What is the correct method to delete a variation subsite label in SharePoint 2010?

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The search request was unable to connect to the Search Service.

This is an error I faced trying to set up a fast search centre in an OOTB environment.

TechNet provides four common causes for this issue.

1: The communication channels are not cleaned up correctly
2: The FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing services are not running
3: The SharePoint certificate is not present on one or more of the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing servers
4: SharePoint has not been configured to point to the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing node

Reference: Technet

Getting a site collection backup in SharePoint 2010

Getting a site collection backup in SharePoint 2010 can be done in two methods.

• Through the Central Admin  

 Go to Central Admin -> Backup and Restore -> Perform a Site Collection Backup -> Give a name and a file location for the backup and click ok.

• Using PowerShell

Backup -SPSite -Identity <site collection host header> -Path <path of the backup file>

Reference: Technet

SP Dispose check

When coding a solution in Visual Studio memory leaks which occurs from object disposals which were not handled can be checked using the tool available here.

Add / remove options from an existing SQL database

When there is a need to change settings of an existing Ms SQL database you will need to add ASP.NET SQL Server Registration into windows registry.

It can be done using the following method.

Navigate to [drive:]\%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version folder on your Web server, and type aspnet_regsql on the command prompt.

E.g.: 

C:\>cd Windows

C:\Windows>cd Microsoft.NET

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET>cd Framework

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework>cd v2.0.50727

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regsql

After registering this functionality existing settings of existing databases can be altered after creation.

More information on the tool can be found on the following reference link.

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229862%28v=vs.80%29.aspx

Steps to deploy a SharePoint 2010 site

The basic steps to deploy a SharePoint 2010 site are as follows;

• Create Web Application
• Deploy the content packages 
•  (using a powershell script)
• Edit the web.config file 
• Located in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<web_application_folder>
• Do the IIS-Binding
• Go to Start -> Run -> IIS-Manager  and select the desired website from the list and click Bindings. Add the url of the site as a new binding. 
• Enable features
• This is only required if you are not restoring a backup of a site collection.
• (Optional) 
• Restoring a site collection backup. Refer here for details.

Restoring a sitecollection backup in SP 2010

In SharePoint 2010 Management Shell you can enter the following command in order to restore a site collection backup in to a SharePoint 2010 we application.

Restore-SPSite -Identity -Path [-DatabaseServer ] [-DatabaseName ] [-HostHeader ] [-Force] [-GradualDelete] [-Verbose]



For example in order to restore a site collection to a certain web application we can use the following command.

PS C:\> Restore-SPSite -Identity http://cd-sgunasena -Path C:\UpdateFw\sitecollectionbackup\abc.bak -HostHeaderWebApplication http://abcdemo.abcompany.com -Force


Reference: MSDN

Before deploying SP 2010 sites in powershell

I recently joined a release engineering management group for our SharePoint developments in the work place. And I'm now learning deployment related stuff.

Some quick facts:

• Be sure to be logged in as a farm administrator (I get this confused sometimes as we meddle with a lot of test accounts in order to test SharePoint developments)
• Make sure the DisableLoopback feature is enabled. You can do this by going to  Registry editor by typing regedit in start menu -> run. In registry goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control ->Lsa . Right Click on Lsa and select AddNewDWord (32bit) Value and enter "DisableLoopbackCheck" as the name and enter 1 when prompted to enter a value. 

Keep in mind to make sure the following services are enabled and started before running windows powershell to deploy SharePoint 2010 sites.

• SharePoint 2010 Administration
• SharePoint 2010 Timer
• World Wide Web Publishing service

Errors while running Pre-Upgrade Checker

Last week I was doing another test migration using the database - attach method. This time we were trying to simulate a multi-server farm environment.
Before upgrading, as usual :) , I ran the pre-upgrade checker on the SharePoint 2007 test farm we had created. But it returned several unfamiliar errors!

We found out by checking many things regarding permissions the following two were the reasons for causing erroneous reports.

• Additional inactive server in the farm
• insufficient permissions to continue

 This was later resolved by,

• removing the additional inactive server from farm
• re-running the pre-upgrade checker using a more privileged account

These errors occur due to misplacement of simple issues. But these things happen when we are thinking only about the big things and not concentrating on small details. Hope this will help a wanderer :)

Backing up a SP2007 site

A quick guide to creating a backup of a site collection in SharePoint 2007.

Start the command prompt change directory into the 12-hive. A quick tip: 12 hive = "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\bin"

Type the following command correctly.
stsadm.exe -o backup -url <site collection> -filename <backup file> -overwrite

E.g.: 
stsadm.exe -o backup -url http://ctv-ecmtest1:1515 -filename backup1515.dat -overwrite

There you have your backup!

Errors occured while performing Database-Attach Migration

While doing a testing database-attach upgrade from SharePoint 2007 to 2010 I came across some errors.
I was following the steps in Microsoft Technet website and when I was going through database reattaching process I came across several errors and one was like this.

 I found out that I had mixed up the names of the servers I was using. But then there was an error regarding accessing to database.

When I went through some articles in the internet I found out that it was due to the current user not being added to the SPShellAdmin group. This issue can be resolved using this method.

Then again (!) there was another error regarding version incompatibility.

I'm trying get an hotfix for this and rehearse the procedure again.
Today there was a request for a presentation for our head to show to the management, so I had to attend to it with our team :) I will be posting about the updates on these issues!

Getting to know the DB of SharePoint 2007

When I was searching on SharePoint 2007 database analyzers initially I got so many other products including links to main SharePoint Migration Tools available. Those tools do provide analyzing to a certain extent but it can be costly due to licensing issues.
So my friend suggested to refine my search! I did! And the results were marvelous :)
The results I got were a basic tool Microsoft provides free of charge which, amazingly, gives a whole load of information on the DB.

The tool, which is SPDiag v1.0, is included in the Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0, available for download at the following locations:

• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0 x86: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141504
• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit v3.0 x64: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=142035

Documentation for SPDiag is available from those download pages as well.

Searching about SharePoint 2007 large List migration

 When migrating from SharePoint 2007, moving large lists can be a problem. In the internet it is a bit hard to find information about this in one place. I had to go through this trouble while I was researching on SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration.
 When I was searching with the keyword "database analyze" search engines return a host of posts that are related to basic Ms SQL Server administration commands and scenarios.
 However the Bamboo SharePoint Analyzer does give an idea about the Database in SharePoint in a somewhat higher level. Thus does not provide much details.
  So the effective way is to search using keyword " large list migration in SharePoint ". This is effective because SharePoint data is stored in Lists, and technically a SharePoint database is a "List".

When Initiating a SharePoint Migration

When we initiate a SharePoint 2007 to 2010 migration, it is vital to first understand the current system and its functions. Otherwise migration targets are not achieved.
In order to check the current system we need to access the customer's system internally. This is a thing we need to keep at it's minimum because customers are not always willing to expose their business system for long periods of times.
Therefore we need to use some quality analytical software which can crawl around the full system and generate a full report about the corresponding system. It is better to use software which can do this with the minimum exposure and minimum time possible to keep customers happy.
There are some freely available tools available that does the analyzing part pretty well.

• SharePoint Analyzer
• Xavor SharePoint Admin Tool
• Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit

 And there is a commercially available toolkit also.

• Admin Report Kit for SharePoint 2007 (ARKSP) 

Refer my other blog here.