Setting up SharePoint Server 2007 with remote-SQL isn't exactly easy. I found a web page that has a step-by-step here. You should begin this process from a fresh install of Windows Server as SharePoint tends to take over IIS. Make sure you run the install of SharePoint when logged-in as your SharePoint Administrative account. Double-check everything as you do it. It's really difficult to uninstall and re-install this product.
One last thing before we start, if you're installing SharePoint on one box and have no intention of using remote SQL or a server farm (multiple servers), just go ahead and run through the install like you would with a Microsoft Word, that is, "next, next next," it basically sets itself up.
Below are my comments that you should reference while going through the directions on the page linked above.
Prerequisites:
-Don't worry about Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation Runtime, I think this was just for the Beta.
Post-Install:
-Create the Shared Services Provider (5) - Change "Description" to "SharePoint Services" and "Port" to "4000"
-Create the Shared Services Provider (9) - Change "Application pool name" to "SharePoint Services"
-You probably don't need to start the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service as it's probably already started if it needs to be.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0
I know it's been almost two months, no excuses, let's get down to business with WSUS 3, the free tool to manage Microsoft Updates to Windows machines on a network. WSUS 3 requires MS SQL 2005 in one flavor or another and I wanted to use the full version (not Express, which is free here) to simplify backups since I use a dedicated SQL server. As such I had to make the upgrade from SQL 2000 to 2005 on that box, more about that in a later blog entry.
Any System Administrator that has to maintain more than 2 Windows servers or workstations who is not using WSUS, this blog entry is for you -- I'm about to make your life easier. If you're using WSUS 2.0 already, upgrading shouldn't be too hard, but that's not the subject of this blog entry -- take a look here *before* you upgrade. One more warning, it's going to be significantly harder to do this if you don't have an Active Directory infrastructure in place.
The install for this product is pretty easy (those who used WSUS 2.0 know what I mean). Make sure you install the prerequisites on the download page (IIS, .NET) and hold onto the Microsoft Report Viewer installer for your administrative workstation. After that you double-click the WSUS installer executable and almost the entire process is self-explanatory. I'll go through the post-install details that I didn't think were completely obvious rather than giving a step by step of "Next>", "Next>" etc. The only two installation details I can think of here are 1) make sure to use the WSUS dedicated site and 2) if you use a standalone sql server and are using the default instance to host your databases, you only need to put in the name of the sql server (as opposed to sql server\instance name).
You *need* to do a few things after running the installer. First you need to either issue or obtain a SSL certificate for the IIS server you are hosting WSUS on. Then you need to attach that SSL certificate to the two Web Sites that WSUS uses. That's right, it uses both the "Default Web Site" and the "WSUS Administration" website. Next, require SSL in the following places (*NOT* at the Web Sites themselves, just the sub directories):
-Default Website
-Selfupdate
-ClientWebService
-WSUS Administration
-ApiRemoting30
-ClientWebService
-DssAuthWebService
-ServerSyncWebService
-SimpleAuthWebService
The above settings (which are more or less the SSL directories defined by Microsoft) imply that you need to open ports 8530, 8531 and 443 (all TCP - it's web traffic) on your firewall to any machines that you want to update with WSUS.
Any System Administrator that has to maintain more than 2 Windows servers or workstations who is not using WSUS, this blog entry is for you -- I'm about to make your life easier. If you're using WSUS 2.0 already, upgrading shouldn't be too hard, but that's not the subject of this blog entry -- take a look here *before* you upgrade. One more warning, it's going to be significantly harder to do this if you don't have an Active Directory infrastructure in place.
The install for this product is pretty easy (those who used WSUS 2.0 know what I mean). Make sure you install the prerequisites on the download page (IIS, .NET) and hold onto the Microsoft Report Viewer installer for your administrative workstation. After that you double-click the WSUS installer executable and almost the entire process is self-explanatory. I'll go through the post-install details that I didn't think were completely obvious rather than giving a step by step of "Next>", "Next>" etc. The only two installation details I can think of here are 1) make sure to use the WSUS dedicated site and 2) if you use a standalone sql server and are using the default instance to host your databases, you only need to put in the name of the sql server (as opposed to sql server\instance name).
You *need* to do a few things after running the installer. First you need to either issue or obtain a SSL certificate for the IIS server you are hosting WSUS on. Then you need to attach that SSL certificate to the two Web Sites that WSUS uses. That's right, it uses both the "Default Web Site" and the "WSUS Administration" website. Next, require SSL in the following places (*NOT* at the Web Sites themselves, just the sub directories):
-Default Website
-Selfupdate
-ClientWebService
-WSUS Administration
-ApiRemoting30
-ClientWebService
-DssAuthWebService
-ServerSyncWebService
-SimpleAuthWebService
The above settings (which are more or less the SSL directories defined by Microsoft) imply that you need to open ports 8530, 8531 and 443 (all TCP - it's web traffic) on your firewall to any machines that you want to update with WSUS.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Mom Corner - #2
Here's a few quick Google Toolbar tips:
Question:
How do I disable search suggestions in Google Toolbar?
