C52-5C34-4597-B2A3-17BF5617F17F}
- Set this value to: 0

How to reproduce the issue:

1)      Add site to intranet zone in Internet Explorer.
2)      Configure the “Run ActiveX Controls and PlugIns” settings to Administrator approved for the internet zone and enabled for intranet zone.
3)      Open a SharePoint 2010 site and then a document library that has at least one managed metadata column.
4)      On the ribbon, click on Documents and then New Document.
5)      Word opens, and then we get a warning dialog

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. 
I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you.

Unable to “Edit series” for an event in calendar list in SharePoint


ISSUE:
Unable to “Edit series” for an event in calendar list

DESCRIPTION:
There is a repeating event (event series) in SharePoint calendar list with “All day event” selected and no specific start and end time. When someone opens an event and then clicks on "Edit series", it opens up the series in edit mode. But after making any type of changes, page can’t be saved and clicking “Ok” returns to same edit page reflecting some validation errors which doesn't allow us to commit the changes.

WORKAROUND/SOLUTION:
Solution for this problem issue is extremely simple very obviousness.

Whether we make changes to the series or not, we must unchecked the box for “All day event” and then select the check box again


Exception occurred during request processing. (User: Form Name: , IP: , Request: Form ID: , Type: ThreadAbortException, Exception Message: Thread was being aborted.): Infopath


Issue:
Today in our environment we saw an SCOM alert which was continuously getting triggered.

SCOM Alert: Exception occurred while processing an InfoPath form template request
Source: spmwprodweb3
Path: spmwprodweb3.nam.nsroot.net
Alert Raised Time: 10/23/2012 3:21:06 PM Last modified by: System Last modified time: 10/23/2012 3:21:07 PM Alert description: Event ID 5367 from Source Office SharePoint Server on agent computer spmwprodweb3.nam.nsroot.net has triggered this Alert Description : Exception occurred during request processing. (User: Domain\User ID, Form Name: , IP: , Request: https://infopathformlib.site.url, Form ID: , Type: ThreadAbortException, Exception Message: Thread was being aborted.)

In Event logs

Event Type:  Error
Event Source:          Office SharePoint Server
Event Category:     Forms Services Runtime
Event ID:       5367
Date:              10/23/2012
Time:              2:21:55 PM
User:              N/A
Computer:    SPMWPRODWEB1
Description:
Exception occurred during request processing. (User: Domain\User ID, Form Name: , IP: , Request: https://infopathformlib.site.url, Form ID: , Type: ThreadAbortException, Exception Message: Thread was being aborted.)

In ULS logs

10/23/2012 14:28:19.68            w3wp.exe (0x2080)                                  0x327C          Forms Server                              Forms Services Runtime               82fp   Critical           Exception occurred during request processing. (User: Domain\User ID, Form Name: , IP: , Request: https://infopathformlib.site.url, Form ID: , Type: ThreadAbortException, Exception Message: Thread was being aborted.)          

Troubleshooting:
Checked on Google and it refers to the issue with anonymous access on the site http://vettekerry.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/login-required-on-anonymous-site.
MSDN community refers to the issue with “NT AUTHORITY\autenticated user" access on the site http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/pl/sharepointinfopath/thread/e0312df4-b950-4e42-ba49-a648055c8934.

In our environment we are neither using anonymous access on the site nor client have added “NT AUTHORITY\autenticated user" on the site.

Resolution:
The above article was referring to the permissions related issue. Hence tried to find the if the user is added on the site from “All People” group and no reference was found. Since there were 100 users it was very difficult to check them one by one. Asked the site admin if he has any reference list of users and he also confirmed that these users are yet to be permissioned on the site. Confirmed with the client they all treid to access the site before they were permissioned on the site resulting in SCOM Alert trigger for the InfoPath.

As alert was so huge in nature only a small portion of it was a cause of the issue i.e. user identified was not permissioned on the site. 

If you have any questions do let me know.