Answer:
1. On the right-hand side of the Google Toolbar, there's a "Settings" button. Click it and select "Options..." from the drop-down context menu.
2. In the "Toolbar Options" window, on the "Features" tab, click on the "Search Box Settings..." button.
3. In the "Search Box Settings" window, uncheck the three boxes that begin with "Suggest" and click "OK".
4. Click "OK" again to close the "Toolbar Options" window.
Question:
How do I disable AutoFill in Google Toolbar?
Answer:
1. On the right-hand side of the Google Toolbar, there's a "Settings" button. Click it and select "Options..." from the drop-down context menu.
2. In the "Toolbar Options" window on the "Features" tab, uncheck "AutoFill".
3. Click "OK" to close the "Toolbar Options" window.
These two points are interesting to me because I actually like search suggestions and autofill. Here are the reasons I can think of to disable them:
Insofar as search suggestions, if you are in an environment where others can see your computer screen, you may not want partial words (or whole words, for that matter) brining up your favorites (bookmarks) or suggested google searches. If I had to search for a serial number that started with two "X"'s for example. I know, that's a weak argument and I like search suggestions far too much to disable them based on that. The other other thing I can think of is if, like my mom, you don't like small "windows" appearing over your browser's displayed web page.
As far as autofill, this is simple for me. If you are using a public computer or a generic (more than one person knows it) login on your own computer, disable it. I can't stress that enough. Would you leave the information you type into an internet form printed out and taped next to the monitor? On the other hand, I have my own personal computer to which only I login with an account and password that no one else knows. In this case, when I got to pay my cable bill every month, they ask for some information and it's nice not to have to look it up or type it in each time. With autofill, I just click on the information I want in the box and it's filled-in for me.
One more thing -- Internet Explorer and Firefox both have built-in autofill functionality and by default Firefox has built-in search suggestions for the Google search box in the Navigation Toolbar. Not that I'm saying you *shouldn't* use Google toolbar, just that I get these two specific pieces of functionality without it when I use Firefox (which I'm saying you *should use*, with or without Google Toolbar).
Question:
How do I disable search suggestions in Google Toolbar?
Answer:
1. On the right-hand side of the Google Toolbar, there's a "Settings" button. Click it and select "Options..." from the drop-down context menu.
2. In the "Toolbar Options" window, on the "Features" tab, click on the "Search Box Settings..." button.
3. In the "Search Box Settings" window, uncheck the three boxes that begin with "Suggest" and click "OK".
4. Click "OK" again to close the "Toolbar Options" window.
Question:
How do I disable AutoFill in Google Toolbar?
Answer:
1. On the right-hand side of the Google Toolbar, there's a "Settings" button. Click it and select "Options..." from the drop-down context menu.
2. In the "Toolbar Options" window on the "Features" tab, uncheck "AutoFill".
3. Click "OK" to close the "Toolbar Options" window.
These two points are interesting to me because I actually like search suggestions and autofill. Here are the reasons I can think of to disable them:
Insofar as search suggestions, if you are in an environment where others can see your computer screen, you may not want partial words (or whole words, for that matter) brining up your favorites (bookmarks) or suggested google searches. If I had to search for a serial number that started with two "X"'s for example. I know, that's a weak argument and I like search suggestions far too much to disable them based on that. The other other thing I can think of is if, like my mom, you don't like small "windows" appearing over your browser's displayed web page.
As far as autofill, this is simple for me. If you are using a public computer or a generic (more than one person knows it) login on your own computer, disable it. I can't stress that enough. Would you leave the information you type into an internet form printed out and taped next to the monitor? On the other hand, I have my own personal computer to which only I login with an account and password that no one else knows. In this case, when I got to pay my cable bill every month, they ask for some information and it's nice not to have to look it up or type it in each time. With autofill, I just click on the information I want in the box and it's filled-in for me.
One more thing -- Internet Explorer and Firefox both have built-in autofill functionality and by default Firefox has built-in search suggestions for the Google search box in the Navigation Toolbar. Not that I'm saying you *shouldn't* use Google toolbar, just that I get these two specific pieces of functionality without it when I use Firefox (which I'm saying you *should use*, with or without Google Toolbar).
Mom Corner - #1
Not to be confused with the similarly titled Ops Mgr, I've decided to post a few questions from my mom. Mom Corner will be end-user questions that I think anyone will be able to accomplish in a few quick steps, i.e. the posts labeled like this one are *not* geared toward IT pros.
Question:
How do I disable Hibernation on my Windows XP computer?
Answer:
1. Click Start -> Run...
2. Type "powercfg.cpl"
3. In the "Power Options Properties" window, select the "Hibernate" folder-tab
4. Uncheck the box labeled "Enable hibernation" and click "OK"
And in case you're interested in further reading, here's a good article describing Power Management in Windows XP
Question:
How do I disable Hibernation on my Windows XP computer?
Answer:
1. Click Start -> Run...
2. Type "powercfg.cpl"
3. In the "Power Options Properties" window, select the "Hibernate" folder-tab
4. Uncheck the box labeled "Enable hibernation" and click "OK"
And in case you're interested in further reading, here's a good article describing Power Management in Windows XP
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)